PublishedAbc Books, February 2020 |
ISBN9780733340994 |
FormatSoftcover, 304 pages |
Dimensions19.8cm × 12.9cm × 2cm |
A deluded mother who invented her past, an alcoholic father who couldn't deal with the present, a son who wondered if this could really be his family.
Richard Glover's favourite dinner party game is called 'Who's Got the Weirdest Parents?'. It's a game he always thinks he'll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob, who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard's English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed-toy collector. There was his father, a distant alcoholic, who ran through a gamut of wives, yachts and failed dreams. And there was Richard himself, a confused teenager, vulnerable to strange men, trying to find a family he could belong to. As he eventually accepted, the only way to make sense of the present was to go back to the past - but beware of what you might find there. Truth can leave wounds - even if they are only flesh wounds.
Part poignant family memoir, part hopeful search for the truth, this is a book for anyone who's wondered if their family is the oddest one on the planet. The answer: 'No'. There is always something stranger out there.
PRAISE FOR FLESH WOUNDS
'Both poignant and wildly entertaining' - Sydney Morning Herald
'A new classic ... a breathtaking accomplishment in style and empathy' - The Australian
'Heartbreaking and hilarious ... I couldn't put it down' - Sun Herald
'Engrossing and extremely funny'- The Saturday Paper
'Not since Unreliable Memoirs by Clive James has there been a funnier, more poignant portrait of an Australian childhood.' - Australian Financial Review
'Sad, funny, revealing, optimistic and hopeful' - Jeanette Winterson
