'A deeply intelligent and searching book, one that makes you re-consider the narrative of your own life and reframe the story you tell yourself' Hilary Mantel

A Guardian reader's Best Book of 2018

"There was a question that had come to trouble me a bit earlier, once I had taken the first steps on this return journey to Reims... Why, when I have had such an intense experience of forms of shame related to class ... why had it never occurred to me to take up this problem in a book?"

Returning to Reims is a breathtaking account of one man's return to the town where he grew up after an absence of thirty years. It is a frank, fearlessly personal story of family, memory, identity and time lost. But it is also a sociologist's view of what itmeans to grow up working class and then leave that class; of inequality and shifting political allegiances in an increasingly divided nation. A phenomenon in France and a huge bestseller in Germany, Didier Eribon has written the defining memoir of our times.

'I was overwhelmed by this book. I felt I was reading the story of my life' Edouard Louis, author of The End of Eddy

'A book about self-invention and belonging' Colm Toibin

The bestselling French memoir of social class, return and loss.


About the Author

Didier Eribon is Professor of Sociology at the University of Amiens. His previous books include the biography Michael Foucault, Insult and the Making of the Gay Self, and numerous other books of critical theory. 'Returning to Reims, his acclaimed memoir of going back to his roots, is a bestseller in Europe.

Translated by Michael Lucey.

Reviews
A brilliant little book...a touching memoir of sexual awakening, and a gallery of philosophical ideas and characters -- Steven Poole * The Observer *
A deeply intelligent and searching book, one that makes you re-consider the narrative of your own life and reframe the story you tell yourself... Didier Eribon understands how deep the roots of inequality go -- Hilary Mantel
Returning to Reims played a capital role in my life... I was overwhelmed by this book. I felt I was reading the story of my life. -- Edouard Louis
This is a self-excoriating memoir... [Eribon] writes as someone who has scrubbed hard at the markings of destiny -- Marina Benjamin * New Statesman *
A stunning book -- vital and important -- Andrew McMillan
Hypnotic ... a gripping read * Daily Telegraph *
Eribon's memoir is fascinating: full of fretful honesty, battling with shame around his background and shame at being ashamed -- The Times
Eribon offers up a magnificent example of an enlightened life liberated by theory, written in a style that deftly moves between the intimate, the social and the political -- Annie Ernaux
A powerful book and one that I enjoyed immensely -- Geoffrey Beattie * Irish Times *
This is a beautiful book about suppression, losing touch with your roots, and regaining balance * Art in America *
An honest and moving personal narrative that is skilfully threaded through sociological and political analysis. I was captivated from beginning to end -- Diane Reay * author of Miseducation: Inequality, Education and the Working Classes *
This intensely personal account of Didier Eribon's family is a fascinating and compelling read...The book is beautifully written (and as beautifully translated). It is at once pleasureable and edifying to read * Joan W. Scott *
Retour a Reims could be a novel. It has all the allure and attraction of one -- Claire Devarrieux * Liberation *
[a] particular favourite... thinks in this space with nuance and style -- Joanna Lee * White Review BOOKS OF THE YEAR *



Book Information
ISBN 9780141987996
Author Didier Eribon
Format Paperback
Page Count 256
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 191g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 15mm