John Hedge was brought up, very largely, in a traditional English pub (the 'bright bar'). Less traditional were the bitter rows between his loving but troubled publican parents, who sent him away for a Masonic boarding school education in the misguided belief that he would be happier away from the booze and the brickbats. Though this was meant for the best, it left him scarred by the oppressive, secretive culture of 'Ston' to the extent that in his teens he endured a catastrophicbreakdown. In looking back from his peaceful later years to life with his loving, blundering and ill-fated parents, he has given us a moving and beautifully written memoir