My Life in Houses

Description

What does home mean to you? 'I was born on 25th May, 1938, in the front bedroom of a house in Orton Road, a house on the outer edges of Raffles, a council estate. I was a lucky girl.' So begins Margaret Forster's journey through the houses she's lived in, from that sparkling new council house, to her beloved London home of today. This is not a book about bricks and mortar though. This is a book about what houses are to us, the effect they have on the way we live our lives and the changing nature of our homes- from blacking grates and outside privies; to cities dominated by bedsits and lodgings; to the houses of today converted back into single dwellings. Finally, it is a gently insistent, personal inquiry into the meaning of home.

Born in Carlisle, Margaret Forster was the author of many successful and acclaimed novels, including Have the Men Had Enough?, Lady's Maid, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, Is There Anything You Want? , Keeping the World Away, Over and The Unknown Bridesmaid. She also wrote bestselling memoirs - Hidden Lives, Precious Lives and, most recently, My Life in Houses - and biographies. She was married to writer and journalist Hunter Davies and lived in London and the Lake District. She died in February 2016, just before her last novel, How to Measure a Cow, was published.

I was truly moved by Margaret Forster's ingeniously structured and beautifully written memoir... A really wonderful book -- Juliet Nicolson * Evening Standard BOOKS OF THE YEAR * A beautiful exploration of her life in relation to the homes she has made' -- Rachel Joyce * Observer BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Such a clever idea. It's a memoir sited in bricks and mortar... social and personal history spliced together -- Penelope Lively * Guardian BOOKS OF THE YEAR * Until its shocking, throat-catching end, this latest book is a deceptively simple trek evoking everywhere [Margaret Forster] has lived -- Melanie Reid * The Times * Reads like one of Forster's well-loved novels: full of sharp observation and gentle wit -- Bel Mooney * Daily Mail * In both books and homes, we find wry humour and a great deal of poignancy -- Sarah Franklin * Sunday Express * Like sitting down for tea with a highly intelligent woman and chatting, not so much about "a room of one's own" as "a home of one's own"... fascinating and touching * Spectator * This is a lovely and touching evocation of what home means to one woman, and within this is a universality that many will connect with -- Shirley Whiteside * Herald *