The Terrible

The Terrible

Summary

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Terrible written and read by Yrsa Daley-Ward with Howard Daley-Ward as Roo.

'You may not run away from the thing that you are
because it comes and comes and comes as sure as you breathe.'

This is the story of Yrsa Daley-Ward, and all the things that happened - 'even the Terrible Things (and God, there were Terrible Things)'. It's about her childhood in the north-west of England with her beautiful, careworn mother Marcia, Linford (the man formerly known as Dad, 'half-fun, half-frightening') and her little brother Roo, who sees things written in the stars. It's about growing up and discovering the power and fear of her own sexuality, of pitch grey days of pills and powder and encounters. It's about damage and pain, but also joy. Told with raw intensity, shocking honesty and the poetry of the darkest of fairy tales, The Terrible is a memoir of going under, losing yourself, and finding your voice.

Reviews

  • Elegant, daring, profound - confirms her abundant talent as a writer
    Arifa Akbar, Observer

About the author

Yrsa Daley-Ward

Yrsa Daley-Ward is a writer and poet of mixed Jamaican and Nigerian heritage and is the author of The How, bone and The Terrible, the winner of the PEN Ackerley Prize. She splits her time between Brooklyn and London.
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