Family romance - John Lanchester

My parents didnt go in for directly telling me things
Some dots were scattered around, and I was given an opportunity, if I felt so inclined, to join them up.Family Romance is a beautifully written memoir in which John Lanchester joins the dots of his parents history, their extraordinary secrets and the shape of their shared life.From his grandparents beginnings in rural Ireland and colonial Rhodesia, Lanchester navigates through his parents lives: his father Bills devastating war-time separation from his parents; his mother Julias tragic first love, her decision to become a nun and her adoption of a new identity. Lanchester illuminates their characters and Julias motives with moving insight.I grew up with a sense that there was another, fuller, darker narrative looming behind the various shorter stories Julia told so well and so funnily.Family Romance is a book about reticence and its costs. It is a story about love and fearing the strength of your own feelings; about family ties, and the flight from family, and the deep human need to keep secrets.