Paper Houses
A Memoir of the 70s and Beyond
Published on 7. June 2007
Book
Hardback
352 pages
978-1-84408-407-4 (ISBN)
Description
Alternative politics, libertarian socialism, experimental living, feminist communes, street theatre, radical magazine, love affairs - gay and straight ...sex 'n' drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll. Paper Houses is the memoir of a young woman who comes down from Oxford to London in 1970, determined to break free from a conventional middle-class, close-knit family. In the streets and houses of a dynamic, shifting London she finds alternative homes, alternative families and friendships that challenge, inform and shape her. As she wanders around the city she loves passionately, outer journeys inspire and merge with inner journeys. Her all-consuming longing to write causes conflict in her relationships and financial issues that lead her to something of an urban nomadic existence. Creating her own space - and learning to share it - in the houses of Holloway, Camberwell, Regent's Park, Notting Hill Gate and Peckham creates intellectual and ethical challenges, and leads to escape adventures in Bangkok, Bali and Italy.
Reviews / Votes
** 'She is the eternal female vagabond, somewhere between the gypsy and the lunatic, with the freedom, pain and visionary nature of both' AMANDA CRAIG, DAILY TELEGRAPH ** 'Told from the perspective of an intelligent woman with acute powers of observation. Her writing is vivid and sardonic by turns, the period brought to life with accounts of clothes and meals, whose importance Roberts (unlike many other writers) has always understood.' JOAN SMITH, INDEPENDENT ** 'Roberts's sensuous, uninhibited, often beautiful writing is filled with lush and lavish descriptions of food and places and people and love affairs.' JESSICA MANN, LITERARY REVIEW ** 'The 12 novels she has produced... are remarkable imaginings of houses and landscapes and the desire for aquisition. This beguiling memoir travels the rootlessness that inspired them.' PENNY PERRICK, SUNDAY TIMES ** 'Radical politics, feminist theatre troupes, demos, communes, all while smoking and drinking her head off. Paper Houses is an honest, moving account of a talented woman fighting to prioritise her life-goals and roles.' METROMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 135 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-84408-407-4 (9781844084074)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
07/2008
Virago Press Ltd
€24.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Michele Roberts, poet and short-story writer, reviewer and broadcaster, is the author of many novels, including the prize-winning Daughters of the House. She is now Professor of Creative Writing at University of East Anglia.