The liars' club - Mary Karr

'Astonishing . . . One of the most dazzling and moving memoirs to come along in years' New York Times

Mary Karr grew up in a swampy East Texas refinery town in a volatile and defiantly loving family. In this devastating, haunting memoir, she looks back at life with a painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip over into psychosis, and a heavy-drinking, fist-swinging father who liked nothing better than to spin tales with his cronies at the Liars' Club. Telling her story with a raw and often painful honesty, and an authenticity entirely stripped of self-pity, the harshness of the world Karr paints is redeemed by her warmth, intelligent humour and finelyspun prose; The Liars' Club is both heart-stopping and heartfelt.

'An unsparing portrait of a fractured childhood' Vogue

'A bruising, beautiful book' Christopher Hope