THESE WILD ENGLISH
I am England till I die! Mum's marching through towns with the EDL. Billy's in prison for armed robbery. I'm left with a holdall of family photos, trying to work out how the hell we got here.
My Guardian interview with Paula Cocozza
her family memoir, These Wild English, tells the story of three generations, from her grandparents’ farm in Cumbria to the scrapyards, banger race tracks and care homes of Kent. It is shot through with her family’s “bootstrap fatalism” – “this sort of hopefulness in the absence of hope” – and fizzes with all the family love, joy and “crazy energy” of a souped-up Darling Buds of May.
Radio 4 START THE WEEK discussion on Class alongside Natasha Carthew and Daljit Nagra
My UNHERD article
“I am England til I die! I’m England till I die. I know I am, I’m sure I am, I am England til I die!” Mum’s in her element. She’s belting out the words like she’s leading “Jerusalem” at a WI meeting. Only she’s not. She’s on a far-Right march in London, singing at the top of her lungs, the thrill of the words marred only by chants of “Nazi scum!” from the protestors who outnumber her. She just sings louder
my blog for the wonderful Booka bookshop
Stories don’t start with written words do they, they start with pictures and, if you are lucky, the voice of a parent reading to you. My earliest memory of books is mum reading Ladybird’s Piggly Plays Truant and Ginger’s Adventures to me.
GUARDIAN review for These Wild English
Full of grit and compassion, These Wild English blends the personal and political to illustrate the ways families are shaped by circumstance and inherited trauma, and can be buffeted by forces beyond their control. At its heart is Sandra, a protagonist for the ages who is wayward, charismatic, fierce, caring and – wisely or not – always up for a fight.