The Boy With The Topknot: a memoir of love, secrets and lies in Wolverhampton

by Sathnam Sanghera

Sathnam Sanghera grew up in Wolverhampton in the 1980s, a child of Sikh immigrants from the Punjab. The youngest of four, with two older sisters and one older brother, he had a happy, quirky childhood. But then, at the age of 24, he discovered the family secret - and it changed everything.

This book is the story of Sathnam's re-evaluation of his family relationships in the light of a secret which had been kept from him all his life. It is also the story of the two cultures into which he was born - the Sikh Punjabi culture that his elders tried to maintain, in the face of the secular Western culture which surrounded them - and the effect on Sathnam of belonging to them both. When the story opens, Sathnam is trying very hard to keep the two cultures separate, yet he desperately needs to create a bridge between the Punjabi and Western parts of his life.

Sathnam tells this difficult story with great compassion, considerable self-awareness, and delightful self-deprecating humour. Although this is a story of struggle, conflict, unhappiness and bewilderment, it is not in any sense a 'misery memoir'. It provides a fascinating insight into a tightly bounded way of life which I have glimpsed but never understood. After reading it, I felt I understood my Sikh friends better, but I also felt I understood myself better. I think this is because Sathnam pulls off that difficult writer's trick of using one individual's experience to illuminate the lives of others. Highly recommended.

Reviewed by Queenie

As You Do

by Richard Hammond

Those of you who read my blog know that I have rather a soft spot for Mr. Hammond. And I confess that I bought the book because he wrote it and there’s a cute photo of him on the front. However it is a very entertaining and well written book.

Unlike ‘On the Edge’ which was about his accident and the aftermath, ‘As You Do’ is a behind the scenes look at some of the television projects he has been involved in. Although it reads well on its own, it is helpful if you are a Top Gear fan. But even if you’re not, it’s interesting to see what goes on when the cameras stop rolling. There is a lot about boys being silly, which you might expect I suppose. But this is peppered with a look into the home life and emotional ties of one of television’s most popular presenters. He openly talks about his wife and family, and the effect his being away from home so long can have.

It’s refreshing when someone in the public eye writes something about themselves that isn’t full of ego. The style is easy and chatty, almost as if he was sitting telling you these stories over a cup of tea.

No book is ever going to be to everyone’s taste, and I expect this is no exception. But if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to travel to the North Pole or cross Botswana by car, then this might be up your street.

Reviewed by Claire Potts

Greetings From Bury Park

by Sarfraz Manzoor

Sarfraz Manzoor was born in Pakistan in 1971. He came to England with his mother, brother and sisters when he was two years old, to join his father who had been here for 11 years. They lived in Bury Park in Luton, and this is his autobiography.

I found this book fascinating, very readable, and difficult to put down. Manzoor and I are only a few years apart in age. For most of our lives we have lived only a couple of hundred miles apart. We share some cultural frames of reference – Steve Wright in the afternoon; the Olympics; international travel. Yet our experiences of life have been so very, very different. As I read, I felt privileged by the insights he gave me into a community that I have experienced as both friendly and impenetrable.

This book is a tribute to Manzoor's father, who died in 1995. It's also a well-structured reflection on race, culture, religion, nationality, patriotism, politics, music, family, friendship and love. But it's not heavy or tragic. The author uses his own life as a lens through which to focus on these themes, and approaches them with a gentle, careful honesty that reminded me of my own English father's style.

Manzoor doesn't have children of his own – or he didn't at the time of writing. It is often said of writers that their books are their children. I think in writing this book, he is communicating with his readers about how he sees his culture and his identity in just the way a loving father might communicate with his child. He does this very differently from the way his father did it with him – in writing rather than in person is only part of that difference – and yet the fact that he does it at all is surely part of his father's legacy.

Of course I am also very different from Manzoor. For a start, I'm white and female. In that context, his main achievement with this book is even more impressive. He has done something that no politician, sportsperson, artist, entertainer or writer has been able to do for a long time now: he left me feeling better about being British.

I can think of two groups of people who wouldn't like this book. One is people who don't like autobiographical non-fiction, and the other is people who are narrow-minded. If you're not in either group, then I would heartily recommend Greetings from Bury Park.

Reviewed by Queenie