Hidden Lives: A Family Memoir

By Margaret Forster

Book Overview

This memoir takes in three generations of Margaret Forster's family, beginning with her grandmother, who took to her grave the secrets of the first 23 years of her life. The stories surrounding the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140239820
• ISBN13: 9780140239829
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Mystery

this is an excellent and riveting tale of the depressing lives of the author's mother and grandparents. But, at the end it is akin to turning the last page of an Agatha Christie and reading "and thus the identity of the murderer remains a mystery". The fundamental questions raised in the first pages are never resolved.

a wonderful piece on social history

I really enjoyed this book. It moved me to think about all the people in my life and all the people before me. Margaret Forster writes with so much feeling and depth. She guides you through the people and the events surrounding these characters and it seems you too may have family relatives just like hers somewhere. Margaret Forster is a highly skilled writer. The strength of this memoir I felt was in is the detail and the social commentary. It is also a great tribute to women and their work and their many roles in life.

I've read it 3 times and still can't put it down.

Hidden Lives is the story of four generations of women in Forster's own family. She uses her brilliance as a novelist to create a fascinating and emotionally compelling history. Without going into dry statistics she gives us a picture of the lives of working class women in Carlisle, England from the late 1800s to her own successful life today. It tells social history through the ordinary details of everyday lives, but on another level, the book is just a great read and highly recommended.