Stealing Water by Tim Ecott
When Tim Ecott's family uprooted fromNorthern Ireland in 1977, they thought they were leaving behind their troubled lives, including the physical threat to Tim's father's life posed by the IRA. They hoped to exchange a hum-drum suburban existence of mortgage debts and small-town society for sunshine and servants in an ex-pat African setting. But, just six months after arriving inJohannesburg they were bankrupt, evicted from their home, and had most of their possessions confiscated by the bailiffs. Whilst friends and relatives inBritain imagined that they were living privileged lives, Tim Ecott and his family often went hungry. Forced to survive on their wits, the family entered a twilight world where their true friends were prostitutes, thieves and renegades. Stealing Water is about family, and what holds them together; it is the story of how the worst of times can become the most important and valuable period of a person's life.
The greatest memoir to come out of white Africa since Rian Malan s My Traitor s Heart - it reads like Angela s Ashes rewritten by Nick Hornby under a baking Johannesburg sun. . told with warmth, humanity and humour to burn. - Tony ParsonsAn extraordinary account of childhood in a baroque South Africa, peopled with a vast, positively Dickensian collection of people - never sentimental, extremely honest and, I found, quite unputdownable. - Emma ThompsonA truthful story brilliantly told - both funny and moving. I often had to lay the book aside to recover from laughter . . . Tim Ecott cleverly captures the feeling of an extraordinary life. - Lynne Reid Banks'Tim Ecott's story of growing up in Ireland and Africa is both haunting and funny. He writes with compassion and honesty to give us a truly memorable account of an extraordinary upbringing.' - Fergal KeaneStealing Water is a simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking portrait of poor-white family life in the twilight of apartheid. - Richard E. Grant
Tim Ecott is a journalist and a writer. Initially specialising in Africa for the BBC World Service, he now writes for a wide range of publications including The Economist", The Guardian" and Conde Nast Traveller". He was the script-writer for the much-acclaimed film, Deep Blue", and has written two books: Neutral Buoyancy" is a bestselling exploration into the underwater world, and Vanilla" is the history of the bean that changed the culinary face of the world.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780340936634 |
| ISBN 10 | 0340936630 |
| Title | Stealing Water |
| Author | Tim Ecott |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
| Year published | 2008-03-06 |
| Number of pages | 320 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |