It's wonderful and so well written. I grew up queer in a council estate in Bradford, it was a lot less violent, but my parents have personality disorders so the abuse was very psychological. Thanks for writing it. I've had several friends order it this morning. A must read for queer working class alumni.

If I tell you that Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun, Andrew O'Hagan's Mayflies, and Juno Roche's A Working Class Family Ages Badly are my standout books of this year, then you will know how good this is. Juno Roche writes very intimately about her own experience but at at the same time her viscerally honest and often hilarious observations somehow encapsulate a wide view of the human condition. Nothing is wasted in this book but there are still standout passages; a telephone call with her mother which says everything there is to say about the complexities of familial love; a trip to Egypt, with life and judgement hostage to drugs at that time, which is deeply personal and could be just too bleak, but somehow Juno makes it read at times like a comedy sketch. Juno has lived an interesting life, her writing is intelligent, and entertaining, she is frank and funny, but most of all she shares herself and her humanity with the reader, and that at times is difficult, is hilarious, is sad, is humbling, and in the end is the mark of a damned fine writer.

I honestly have no words for this book but I’m going to try my best. What an open and thought-provoking piece of literature. So much I resonated with and the pats I didn’t were profoundly informative. Such an important book for the working class voice, I think we will all be able to see something of our lives in Juno Roche’s stories.

Roche writes with expert precision, making the beauty in the language stark and addictive. I honestly underlinded so many parts of this book, I think I've made a note on every page. It's a story many of us understand, the violence of poverty but Roche writes in such an accessible way, that even those who don't understand what it means to grow up with nowt would find solace in this book. Brave, beautiful and starkly honest. You must read now!

Another wonderful book from Juno. This details her journey from a working-class family in Southwark, via teaching, to a writer in the Spanish village she loves.