"Harding is a conjurer. Give him a long-since demolished stairwell, and he'll give you a world--its sound, its smell, the feeling that you could stumble upon it still."--Rachel Cooke, Observer "Stunning."--Amanda Heller, Boston Globe "Beautifully written, funny and sad, this book is simply captivating."--Cressida Connolly, Daily Telegraph "Fluid and invigorating . a delicate and absorbing account of Harding's investigation into the circumstances of his adoption."--John Palattella, Nation "Harding's story is that of an adopted boy growing up in London, and his decision later to search for his natural mother. Readers get a detailed chronicle of the search and its ramifications, turning up hidden facets of the family Harding thought he knew.

"-- Library Journal "An able, imaginative work of kinship and family."-- Kirkus "Its colorful, insightful revelations about his adoptive parents and compelling discoveries about his birth mother give this slender memoir a special magic and beauty that will grip the reader long after the final page is turned."-- Publishers Weekly.