A humane memoir, written with poignancy, humour and satire, of the influences that bind us to places and time. Haunted by shadows of an unfulfilled childhood, redemption is found through education. The insights into working-class life in the valleys is an honest picture of a lost world. A memoir, that memorably captures the experience of what it is like to belong to but also to move away from a Welsh Valleys community with all the attendant feelings of rootlessness and loss of identity that this can bring. Interwoven with the narrative are a series of poignant reflections, which prompt the reader to think but which also tug at the heart-strings.