The Boy with the Topknot

<p><b>'Could not be more enjoyable, engaging or moving</b>' <i>Observer</i><br><br>"<i>It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing</i><i> my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution.</i>"<br><br>For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot.<br><br>And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets.<br><br>'I absolutely loved it. <b>Heartbreaking and wonderful</b>. He writes beautifully' Maggie O'Farrell<br><br>'Tragic, funny and disturbing. <b>It will challenge you, and may even change you</b>' Carole Angier, <i>Independent</i><br><br><b>Published in hardback as <i>If You Don't Know Me by Now</i></b></p> <p><b>'Could not be more enjoyable, engaging or moving</b>' <i>Observer</i><br><br>"<i>It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing</i><i> my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution.</i>"<br><br>For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot.<br><br>And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets.<br><br>'I absolutely loved it. <b>Heartbreaking and wonderful</b>. He writes beautifully' Maggie O'Farrell<br><br>'Tragic, funny and disturbing. <b>It will challenge you, and may even change you</b>' Carole Angier, <i>Independent</i><br><br><b>Published in hardback as <i>If You Don't Know Me by Now</i></b></p>