The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies in Wolverhampton Book

Now a major new BBC drama It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution. The Boy with the Topknot: A Memoir of Love, Secrets and Lies is a hilarious and heart-rending reinvention of the modern British memoir. For Sathnam Sanghera, growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand, these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes, Dallas on TV and, if he was lucky, the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other, there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks, his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot. And then there was his family, whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until, at the age of twenty-four, Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour, he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets.

'It's 1979 I'm three years old and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand floral-patterned settee and lean forward like I'm presenting myself for execution.' For Sathnam Sanghera growing up in Wolverhampton in the eighties was a confusing business. On the one hand these were the heady days of George Michael mix-tapes Dallas on TV and if he was lucky the occasional Bounty Bar. On the other there was his wardrobe of tartan smocks his 30p-an-hour job at the local sewing factory and the ongoing challenge of how to tie the perfect top-knot. And then there was his family whose strange and often difficult behaviour he took for granted until at the age of twenty-four Sathnam made a discovery that changed everything he ever thought he knew about them. Equipped with breathtaking courage and a glorious sense of humour he embarks on a journey into their extraordinary past - from his father's harsh life in rural Punjab to the steps of the Wolverhampton Tourist Office - trying to make sense of a life lived among secrets.This book is published in hardback as "If You Don't Know Me by Now".

It's 1979, I'm three years old, and like all breakfast times during my youth it begins with Mum combing my hair, a ritual for which I have to sit down on the second-hand, floral-patterned settee, and lean forward, like I'm presenting myself for execution.