A memoir of my former selfAs well as her celebrated career as a novelist, Hilary Mantel long contributed to newspapers and journals, unspooling stories from her own life and illuminating the world as she found it. This strand of her writing was an integral part of how she thought of herself. 'A Memoir of My Former Self' collects the finest of this writing over four decades. Mantel's subjects are wide ranging. She discusses nationalism and her own sense of belonging; our dream

and yet no political party of the right or left is providing us with answers

were seen as impecunious and incompetent

leading to ethnic cleansing

how to relate to others and how to make ourselves get out of bed in the morning

and somehow stumbling into hill farming along the way

'On nearly every page a random passage takes one's breath away' The Times

and confrontations that ended with her dad wielding the meat cleaver

but they will too

she robs from the rich to help the poor

There have been dozens of books and films about the Angels

They are to be her charges for a month: a boy and two girls badly in need of some love

various ethnic groups have passed through Samarkand