My History: A Memoir of Growing Up - Tapa dura

"Fraser s early years provide material as vivid and character-rich as her popular histories ... Amiable and engaging as personal reminiscence, "My History" is also a sharp, unpretentious study of a writer in the making." Wendy Smith, "Washington Post"
"Reading "My History," I felt I was sitting at Ms. Fraser s dinner table in London, listening to the reminiscences and anecdotes of a grande dame, delivered with an even tone and a gracious smile." Moira Hodgson, "Wall Street Journal"
"My History" is a hugely enjoyable squishy romp, the literary equivalent of a big crumbling meringue at a society wedding. "The Times" (London)
A delight from start to finish. Antonia Fraser is warm, amusing, intelligent, generous and original. "The Spectator"
Fraser s previous volume of memoir, "Must You Go?," an account of her life with Harold Pinter, was acclaimed as a moving love story. In this second instalment, she stands unabashed and alone wise, self-deprecating and always entertaining. "The Telegraph"
Engaging and elegiac. "Financial Times"
Antonia Fraser s memoir about her early life is sheer delight. "The Scotsman
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"This autobiographical journey is distinguished by Fraser s contagious enthusiasm for all things historical, including her own remarkable past." "Booklist"
"A witty, perambulating memoir of youth and early adulthood ...Nuanced and emotionally oblique in a most English fashion, ["My History"] offers a textured glimpse into a bygone era." "Publishers Weekly""

"With the emergence of this second memoir, Fraser appears reconciled to the task of revelation -- made easier here because it is not the history of a woman's love affair with a man, but the history of a writer's love affair with her vocation, and her nostalgia for the childhood 'wonderland' that engendered it. Drawing from letters, journals, memories and conversations, she carves a frieze of her past ... In My History, skillfully wielding her well-honed biographer's tools, Fraser shows what it felt like to be Antonia Pakenham, eliciting warm fellow feeling even in readers themselves who are nothing like a dame."--Liesl Schillinger, New York Times Book Review

"Fraser's early years provide material as vivid and character-rich as her popular histories ... Amiable and engaging as personal reminiscence, My History is also a sharp, unpretentious study of a writer in the making."--Wendy Smith, Washington Post

"Reading My History, I felt I was sitting at Ms. Fraser's dinner table in London, listening to the reminiscences and anecdotes of a grande dame, delivered with an even tone and a gracious smile."--Moira Hodgson, Wall Street Journal

"My History is a hugely enjoyable squishy romp, the literary equivalent of a big crumbling meringue at a society wedding."--The Times (London)

"A delight from start to finish. Antonia Fraser is warm, amusing, intelligent, generous and original."--The Spectator

"Fraser's previous volume of memoir, Must You Go?, an account of her life with Harold Pinter, was acclaimed as a moving love story. In this second instalment, she stands unabashed and alone--wise, self-deprecating and always entertaining."--The Telegraph

"Engaging and elegiac."--Financial Times

"Antonia Fraser's memoir about her early life is sheer delight."--The Scotsman

"This autobiographical journey is distinguished by Fraser's contagious enthusiasm for all things historical, including her own remarkable past."--Booklist

"A witty, perambulating memoir of youth and early adulthood ... Nuanced and emotionally oblique in a most English fashion, [My History] offers a textured glimpse into a bygone era."--Publishers Weekly

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author shares vivid memories of her childhood and recalls the experiences that set her on the path to a writing life.

     Ever since she received Our Island Story by H. E. Marshall as a Christmas present in 1936, Antonia Fraser's deep love of history has been a constant in her remarkable life. The book made such an impression that it inspired her to write Mary, Queen of Scots thirty years later.
     Born into British aristocracy, the author's idyllic early childhood was interrupted by a wartime evacuation to North Oxford. The relocation had profound effects on her life, not the least of which was her education at a Catholic convent and her eventual conversion from the Protestant faith to Catholicism. Her memories of holidays spent at Dunsany Castle and Pakenham Hall, a stint as "Miss Tony" selling hats in a London department store, and her early days working in publishing are all told in her singular, irresistible voice.
     My History is a heartfelt memoir that is also a love letter to a British way of life that has all but disappeared. Anglophiles, history lovers, and Downton Abbey fans are sure to be enthralled.