Author:Heike Faller,Heike Faller,Valerio Vidali,Valerio Vidali
Do you want to know what life has in store? It's all here in this book. All the little things we learn in the course of our lives. A page a year, from nought to a hundred.
5: You learn that boys and girls fall in love. Incredible!
13: When will your parents learn? Not in front of your friends.
36: A dream came true, but it feels different than you thought.
45: Do you like yourself as you are?
75: You learn to unlearn things. Can you still do a somersault?
86: Everything can be different in every moment.
How does our perception of the world change in the course of a lifetime? When Heike Faller's niece was born she began to wonder what we learn in life, and how we can talk about what we have learnt with those we love. And so she began to ask everyone she met, what did you learn in life? Out of the answers of children's writers and refugees, teenagers and artists, mothers and friends, came 99 lessons: that those who have had a difficult time appreciate the good moments more. That those who have had it easy find it harder getting old. That a lot of getting old is about accepting boundaries. And of course, as one 94 year old said to her, 'sometimes I feel like that little girl I once was, and I wonder if I have learned anything at all.'
A bestseller in Germany, HUNDRED is a book given by children to grandparents and the other way around, for christenings and Mother's days, significant birthdays and times of celebration. With every age beautifully illustrated by Valerio Vidali, Hundred cannot simply be read because, like life itself, it must be experienced.
Now this is a truly wonderful book, about life, love, age, about all of us. I gave it to look at to a 7 year old who sat with her 75 year old grandmother, and both were intent, deeply engaged, the one full of questions, the other searching still for answers. A remarkable and important book!
—— Michael Morpurgo[Time for Lights Out is] direct and personal…on the tragi-comedy of growing old. [Briggs] looks on ageing with a beady but sympathetic eye…and mordant humour all the way through… there are plenty of excellent jokes in this book.
—— Nicholas Tucker , The TimesMany congratulations to The Oldie's Raymond Briggs on his elegiac new book, Time for Lights Out. The great author and illustrator takes a funny, sombre, bittersweet approach to old age, with fond thoughts of his grandchildren, parents, childhood and his partner Liz. The book is illustrated with his characteristic understanding of real life... Bliss.
—— The OldieA beloved genius of storytelling and illustration.
—— Rachel Cooke , Observer, *Graphic Novel of the Month*A book about finding purpose as a route to recovery.
—— Sunday TelegraphThis blazingly candid family memoir reveals the grueling and bewildering struggles that propelled Greta onto the world stage. . . . An unnerving and profoundly enlightening chronicle of the symbiosis between human and planetary health as manifest within one remarkable family whose painful awakeniThis blazingly candid family memoir reveals the grueling and bewildering struggles that propelled Greta onto the world stage. . . . An unnerving and profoundly enlightening chronicle of the symbiosis between human and planetary health as manifest within one remarkable family whose painful awakening to our 'acute sustainability crisis' should embolden us all.ng to our 'acute sustainability crisis' should embolden us all.
—— Booklist (starred review)An impassioned call to action and a vulnerable family portrait of neurodiversity.
—— KirkusAn incredibly powerful book. Brave, brilliant and so, so important.
—— Jessie WareThis book will bring hope to many women and their partners who have struggled with their mental health during this already nerve-wracking and overwhelming time.
—— Becca Maberly, @AMotherPlaceRaw, powerful, visceral: this book has so much to offer to anyone who reads it, whether they be a pregnant woman, new mother, partner, midwife, or someone recovering from mental illness. It is so important on so many levels to hear experiences like Laura’s to widen our understanding of these issues and how they can affect us.
—— Isabelle Bourton, midwifeI cried, laughed and cried again. It’s therapeutic to read and bloody amazing. This book will help to raise awareness and help people understand what it’s like to go through this, to see light at the end of the tunnel and know you won’t always feel like this.
—— Jessie Hunt, postpartum psychosis survivorI absolutely loved this book. It’s so honest I related to the rawness of it all. There was so much I could identify with.
—— Helen Grimes, postpartum psychosis survivorAn important book and I have no doubt it will have a significant impact.
