Love, death and good behaviour looked very different to a girl growing up in a small family in 1950s England. Maggie Gee tells the true story of becoming an adult during the sexual revolution of the 1960s and living through dramatic changes in attitudes towards race, class and gender in the second half of the twentieth century. Writing intimately and frankly about her relationships, Maggie asks pertinent questions about love, sex, loss, parental duties and death. She tells how her understanding was transformed by seeing herself in the wider framework of animal life on earth. This remarkable memoir celebrates the joy and beauty of a short life on a hospitable planet.

Author Biography

Maggie Gee was chosen as one of Granta's original 'Best Young British Novelists'. She has published many novels to great acclaim, including The White Family, shortlisted for the Orange and IMPAC prizes, My Cleaner and The Flood, which was longlisted for the Orange Prize. She was the first female Chair of the Royal Society of Literature, and her work has been translated into thirteen languages.