Ammonites and Leaping Fish

'Sharp, unsentimental and ruefully funny. A fascinating portrait not only of Lively but of the times through which she has lived' Daily Telegraph

'Clever and poignant . . . there is much to enjoy. This is Lively at her best' Sunday Express

In this powerful and compelling 'view from old age', Penelope Lively, at eighty, reports back on what she finds. There are meditations on what it is like to be old as well as on how memory shapes us. There are intriguing examinations of key personal as well as historical moments she has lived through and her thoughts on her own bookishness - both as reader and writer. Lastly, she turns to six treasured possessions to speak eloquently about who she is and where she's been - fragments of memories from a life well lived.

'A superb study of memory and of her own voyage into the ninth decade of her life. Lively is a compelling, vitally interested witness to time past' Helen Dunmore, Observer, Books of the Year

'Enthralling. Will delight all those who love Lively's novels' Daily Mail