Flesh Wounds eBook

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