Robert Edric

Mostly Books Meets...

Our guest this week is author Robert Edric. Robert’s first novel, Winter Garden, was published in 1986 and went on to win the James Tait Black award. Since then, he has written a grand total of twenty-eight novels. Including Peacetime and Gathering the Water which were both longlisted for the Booker Prize. The Telegraph described his backlist as “one of the most extraordinary bodies of work to appear from a single author”. Robert’s latest book, a memoir, is called My Own Worst Enemy and is a touching and vivid portrait of 1960s working-class Sheffield. At the core of this deeply engaging account of a bygone era is the relationship between a deeply insecure and overbearing father and his educated son, of two people join by blood and yet are worlds apart. D. J. Taylor writing in The Spectator described it as “Neatly written, psychologically acute and never disguising the hurt that lies at its core, this is a small masterpiece.” The podcast is produced and presented by the team at Mostly Books. Find us on Twitter @mostlyreading & Instagram @mostlybooks_shop. Edited by Nick Short @alongstoryshorter. My Own Worst Enemy is published in the UK by Swift. Books mentioned in this episode include: My Own Worst Enemy : Scenes of a Childhood - Robert Edric (9781800750814) Sons and Lovers - D H Lawrence (9780141199856) Stalingrad - Antony Beevor (9780141032405) The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it - Stuart Maconie (9781529102437) I Wanna Be Yours - John Cooper Clarke (9781509896127) Lay Down My Sword and Shield - James Lee Burke (9781398706392) Orwell: The Life - D. J. Taylor (9780099283461) The Battle of Britain - by James Holland (9780552156103)