'First class family drama… Tales of rivalry, love, drugs and
difficult births litter the singer-songwriters gripping account of
life in a dysfunctional music dynasty… very little feels off-limits
in this slim but jam-packed book, full of very good times in the
circus that is a performer’s life as well as very bad times... This
is a memoir full of talented, headstrong people recycling their
pain as songcraft; of ambitions pursued or curtailed, and of love
frequently tinged with other things – rivalry, frustration, not
measuring up. For all the epigenetic baggage, though, it is above
all the story of Wainwright’s gutsy, instinctual pursuit of her own
muse.'
*Observer*
'A hilariously candid memoir … the revered singer-songwriter’s
autobiography shows her to be one of a kind… Acerbic, often
hilarious and more candid that it should be… her transparency is
the book’s golden ticket… In short, she has had a life worth
documenting. At the end of 244 remarkable pages, she signs off with
a typical self-effacing line: “Perhaps I am someone whose luck gets
better halfway though. That would be good.” It would be good, and
she would deserve it.'
*Guardian*
'Witty and honest… Like her music, Wainwright’s searingly honest
and entirely charming memoir, aptly titled Stories I Might Regret
Telling You, dissects these familial bonds and her bohemian
childhood… Wainwright, a mother of two, writes movingly about
relationships, divorce, the termination of pregnancy and the
trials, tribulations and rewards of having children.'
*Press Association*
‘With disarming candour and courage, Martha tells us of finding her
own voice and peace as a working artist and mother. Her story is
made more unique because of the remarkably gifted musical family
she was born into.’
*Emmylou Harris*
'It’s like reading extremely private diary entries through your
laced fingers. From page one, chapter one, Wainwright pulls no
punches (her father, singer Loudon Wainwright III, informed his
daughter when she was a teenager that “he didn’t want me at first
and pressured my mother to have an abortion”). It continues with
equal measures of directness and poignancy … . Neither the industry
in which she works nor her family gets off lightly, and that
includes Wainwright herself, who is to candid self-reflection as a
moth is to a flame. The family ties, however, are the most
vicariously gratifying to read … Confessional and
contemplative to the nth degree, you won’t regret reading it,
either.'
*Irish Times*
‘I have been listening to Martha Wainwright for at least twenty
years, admiring her from afar. Her new memoir, Stories I Might
Regret Telling You, made me feel like I was sitting in a corner of
one of her New York apartments, reading her private diaries under a
blanket with a flashlight . . . I was sucked in from the first
page, though occasionally I winced because it was all so relatable
. . . I turned the last page and felt like I had made a new friend,
the kind you wish you were cool enough to have but never had the
courage to pursue. My only disappointment? Her memoir wasn’t long
enough. I can’t wait for volume two.’
*Jann Arden, singer, songwriter, TV star and bestselling
author*
‘What a wonderful gift this book is! Martha Wainwright has opened
the door to let us into the fabled, glamorous family that is the
McGarrigle-Wainwrights and reveals what it is like to be the black
sheep of the bunch, the earnest, glorious underachiever who has
always been the most loveable of them all. Her warm, rich writing
displays the sweetness her songwriting possesses and, at the same
time, is filled with the humor, panache and gutsy feminism of
her live performances. Wainwright shows us how a big, dysfunctional
brood can also be a blessing, filled with gifts that make the heart
grow bigger. A surprising and brilliantly relatable
book.’
*Heather O'Neill, bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts
Hotel*
‘A beautiful and clear-eyed memoir, full of music, friendship,
love, and heartache. Somehow at once sizzling and wise, as
undeniable as the singer who wrote it.’
*Sean Michaels, Scotiabank Giller Prize–winning novelist and
founder of Said the Gramophone*
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