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

Mary Karr, a prize-winning poet adn critic, grew up in a swampy East Texas refinery town in a volatile, defiantly loving family. In this keen and funny memoir, she looks back at a painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip over in psychosis; a fist-swinging father who spun tales with his cronies at the Liars' Club; and a neighbourhood rape when she eight. Karr paints her terrific family of liars and drunks with a raw authenticity stripped of self-pity. At times harrowing, her story is redeemed by warmth, intelligence and finelyspun, ardent prose.

'Adazzling, devasting memoir...She paints an unsparing portrait of her struggle through a fractured childhood. Recounting one apocalyptic event after another, Karr's voice never falters or rings false' Vogue

'The facts are harrowing, yet their narration - which crackles with wry humour, affection and defiance - is not... A funny, moving, astonishing book' Spectator

'Any evocation of a childhood that achieves a genuinely Proustian quality, but with short sentences and more laughs, has to be read... a breathtakingly shrewd and loving memoir' Independent