The only daughter of alcoholic parents, novelist Pip Granger spent much of her childhood outside looking in.

No strangers to the demon booze, her parents were deeply involved in a passionate relationship that rose to exciting highs and plunged to terrible and often frightening lows. Drink explained the series of crises, the furious rows and life-threatening accidents Pip had to contend with, and it also explained why her home life was so very different from that of most other people she knew. Just after her first birthday her family was evicted from their cottage in Sussex for non-payment of rent - a pattern that was to recur throughout her childhood. Home became a place best avoided, and soon Pip was spending time with her ne'er-do-well father in cafes, snooker-halls and other low dives in London's Soho where she made a series of lasting friendships with the unlikeliest of people.

Brave, funny, original and totally authentic, Alone is a heartbreaking book about alcohol abuse, parental neglect, and the courage of a little girl to find her own way through a trouble-filled world.

A classic misery memoir of growing up in 1950's London in a world of poverty, prostitutes and abusive alcoholic parents.

About the Author

Part of Pip Granger's early childhood was spent in the back seat of a light aircraft as her father smuggled brandy, tobacco and books across the English Channel to be sold in 1950s Soho, where she lived above the Two Is Cafe in Old Compton Street.

She worked as a Special Needs teacher in Hackney in the 1980s, before quitting teaching to pursue her long cherished ambition to write. She now lives in Somerset with her husband.

Reviews
A wonderfully warm debut novel told with humour, charm and compassion ... I loved it, as will anyone who enjoys reading a good story, delightfully told * Gilda O'Neil, for NOT ALL TARTS ARE APPLE *
A poignant story with a strong authentic backdrop * Woman and Home for THE WIDOW GINGER *
She brings the East End to life * Barbara Windsor for TROUBLE IN PARADISE *
Granger is unique in popular fiction in that she is able to tie in a fictional family saga with the big social changes going on in post war London * What's On in London for NO PEACE FOR THE WICKED *



Book Information
ISBN 9780552155366
Author Pip Granger
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint Corgi Books
Publisher Transworld Publishers Ltd
Weight(grams) 242g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 127mm * 22mm