Romany and Tom: A Memoir (Paperback)

Neither sentimental nor savage, yet often wise, moving and entertaining within the same paragraph, Romany and Tom is a major achievement to rival any of Watt's recordings You know when everyone last month was going 'Ben Watt's Romany & Tom is amazing?' I've just read it. It really is Romany and Tom may be the most beguiling book you’ll read all year ... He has a songwriter’s gift for the deft phrase, while his powers of observation and recall are quite extraordinary ... Rather like Watt’s musical compositions ... this book is at once downbeat and uplifting A poignant, life-affirming work INCREDIBLE … I read it in two huge gulps. It’s funny, incredibly moving, beautifully written, really thought-provoking Forget Morrissey: Romany & Tom is the most beautiful, compelling memoir by a musician you’ll read for a very long time [An] elegantly written and clear-sighted memoir ... Romany and Tom is a tender work infused with the understanding that this is the final chapter of two rich and complex lives ... Watt’s reluctance to sentimentalise the experience makes it that much more powerful, cutting to the heart of the frustrations that come with caring for one’s parents who were, not long ago, just like us It is a beautiful book, a story which will resonate with many and in many different ways. There are moments when I laughed and parts when I had to stop reading for a bit, draw breath and then continue Watt has written about personal trauma before in his 1996 memoir Patient. This … pulses with the same combination of clarity and kindness. Unsentimental and humane Closely observed, brilliantly written and unsparing As a DJ and one half of Everything But The Girl (with his partner Tracey Thorn), Ben Watt knows better than most the impact fame can have on identity. But in his poignant new memoir, Romany and Tom, he channels that knowledge through his parents’ lives Moving and evocative