A Lie About My Father

Destined to become a classic of Scots childhood... A beautiful read, but also a brutal one

Scotland on Sunday

Superbly written; poetic in the best sense, summoning up a world of terror and beauty

Literary Review

An exceptional book... A brilliant feat of sympathy and imagination

Financial Times

Compelling and profoundly moving... This exquisitely written memoir is, literally, a journey into a heart of darkness - a darkness here lit up by beauty and truth

Independent

Burnside's prose is a delight...Memoir this good illuminates something larger than itself. It is an exercise in understanding compassion and forgiveness

Melanie McGrath, Sunday Telegraph

[An] exquisitely written memoir

Paul Bailey, Sunday Times

Anyone who has read Gosse, Ackerley or Tobias Wolff will know that big books can be made about small-time fathers. It's a tribute to Burnside that he maps this same territory and prompts these comparisons while creating a story that is uniquely his

Blake Morrison, Guardian

Marvellously written scenes...few people write more hauntingly... His prose has a poet's delicacy and fine-honed precision

Tim Jeal, Daily Telegraph

This account of a failed father-son relationship is written with extraordinary beauty and insight... His is a profound meditation on the life of the spirit, and the shadows we all carry in our hearts

Bel Mooney, The Times

This is a haunting read that will linger long after you close the pages of this book

Michelle Stanistreet, Daily Express