—— Dr Chi-Chi Obuaya, PsychiatristThis is a generous, humane, brave gift of a book. Its guts and humour spoke to me loud and clear. I wept for Laura, women I love, and ones I’ve never met, many times throughout. There’s a conspiracy of silence around so many of areas of birth and new motherhood, and Laura is breaking the glass ceiling of it, with glorious honesty, humour and humility. I salute you, Laura - you’re a fucking warrior!
—— Sophie DahlA humblingly honest and human war report from the front lines of mothering, psychosis and recovery: there is no other book like it, and it is so desperately needed.
—— Giovanna FletcherThis moving book was a pleasure to read and I didn't want to put it down. If anyone is going through a similar experience it will make them feel less alone.
—— Philippa PerryDockrill's raw yet ultimately hopeful account of her experience with postpartum psychosis shines an important light on a rarely discussed experience.
—— iNewsBold, brave and raw, it must have taken immense courage to write this phenomenal memoir… It’s a tough read, but hugely inspiring…told with a winning dash of humour, and provides desperately needed insight into postnatal mental health
—— Eithne Farry , UK Press SyndicationWhat Have I Done? is heartbreaking and brutal in its honesty, and it is remarkable that Dockrill has managed to wring black comedy out of so much suffering… [the book] offer[s] a hand of solidarity to other women, as well as the assurance that there is a way through
—— Stephanie Merritt , ObserverI tore through EXPECTATION at the weekend. Exceptional gorgeously written and reads like a love letter to London. I highly recommend it
—— STACEY HALLS, bestselling author of THE FAMILIARSI absolutely loved this. What really appealed to me was the depiction of the parents, about legacy and about what the mother's generation leaves for the one that comes after
—— ANNE YOUNGSONAn intimate and touching portrayal of female friendship that shows it's okay to just be
—— NINA POTTELLSo fresh, human, kind and relatable
—— JENNY COLGANSuch a dark, relatable, elegant take on how time alters female friendships: how we become THESE people and our friends become THOSE people. Anyway, I loved it. You probably will, too
—— LIZA KLAUSSMANN, author of Tigers in Red WeatherA must-read. Will make you want to hug the women in you life
—— FABULOUS MAGAZINE Book of the YearA deftly crafted hymn to the comfort and frustration of female friendship from one of our most gifted contemporary writers
—— WATERSTONESSensual and evocative, deeply attuned to both the inner lives of the protagonists
—— CULTUREFLYThe prose is beautiful, the characters achingly real, their flawed decisions enraging and yet somehow still relatable. This wonderful book will resonate with every woman who reads it
—— LOUISE O'NEILLA quietly political story that suggests historic battles have left women with new impossible burdens of expectation. A marvellously tangy London novel
—— DAILY MAILHope beautifully examines how female friendship, its issues entirely relatable, ebbs and flows over time in this wise and engaging read
—— SUNDAY EXPRESSHugely absorbing, massively enjoyable
—— LISSA EVANSA deftly crafted hymn to the comfort and frustration of female friendship from one of our most gifted contemporary writers
—— WATERSTONESSensitive, resonant, addictive
—— DAILY MIRRORA story that resonates with anyone who has tried and failed and tried again as they contemplate that gap between what is possible and what is not.
—— RTE GUIDECompulsive and beautifully told storytelling - an ode to 21st century London and an examination of the pressures of modern society
—— IRISH TIMES Book of the Yearcompletely redefines the friendship novel. I am in awe of the way Anna Hope captures what it means to be a woman, right here, right now.
—— RED MAGAZINE Book of the YearHope is adept at characterisation. The friends are fantastically well-realised.
—— Daily TimesThe story of 3 college friends, if you're a fan of Sally Rooney, you'll love EXPECTATION
—— Irish ExaminerA grown-up, honest take on female camaraderie. Packed with talking points
—— Mail on SundayFantastic. Beautifully written, sharply observed and saying important things
—— ELIZABETH DAYBOOK OF THE YEAR. It's the book we're all buying for our sisters and besties this Christmas.
—— FabulousBrings to vivid life that particular tension one feels just before middle age, when it begins to become clear that life won’t end up looking exactly they way we thought it would. An outstanding novel
—— MARY BETH KEANEAnna Hope's beautifully observed study of female friendship is a moving account of the collision between aspiration and reality
—— DAILY MAILFantastically well-realised portrait of female friendship's joys and pains from an exciting new voice in British fiction
—— DAILY TELEGRAPH