One of the most important books of the Noughties

17 November 2009

It’s getting to that point when we’re all looking back at the decade and thinking about what are the really important books. My vote goes to Sathnam Sanghera’s The Boy With A Top Knot, a brilliant memoir about Sathnam’s quest to find the truth about his father’s madness. Satnam grew up in Wolverhampton in the 1970s, part of a self-enclosed Sikh community which lived and lives in its own bubble; he knew little of mainstream white culture until he went to school, but gaining a place at a good secondary school, he thrived and went up to Oxbridge, thereafter becoming a successful journalist. He is now a popular business columnist for the Times. His memoir explores the tensions in the worlds he inhabits and is a sort of detective story into the heart of a family nearly torn apart by cultural tensions and madness. It is a classic because it is both a universal rites of passage story and a very specific insight into a community that has never been properly illuminated in English prose before. I spoke about it with Sue McGregor and Erica Wagner, my wife, on a Good Read.

2 comments

  1. Hi Francis, I heard you on Radio 4 on the drive home and have just purchased this book on your recommendation. Really enjoyed listening to both you and your wife on what is an excellent time on BBC R4

  2. I REALY ENJOYED LISTENING TO YOU AND YOUR WIFE ON BBC R4 THANKS

    from Gucci Mane

your comment

Blog