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The Ticking is the Bomb

by Nick Flynn - £8.99  Faber and Faber (2009)
paperback    ISBN 13: 9780571243709 | ISBN 10: 0571243703

One day I hope to be able to tell my daughter a story about a dark time, the dark days before she was born, and how her coming was a ray of light. 'We got lost for a while', this story will begin, 'but then we found our way.'
 
Set just before the birth of Flynn’s first child, a daughter, this impassioned memoir explores the fears and joys of becoming a father, whilst artfully interweaving passages from Flynn’s own childhood.
 
Haunted by a history of addiction, a relationship with a fantasist father and a longing to connect with his mother, who committed suicide when he was a child, Flynn explores these painful memories and unsteady relationships to create an unflinching and unforgettable story. The time bomb of the title becomes a vehicle for exploring his impending fatherhood, which brings him face to face with the stark realities of humanity - among them, the terror, torture and political crimes that begin to haunt him.
 
Here is a dazzling, inventive memoir of profound self-discovery, of painful family memories, and of the compulsion to run from love, but ultimately to embrace it.

(Price & availability last checked: November 2018)