Yes, I've read another book about his late parents by a middle-aged man! What does this say about me? Anyway, I preferred this to Blake Morrison's similar 'Things my mother never told me'.John Lanchester's mother is the most extraordinary character. She became a nun, treaching for many years in India, before finally leaving when she was 40. When she met her future husband later that year and discovered that he was desperate to have children she lied about her age - in fact she took 10 years off it. When she needed a birth certificate she took on her younger sister's identity and kept the lie going for the rest of her life!
In comparison John's father is inevitably a less vivid character
The whole issue of identity and the search for meaning in one's life is central to what I found a fascinating book.
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