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Ootlin

Ootlin

Summary

'Beautiful, deep, transfixing . . . it will burn a home in your heart' LEMN SISSAY
'Essential reading, life-changing' SAMANTHA MORTON
'An astonishing piece of work' NIALL GRIFFITHS


The government told a story about me before I was born.

Jenni Fagan was property of the state before birth. She drew her first breath in care and by the age of seven, she had lived in fourteen different homes and had her name changed multiple times.
Twenty years after her first attempt to write this powerful memoir, Jenni is finally ready to share her account. Ootlin is a journey through the broken UK care system – it is one of displacement and exclusion, but also of the power of storytelling. It is about the very human act of making meaning from adversity.

Reviews

  • With punchy prose and a harrowing story of staggering resilience and fortitude, Fagan's memoir should be required reading
    Claire Fuller

About the author

Jenni Fagan

Jenni Fagan was born in Scotland. Jenni was selected as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists after the publication of her debut novel, The Panopticon, which was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the James Tait Black Prize. The Sunlight Pilgrims, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award and the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award and saw her win Scottish Author of the Year at the Herald Culture Awards. Luckenbooth was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2021. Jenni Fagan is a Doctor of Philosophy, she lives in Edinburgh with her son.
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