An intimate, powerful, and inspiring memoir;15 million copies sold worldwide
Michelle Obama served as First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Mrs. Obama started her career as an attorney at the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she met her future husband, Barack Obama. She later worked in the Chicago mayor's office, at the University of Chicago, and at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Mrs. Obama also founded the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an organization that prepares young people for careers in public service. She is the author of the #1 global bestseller Becoming and the #1 national bestseller American Grown. The Obamas currently live in Washington, D.C., and have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.
A literary phenomenon
*Guardian*
Intimate, inspiring and set to become hugely influential
*Sunday Times*
Inspirational without trying to be . . . a coming-of-age tale, a
love story and a family saga all in one
*TIME*
This revealing memoir offers new insights into her upbringing on
the south side of Chicago and the highs and lows of life with
Barack Obama. . . Becoming is a 400-page expansion of this
essential doctrine ['when they go low, we go high'], without
compromising a refreshing level of honesty
*Guardian*
An inspirational memoir that also rings true
*Daily Telegraph, Five Stars*
This is a rich, entertaining and candid memoir. And overall she's a
fun person to sit alongside as she tells you the story of her life,
warts and all. . . it is as beautifully written as any piece of
fiction
*i, Five Stars*
In the best moments of Becoming, the miracle of Michelle Obama
arises
*Vanity Fair*
Obama's memoir is a genuine page-turner, full of intimacies and
reflections. . . Allied to this candour is a steeliness of purpose.
It is no exaggeration to say that every page of this book is,
explicitly or otherwise, a reproach to Donald Trump, and a
call-to-arms to those who would defeat the 45th President and all
that he stands for
*Evening Standard*
I found myself lifting my jaw from my chest at the end of every
other chapter, not because of any seedy insight into stories I'd
always wondered about, but because, armed as I was with knowledge
about her career, her mannerisms, and even her elbow-heavy dancing,
this was not the Obama I thought I knew. She was more
*Independent*
Inspiring. . . After 421 pages of Becoming, I closed the book
hoping that one day she would use her formidable intelligence,
humanity - and humour - to offer a more tangible vision for how
America might fight the rising tides of polarisation and hate
*Financial Times*
Open and engaging. . . Obama writes with candour about the good
times and bad
*Daily Express*
Of course, Becoming is Michelle Obama's story, of how she moved
from a girl on the South Side of Chicago to becoming one of the
most powerful women in the world. But in the final pages of the
book, Obama writes, "It's all a process, steps along a path.
Becoming requires equal parts patience and rigor." Here, Obama is
pushing us to reckon with our own becomings - to realise our own
story and to have the power to tell it
*The Pool*
She's a woman we've all fallen in love with because she radiates
joy and wisdom, and Becoming encapsulates this perfectly. It's also
deeply honest - reading it makes you feel as though she's your
close friend opening up to you
*Red Online*
[A] polished pearl of a memoir
*New York Times*
Obama writes with a refreshing candor
*The Atlantic*
This beautifully written memoir... Twenty-five years ago she fell
in love with a driven idealist, a man determined not to accept the
world as it was. She feared his forceful intellect and ambition
might swallow hers; instead, she found her voice
*Sunday Times*
Becoming serenely balances gravity and grace, uplift and
anecdote.... Becoming is frequently funny, sometimes indignant or
enraged, and when Michelle describes her father's early death from
multiple sclerosis it turns rawly emotional
*Observer*
This is a vivid and interesting account and all of that is to her
credit. I certainly thought better of her by the end: she has put
her heart into this
*The Times*
This is undeniably a political book, both a fierce critique of
Donald Trump's administration's politics of hatred and a powerful
remind of a better, more compassionate America
*Metro*
Candid, engaging. . . To read her reflections is to recall and hope
for a better America. Mrs Obama pulls back the curtains around
their lives in a way she could not while Mr Obama was in office.
Besides her lovely turn of phrase, she is a gifted and empathetic
observer
*The Economist*
Deeply moving. . . Becoming is fundamentally about how to be a
person in the world, how to live a purposeful life, and how to use
the chances you have been given
*New Stateman*
Her wonderful candid and affecting autobiography, Becoming. . .
brims over with such emotional truthfulness. . .what a tale. With
its generosity of spirit, self-knowledge and hope, it is the
perfected antidote to the man who now lives in the White House. A
plangent, defiant, honest and uplifting book
*Sunday Telegraph, Five Stars*
What a memoir. What a woman.
*Spectator*
This brilliantly written and emotionally authentic memoir fills in
some important gaps...not just a fascinating read but a genuinely
moving one too
*Mail on Sunday, Five Stars*
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