Romany and Tom

A Memoir

Nonfiction, Family & Relationships, Biography & Memoir
Cover of the book Romany and Tom by Ben Watt, Bloomsbury Publishing
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ben Watt ISBN: 9781620403730
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Publication: June 10, 2014
Imprint: Bloomsbury USA Language: English
Author: Ben Watt
ISBN: 9781620403730
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication: June 10, 2014
Imprint: Bloomsbury USA
Language: English

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2014

Ben Watt's father was a working-class Glaswegian jazz musician-a politicized left-wing bandleader and composer-whose heyday in the late 1950s took him into the glittering heart of London's West End. His mother, Romany, the daughter of a Methodist parson, was a Shakespearean actress who had triplets in her first marriage before becoming a leading showbiz feature writer and columnist in the '60s and '70s. They were both divorced and from very different backgrounds, and they came together at a fateful New Year's Day party in 1957 like colliding trains.

Romany and Tom is Ben Watt's honest, sometimes painful, and often funny portrait of his parents' exceptional lives and marriage, depicted in a personal journey from his own wide-eyed London childhood, through years as an adult with children and a career of his own, to that inevitable point when we must assume responsibility for our own parents in their old age. Spanning several decades-and drawing on a rich seam of family letters, souvenirs, photographs, public archives, and personal memories-it is a vivid story of the postwar years, ambition and stardom, family roots and secrets, big band jazz, depression and drink, life in clubs and nursing homes. It is also about who we are, where we come from, and how we love and live with each other for the long term.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2014

Ben Watt's father was a working-class Glaswegian jazz musician-a politicized left-wing bandleader and composer-whose heyday in the late 1950s took him into the glittering heart of London's West End. His mother, Romany, the daughter of a Methodist parson, was a Shakespearean actress who had triplets in her first marriage before becoming a leading showbiz feature writer and columnist in the '60s and '70s. They were both divorced and from very different backgrounds, and they came together at a fateful New Year's Day party in 1957 like colliding trains.

Romany and Tom is Ben Watt's honest, sometimes painful, and often funny portrait of his parents' exceptional lives and marriage, depicted in a personal journey from his own wide-eyed London childhood, through years as an adult with children and a career of his own, to that inevitable point when we must assume responsibility for our own parents in their old age. Spanning several decades-and drawing on a rich seam of family letters, souvenirs, photographs, public archives, and personal memories-it is a vivid story of the postwar years, ambition and stardom, family roots and secrets, big band jazz, depression and drink, life in clubs and nursing homes. It is also about who we are, where we come from, and how we love and live with each other for the long term.

More books from Bloomsbury Publishing

Cover of the book Documents on the Genocide Convention from the American, British, and Russian Archives by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Wittgenstein on Internal and External Relations by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Chasing Criminal Money by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Tractors by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Language Teacher Education and Technology by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Inside Girl by Ben Watt
Cover of the book The Gospel According to Flannery O'Connor by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Our Common Cosmos by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Sunk Without Trace: 30 dramatic accounts of yachts lost at sea by Ben Watt
Cover of the book US Army Long-Range Patrol Scout in Vietnam 1965-71 by Ben Watt
Cover of the book The Stalin and Molotov Lines by Ben Watt
Cover of the book The Moving Toyshop by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Odin by Ben Watt
Cover of the book A Slant of Light by Ben Watt
Cover of the book Autonomous Language Learning with Technology by Ben Watt
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy