Deborah Levy is a most generous writer. What is wonderful about this short, sensual, embattled memoir is that it is not only about the painful landmarks in her life - the end of a marriage , the death of a mother - it is about what it is to be alive. I can't think of any other writer aside from Virginia Woolf who writes better about the liminal, the domestic, the non-event, and what it is to be a woman... This is a little book about a big subject. It is about how to find a new way of living

Extraordinary and beautiful, suffused with wit and razor sharp insights

It is the story of every woman throughout history who has expended her love and labour on making a home that turns out to serve the needs of everyone except herself... A piece of work that is not so much a memoir as an eloquent manifesto for what Levy calls 'a new way of living' in the post-familial world

Ingenious, practical and dryly amused... This is a manifesto for a risky, radical kind of life, out of your depth but swimming all the same

Wise, subtle and ironic, Levy is a brilliant writer... Each sentence is a small masterpiece of clarity and poise. That shed should be endowed with a blue plaque

A heady, absorbing read

This, from Deborah Levy, is exceptional. A memoir of life, art and separation. How to write when you're broke, have no writing space, are a parent. Also: crushed chickens, electric bikes, plumbing. Out in May and an early contender for one of the books of the year

Both memoir and feminist manifesto, her writing focuses so sharply on what it means to be alive that she's given me much-needed clarity...Levy subtly informs us about what it is to be a woman.

An original and wonderful book.

A witty, life-affirming book.

This spirited memoir of her journey into remission weaves together stories of her unconventional, orphan childhood with poignant reflections on motherhood, art, and literature.

Genevieve Fox writes about cancer without cliché. Hers is a feat of endurance, not a journey.

Such vivid detail…. Engaging

This fiercely intelligent memoir is a fascinating and compassionate view of another world and the author’s struggle to both escape from and understand it as she heads out into the world

A shocking and powerfully moving memoir

What comes through is Tara’s grit, determination and instinctive sense that somewhere within education lies her redemption ... There is pain and adversity in this heart-wrenching memoir but ultimately what Tara leaves us with is hope

Marvellous. There is no feeling like discovering a young writer who is springing up fully armed with so much talent

Absolutely superb . . . the last 100 pages were so gripping I could hardly breathe

Tara Westover's beautifully written memoir shines a light on a part of our country that we too often overlook. Her powerful tale—of trying to find a place for herself in the world, without losing her connection to her family or her beloved home—deserves to be widely read. My Mamaw would have been rooting for Tara.

Educated, in showing us the unstoppable power of a young woman determined to make her own decisions and find her own way, is an inspiring and important tale for our times. I am still cheering her on

Unflinching and fascinating

Tragic and uplifting in equal measure

An extraordinary story, beautifully told.

Extraordinary, heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting

This ferociously intelligent memoir is nevertheless full of kindness and insight. In looking beyond the triumphant point where many memoirs would finish, it achieves something far more powerful: Westover demonstrates that leaving a family is not the work of a moment but of a lifetime. Unflinching in confronting the cost of self-preservation, this book is beautiful in its bravery.

A book that I did splits over

Jaw-dropping and so inspiring, everyone should read this book.

A striking story, beautifully told. Tara is an incredible new talent

A punch to the gut, a slow burn, a savage indictment, a love letter: Educated somehow contrives to be all these things at once. Tara Westover guides us through the extraordinary Western landscape of her coming of age, and in clear, tender prose makes us feel what she felt. We give ourselves over to her telling, even when she takes us to the very darkest places a family can dwell. Rarely have I read a book that made me so uncomfortable, so enraged, and at the same time so utterly, entirely absorbed. I loved this book, and this woman.

This remarkable memoir – one of the best I've ever read – is my kind of miracle. The book made me cringe, cry out, cover my eyes, shake with anger, beam with pride, and appreciate the trials that led to my own education. Tara's story will find a place alongside modern classic memoirs, like Wild and The Glass Castle. It's that special

Breathtaking, heart-wrenching, inspirational – I’ve never read anything like this. Educated tells the story of a young girl's escape from violence and emotional prison. It is about the love of family and the pain of family both, the ferocity of the human spirit, and the power of education to change lives. Educated is one of the best books, and Westover one of the most gifted writers, that I've read in a very long time

Powerful, moving, brave, naked and completely at home in its form . . . This is a daughter’s story of how she grew into herself and comes to understand her home.

An incredible memoir of triumph over seemingly endless adversity. The author's ability to write about her experiences in a clear-eyed, nonjudgmental way makes her story a pleasure to read. A study in the power and wonder of resilience

Educated is a wise and deep reflection about surviving one’s family. I bow down to Tara Westover, not only for her marvelous, sentence-by-sentence craftsmanship but also for making sense and meaning from a confounding and hair-raising childhood. This is memoir at its best

Educated is so powerful, so haunting . . . [Westover’s] finely measured, beautifully rhythmic prose conveys the pain of trying to reconcile herself with being estranged from her parents, no matter how delusional they might be. Rejecting any form of binary thinking, she writes with a humaneness that comes partly from having suffered, and the book that grew out of that suffering is a rare and unexpected gift

Tara Westover’s exhilarating coming of age story has only just come out and it’s already a classic … it leaves us readers dazzled and humbled in equal measure

An extraordinary tale

Totally unputdownable

Remarkable

A wonderful read

A beautifully written, lyrical memoir packed full of incident and well worth a read

A beautifully written account…fit to stand alongside the great modern memoirs.

It’s amazing. Couldn’t recommend it enough

A brilliant memoir

Amazing and brilliant.

Vivid evocation of a truly terrifying childhood

Unflinching and fascinating. Educated was one of 2018's standout memoirs.

It's extraordinary and shines a light on the Mormon way of life ... fascinating.

A powerful, jaw dropper of a book

Triumphing over your background like spring triumphs over winter is always fertile territory for memoir. Perhaps the most exciting recently is Tara Westover’s Educated; she had a home life that is frankly astonishing, and how she ends up doing a master’s at Cambridge will make your heart soar.’

Jaw-dropping and so inspiring, everyone should read this book

Tara's journey as she realises her burning desire to know more about the world and escape the influence of her domineering father and brother is a true inspiration.

Absolutely incredible.

An amazing story

If you didn't read this memoir when it first came out, do so, and realise what the fuss was all about

It was one of the most interesting books I've ever read[...] I came away a lot more enlightened and educated myself.

This is a fascinating, breathtaking memoir that you won't be able to put down.

A really remarkable story

Breathtaking

Educated is devastatingly entertaining. Morbidly fascinating. Educated is, without doubt, an essential read.

I found myself forcing onto other people just so I could talk to them about it.

It's brilliant.

In her beautifully written memoir, Westover explores her complex childhood and her heart-breaking decision to leave her family and pursue an education. It is proof of the transformative power of learning and the importance of second chances

I devoured this book. I loved it . . . It's such a good book

It's amazing

Educated is a shocking story of self-invention and the transformative power of hope, tenacity and education.

On audio, I find myself enthralled and convinced.

A truly inspiring listen.