This Is Not About Me [Paperback]

Janice Galloway (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2010

When her mother left her alcoholic father and set up home in a tiny attic room above a doctor’s surgery, Janice Galloway quickly learned how to keep quiet and stay out of the way. Her mother hadn’t expected or wanted another child and Galloway wasn’t allowed to forget that she was a burden. Her much older sister Cora, with her steady stream of boyfriends, her showy fashions, and erratic temperament, never failed to remind her of her insignificance. Galloway’s Scottish childhood is defined by the intimate details of her environment, where every family member looms close. With startling precision she remembers scenes of domestic life: her mother’s weekly round of washing, the sodden tweed dripping on the line; Cora putting on layers of make up for the Ayrshire night life; learning to write—and control the often rebellious letters; the living quality of her mother’s mangy old fur coat. In these cramped conditions, ignored by her elders, Galloway is a silent observer, carefully and keenly watching the people around her. As her rage grows, she begins to think for herself. Slowly, unexpectedly, she finds her voice. Out of the silent child emerges the girl who will be a writer. 

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Sublime prose and fierce honesty set it apart - Part of Galloway's skill in This is Not About Me is how she keeps a child's sense of bewilderment and secret understanding' -Telegraph'Blistering, terrifying, always moving' - Independent on Sunday'Galloway provides sentences blazing with light, a gorgeous draft of terror' Observer'Galloway takes her readers straight back into childhood's wincingly recognisable uncertainties, dislocations and disruptions. She had more of them than most - one of the most moving, yet completely unsentimental, accounts of growing up that you will ever read' - Scotsman'A literary, not a misery, memoir. There is mirth, and a Proustian attention to the sights, sounds and smells of the industrialized coast of Clydeside' - Sunday Times'On reluctantly closing the boards of this unforgettable memoir, the words A"first volumeA" are strangely comforting - a combination of Galloway's power and the fact that the wee girl done good make it so' - Scotland on Sunday'A dazzling book - Galloway is brilliant on the minute detail of childhood perception. She is also brave, funny, resilient and in spite of everything full of emotional generosity' - Daily Mail'A book unlike any other, in which Galloway has captured what it means to start to become yourself' - Guardian

About the Author

Janice Galloway’s previous books include the novels The Trick is to Keep Breathing, shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award; and Clara which won the 2004 Saltire Book of the Year Award.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Granta UK (May 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847080995
• ISBN-13: 978-1847080998
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #612,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Janice Galloway is one of the UKs most distinctive and versatile authors. Her first novel (The Trick is to keep Breathing, now widely regarded as a Scottish contemporary classic) was shortlisted for three major prizes and won the MIND/Allan Lane Book of the Year. Her second novel, Foreign Parts, won both the McVitie's Prize and the American Academy of Arts and Letters EM Forster Award, while her third, Clara, won the Saltire in 2002. Collaborative texts include libretti, art installation texts, and four extended works with Anne Bevan, the Orcadian sculptor. Her latest book, This is not about Me, won the SAC non- fiction Book of the Year Award 2009. She has one husband and one son and lives in Lanarkshire, Scotland.