Glennyce Eckersley is the world expert on angels

With this book Simon Parke has managed to do something remarkable. He has taken the ostensibly "ordinary" world of a supermarket and turned it into an entertaining classroom where we can learn important lessons, whilst having fun at the same time. A great read.

An endearing and funny writer blessed with wit, warmth and wisdom

[A] heart-wrenching memoir ... the setting, beautifully rendered, recalls early DH Lawrence. It is a world of pain and prejudice, evoked in spare, restrained prose that brilliantly illuminates a time, a place and a family struggling valiantly to beat impossible odds. As an emotional experience and a vivid retelling of the author's past, it exerts uncommon power.

A remarkable memoir ... vivid, compassionate and notably unsentimental

[An] affecting debut ... the nonagenarian gives voice to a childhood version of himself who witnesses his older sister's love for a Christian boy break down the invisible wall that kept Jewish families from Christians across the street. Yet when major world events touch the poverty-stricken block, the individual coming-of-age is intensified without being trivialized, and the conversational account takes on the heft of a historical novel with stirring success.

A fascinating, poignant story ... which leaves one with a sense of hope

A superb story ... A delightful, fascinating read which held me spell-bound throughout.

Soskice tells the story with scholarly conviction... [This] biography is one to be earmarked

An ambitious and attractive book. Its tone is learned, thoughtful and usually intimate...a finely balanced and well-told experiment that will echo with many readers