A 2021 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Critical/Biographical“Jacqueline Winspear has created a memoir of her English childhood that is every bit as engaging as her Maisie Dobbs novels, just as rich in character and detail, history and humanity. Her writing is lovely, elegant and welcoming.”—Anne LamottThe New York Times bestselling author of the Maisie Dobbs series offers a deeply personal memoir of … Maisie Dobbs series offers a deeply personal memoir of her family’s resilience in the face of war and privation.
After sixteen novels, Jacqueline Winspear has taken the bold step of turning to memoir, revealing the hardships and joys of her family history. Both shockingly frank and deftly restrained, her story tackles the difficult, poignant, and fascinating family accounts of her paternal grandfather’s shellshock; her mother’s evacuation from London during the Blitz; her soft-spoken animal-loving father’s torturous assignment to an explosives team during WWII; her parents’ years living with Romany Gypsies; and Winspear’s own childhood picking hops and fruit on farms in rural Kent, capturing her ties to the land and her dream of being a writer at its very inception.
An eye-opening and heartfelt portrayal of a post-War England we rarely see, This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing chronicles a childhood in the English countryside, of working class indomitability and family secrets, of artistic inspiration and the price of memory.
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Jacqueline Winspear’s memoir takes the reader through the early and adolescent years of the author’s life as well as the history of her parents’ young marriage in a fashion that is simultaneously endearing, touching, amusing, heartfelt, and astonishing… It’s a love letter and a beautiful work of gratitude toward the people and the place that made the author what and who she is.
I loved this book–the picture of post-WWII life in rural England, Winspear’s eccentric family, her childhood of hard work, and, always, the deep connection to the land and the seasons of the year
I thought I didn’t like this book, because Winspear jumped around so much in the story. That frustrated me. However, I am going to have to rate it higher. I read a lot of books, and this one is staying with me, because she gives so much insight into England before, during, and after the WWII era. I learned so much!!! I feel like I’ve visited there in some kind of extended time travel. It’s well worth the read.
Waste of your money, don’t buy it. Terrible book. I read the first 3 chapters and totally not what I expected. Thought it would include a lot of her families wartime memories, however she included other issues unrelated. Was VERY disappointed in this author.
I’ve read all of her Maisie Dobbs books and now I know what made them so authentic. Her whole life contributed to her writing and her own relationships with family made the book feel very authentic. I’m a former teacher, librarian, and a university administrator, but more than that I’m a reader. She makes history come alive.
What a fascinating insight into ordinary lives being lived during and after the war. Well, I say “ordinary”, but Jacqueline’s family sound like quite extraordinary people, one way or another, and I loved her sensitive telling of personal memories and shared reminisces.
I’m not one for memoirs, but having read all of the Maisie Dobbs books, I found listening to Jacqueline Winspear’s autobiography a delightful experience. I loved learning about her parents’ earlier lives, Jacqueline’s growing up years in Kent, and seeing how she wove so many of her own and her parents’ experiences in her wonderful books. A must read for Maisie Dobbs fans.
Anne Lamott says, “Every bit as engaging as the Maisie Dobbs novels…”
She is spot on.
We get a great emersion into history told with family stories. The story line is not totally linear. One story may prompt a flash back or a flash forward to a related event.
An engaging and delightful read.
What a life and what a family.
Wonderful memoir by the creator of Maisie Dobbs. She wrote about her experiences growing up in post war England.
A beautifully written memoir by Jacqueline Winspear, author of the Maisie Dobbs series, about growing up in post-WWII Britain and about her family history. Highly recommended.
Favorite author and nice to know about her life growing up in England!!
Jacqueline Winspear has created a memoir of her English childhood that is every bit as engaging as her Maisie Dobbs novels, just as rich in character and detail, history and humanity. Her writing is lovely, elegant and welcoming.
A beautifully rendered, elegant work of literary architecture joining the present to the past. Jacqueline Winspear’s memoir of an English country childhood is also an homage to the remarkable parents whose choices and outlooks shaped her. Their stories of hardship and gratitude became hers, and hers became this unforgettable book.
This is a memoir both evocative and unflinching. Without a trace of self-pity, Jacqueline Winspear portrays a childhood of rural poverty overcome by hard manual labor, lifelong love amid emotional wounds, and a profound understanding of how ‘the gift of place’ creates meaning… An illuminating portrait of a time and place that is as optimistic as it is deeply moving.