Alone - Softcover

Granger, Pip

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0552155365 ISBN 13: 9780552155366

Publisher: Corgi, 2007

Synopsis

The only daughter of alcoholic parents, novelist Pip Granger spent much of her childhood outside looking in.

No strangers to the demon booze, her parents were deeply involved in a passionate relationship that rose to exciting highs and plunged to terrible and often frightening lows. Drink explained the series of crises, the furious rows and life-threatening accidents Pip had to contend with, and it also explained why her home life was so very different from that of most other people she knew. Just after her first birthday her family was evicted from their cottage in Sussex for non-payment of rent - a pattern that was to recur throughout her childhood. Home became a place best avoided, and soon Pip was spending time with her ne'er-do-well father in cafes, snooker-halls and other low dives in London's Soho where she made a series of lasting friendships with the unlikeliest of people.

Brave, funny, original and totally authentic, Alone is a heartbreaking book about alcohol abuse, parental neglect, and the courage of a little girl to find her own way through a trouble-filled world.

About this title

About the Author

Part of Pip Granger's early childhood was spent in the back seat of a light aircraft as her father smuggled brandy, tobacco and books across the English Channel to be sold in 1950s Soho, where she lived above the Two Is Café in Old Compton Street.

She worked as a Special Needs teacher in Hackney in the 1980s, before quitting teaching to pursue her long cherished ambition to write. She now lives in Somerset with her husband.

From the Back Cover

In 1950s London, a little girl is busy being brave.

The only daughter of alcoholic parents, Pip Granger spent much of her childhood on the margins of society; on the outside of life, looking in.

Drink was the factor behind the series of crises, the furious rows and life-threatening accidents Pip had to contend with. It also explained why her home life was so very different from that of most other people she knew.

Bullied at school, neglected by her parents, and cared for, at times, by complete strangers, Pip realized that there was only one way to turn her life around. One day she would have to cut loose from her family, and have the courage to build her own life alone.

Set in a world when sheets and blankets were washed by hand, bananas were a luxury, and separation and divorce were shameful events, Alone is a brave, original and totally authentic book about a young girl s courage in a trouble-filled world.

Edition details

• Publisher: Corgi
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0552155365
• ISBN 13: 9780552155366
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352