By Alan Johnson. Mark first read this book soon after it was published and re-listening to it in 2018 (narrated by the author himself) after going to a talk by Johnson at the Edinburgh Book Festival. Well written and performed, it tells the story of growing up in grinding poverty, his rascal of a father, the tragic life of his mother who, like her own mother and grandmother, died early at the age of 42 and the heroism of his sister who had to grow up fast.