Dadland: A Journey into Uncharted Territory

Dadland: A Journey into Uncharted Territory

by KeggieCarew (Author)

Synopsis

***Winner of the Costa Biography Award*** Keggie Carew grew up in the gravitational field of an unorthodox father who lived on his wits and dazzling charm. As his memory begins to fail, she embarks on a quest to unravel his story, and soon finds herself in a far more consuming place than she had bargained for. Tom Carew was a maverick, a left-handed stutterer, a law unto himself. As a member of an elite SOE unit he was parachuted behind enemy lines to raise guerrilla resistance in France, then Burma, in the Second World War. But his wartime exploits are only the start of it... Dadland is a manhunt. Keggie takes us on a spellbinding journey, in peace and war, into surprising and shady corners of history, her rackety English childhood, the poignant breakdown of her family, the corridors of dementia and beyond. As Keggie pieces Tom - and herself - back together again, she celebrates the technicolour life of an impossible, irresistible, unstoppable man.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 432
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Published: 28 Jul 2016

ISBN 10: 1784740764
ISBN 13: 9781784740764
Book Overview: A story of war and grief, jealousy and madness, mischief and fierce love -- and a poignant exploration of what becomes of us as we grow old

Media Reviews
As Dad was losing his past... I was trying to retrieve it, Keggie writes... With the publication of this original, moving book, she has succeeded -- Paul Laity * Guardian (Review) *
Compelling and moving from start to finish... Carew's funny, fascinating and unflinching tribute to her father is a portrait of a complex man: not just a war hero but a flawed husband; not just a Jedburgh but her incorrigible and much-missed dad -- Melissa Harrison * Financial Times *
a thrilling, bloody, educative history of Churchill's Special Operations Executive... combined ingeniously with a tender, moving, funny portrait of the author's father -- Nick Hornby * Observer *
A fascinating mix of military history and family memoir studded with photographs... It's one woman's attempt to put her father's role in history on the page, at the same time as his own recollections of it diminish -- Cathy Rentzenbrink * The Times (Saturday Review) *
A poignant, inspiring and often comic account of family life and the man known as the T E Lawrence of Burma ... Ripping real-life yarns of double agents, secret messages, illicit assassinations and cyanide pills... the heroics and humour persist to the end -- Richard Benson * Mail on Sunday *
A beautifully written, funny and tender ode to an adventurous, occasionally frustrating, man who lived life at full tilt * Good Housekeeping *
It's now commonplace to say that sad memoirs are ultimately redemptive, but Dadland is the real McCoy. It is a rich and stunning achievement, a feat of imagination that sews together many parallel true stories. Above all, it is a labour of shining daughterly love -- Caroline Sanderson * Sunday Express (S Magazine) *
I was so absorbed and moved by Dadland I haven't been able to read anything else. It is beautifully written -- deft and funny and so tender -- but I have also come away knowing more about history, more about dementia, more about men, more about daughters, more about love, family, sheds, diaries, an inquisitive mind and peeing in plastic bottles. I loved it. I really did. -- Rachel Joyce
Powerful memoir... The clouding of Tom's mind never eclipsed his charm ... Dadland is no tragedy, threaded as it is with forgiveness, love and a fine, fierce comic glitter -- Jane Shilling * Telegraph *
Keggie turns spy on her father. She is on a ghost hunt ... What she uncovers is an extraordinary gift for any memoirist... fascinating -- Helen Davies * The Sunday Times *
How lovely to discover a book that makes one seize friends by the lapels and implore them, Read this ... wonderful -- Valerie Grove * Literary Review *
Gripping, heartfelt, moving and quite unlike anything Esquire has had the pleasure of reading this year... outstandingly good * Esquire *
Dadland [had me] gripped from beginning to end. -- Philippe Sands * Financial Times, Book of the Year *
Dadland [had me] gripped from beginning to end. -- Philippe Sands * Financial Times, Book of the Year *
Extraordinary, brutally honest... One of the great pleasures of the book is the quality of the writing -- Ginny Dougary * Daily Mail *
Mixes intimate memoir, biography, history and detective story: this is a shape-shifting hybrid that meditates on the nature of time and identity... For all its vigour and comic zest, Dadland is a careful and tender discovery that patiently circles around a man who spent his time mythologizing and running away from himself -- Nicci Gerrard * Observer *
I was completely caught up in and learned so much from this remarkable, haunting and uplifting memoir * Woman & Home *
Continually interesting and often moving... The fruits of her research into her father's war and espionage contacts are fascinating, but the real success of the book is the understanding the author acquires of the waywardness of experience, and of the complexity of family relationships -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *
She tells his story, piecing together documents from his military past, with poignancy and humour * Vogue *
A superb evocation of an extraordinary man * Choice Magazine *
Author Bio
Keggie Carew has lived in London, West Cork, Barcelona, Texas and New Zealand. Before writing, her career was in contemporary art. She lives near Salisbury. Tom Carew was born in Dublin in 1919. He served in the Jedburgh unit of the Special Operations Executive in the Second World War. The Times of India called him `Lawrence of Burma' and `the Mad Irishman'. He married three times, and had four children. He died in 2009.