| Readers of Brian Thompson's first volume of memoir, Keeping Mum, winner of the Costa Book Award for Biography 2006, were delighted by the story of a young boy's struggle to run a wartime household in his father's absence. In Clever Girl, a brilliantly observed portrait of the 1950s, we join him again on his erratic journey towards adulthood. Brian Thompson groped his way to being a grown up. He excelled at school and met a girl - the girl of the title - who recognised his ambition to escape the miserable lives his parents had made for each other. With her he set himself the task of discovering the healing waters of pure ordinariness. |
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