Structural summary of the memoir

The following table summarises the structure of the book, according to the sections, chapters and page numbers of the book. In addition, the table provides the year/s in which the respective events occured (“n/s” = not stated) and Lemn Sissay’s age at the time. As the table indicates, the book progresses in a mostly chronological order except for the Preface.

Section	Chapter	Pages	Years	Age
PREFACE		1–2	2015	18 & 48
FOSTER PARENTS
	1	3–14	1967, 1968	6wks, 228dys
	2	15–20	1968
	3	21–26	1974	7
	4	27–30	n/s	9
	5	31–33	1975	8
	6	35–37	n/s	n/s
	7	39–44	n/s	7–12
	8	45–47	1975	9
	9	49–51	n/s	n/s
	10	53–54	1978	10
	11	55–58	1973 – 1978	8, 11
	12	59–64	1978 – 1979	12
	13	65–67	1979 – 1980	n/s
WOODFIELDS	14	71–78	1980	12
	15	79–84	1980	n/s
	16	85–89	1980	n/s
	17	91–94	n/s	12
	18	95–98	1981	14
GREGORY AVENUE	19	101–104	1981	14
	20	105–109	1981	n/s
	21	111–114	1982–1983	15
	22	115–118	1983	n/s
	23	119–121	n/s	n/s
	24	123–128	1983–	n/s
	25	129–138	1968, 1974, 1982
	26	139–142	1984	n/s
OAKLANDS	27	145–158	1984	12, 16, 17
WOOD END	28	161–172	1984, 2013-2015
	29	173–179	1984
	30	181–189	1984, 1985
EPILOGUE		p191

In terms of the content of chapters, chapters comprise:

• Textual content, in which Lemn Sissay shares his memories and opinions on his past.
• Documentary evidence, i.e., scans of letters and of parts of reports that were written about him and filed.
• Some photos, e.g., of Lemn.