My History: A Memoir of Growing Up

The childhood and early life memoir of Antonia Fraser, one of our finest narrative historians. Antonia Fraser’s magical memoir describes growing up in the 1930s and ’40s, but its real concern is with her growing love of history. A fascination that began with reading Our Island Story and her evacuation to an Elizabethan manor house at the beginning of the Second World War soon developed into an enduring passion, becoming, in her own words, ‘an essential part of the enjoyment of life’. My History follows Antonia’s relationship with her family: she was the eldest of eight children. Her parents Frank and Elizabeth Pakenham, later Lord and Lady Longford, were both Labour politicians. Then there are her adventures as a self-made debutante before Oxford University and a fortunate coincidence that leads to her working in publishing. It closes with the publication of her first major historical work, Mary Queen of Scots – a book that became a worldwide bestseller. Told with inimitable humour and style, this is an unforgettable account of one person’s journey towards becoming a writer – and a historian.