Handstands In The Dark
  • Published: 4 May 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529106862
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $29.99

Handstands In The Dark

A True Story of Growing Up and Survival

Formats & editions
EBook
30 Nov 2011
Paperback
4 May 2021
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The extraordinary memoir of Janey Godley, one of the UK's most popular comedians, telling her story of growing up amidst the violence on Glasgow's tough East End in her inimitable voice.

Born in the tough East End of Glasgow and married into one of the city’s most notorious criminal families, Janey Godley’s young life was far from ordinary. From the grim and far-from-swinging 60s, to the discos of the 70s, to the tidal wave of heroin addiction which engulfed Glasgow's East End during the 1980s, Janey was witness to an extraordinary underworld - as well as religious sectarianism, abject poverty and a frightening family of in-laws. Throughout it all, her indomitable spirit – and her vivid sense of humour – kept her alive.

A vivid, intimate and darkly funny account of a life less ordinary, Handstands in the Dark tells the story of how one girl escaped a chaotic family and became one of the UK’s most popular comedic talents.
  • Published: 4 May 2021
  • ISBN: 9781529106862
  • Imprint: Ebury Press
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 432
  • RRP: $29.99
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About the author

Janey Godley

Janey Godley is an award-winning comedian and author who has performed stand-up all over the world. She had her first play performed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2003, won the Fringe Report Award as ‘Best Performer’ in 2008 and in 2014 her weekly podcast was shortlisted in the comedy category of the 9th annual People’s Choice Podcast Awards in the US. Her radio credits include presenting the Sony Gold Award-winning BBC Radio 4 documentary series Stuck in the Middle, writing and performing the drama May Contain Nuts and appearing regularly on Just a Minute.

Also by Janey Godley

Comic Fringes: Series 1-3
See all

Praise for Handstands In The Dark

An inspirational book

Daily Mail

Genuinely compelling and very brave

Glasgow Herald

If the school of hard knocks handed out degrees, Janey Godley would have a PH by now... a harrowing memoir... Godley finds the irony and absurdity in the most godforsaken situations, yet unlike a lot of comics she's brave and honest enough to reveal her innermost emotions, and it's this sincerity that gives her streetwise revelations such bite

The Guardian

A remarkably engaging and fluently written memoir

Stephanie Merritt, The Observer

Powerful... passionate... poignant... a rising star of stand-up

The Scotsman

It will make Angela's Ashes seem like The Famous Five.

Evening Standard