A Lie About My Father

This account of a failed father-son relationship is written with extraordinary beauty and insight... His is a profound meditation on the life of the spirit, and the shadows we all carry in our hearts

Bel Mooney, The Times

Marvellously written scenes...few people write more hauntingly... His prose has a poet's delicacy and fine-honed precision

Tim Jeal, Daily Telegraph

Anyone who has read Gosse, Ackerley or Tobias Wolff will know that big books can be made about small-time fathers. It's a tribute to Burnside that he maps this same territory and prompts these comparisons while creating a story that is uniquely his

Blake Morrison, Guardian

This is a haunting read that will linger long after you close the pages of this book

Michelle Stanistreet, Daily Express

Destined to become a classic of Scots childhood... A beautiful read, but also a brutal one

Scotland on Sunday

Superbly written; poetic in the best sense, summoning up a world of terror and beauty

Literary Review

[An] exquisitely written memoir

Paul Bailey, Sunday Times

Burnside's prose is a delight...Memoir this good illuminates something larger than itself. It is an exercise in understanding compassion and forgiveness

Melanie McGrath, Sunday Telegraph

An exceptional book... A brilliant feat of sympathy and imagination

Financial Times

Compelling and profoundly moving... This exquisitely written memoir is, literally, a journey into a heart of darkness - a darkness here lit up by beauty and truth

Independent