Backwards to forwards

Echoing the erratic shape of remembrance, Kevin Ireland's second volume of memoirs is 'derived from impressions, conversations, anecdotes and poems, and its vague focus is a trip to Eastern Europe', which he took by chance in 1959. Leading indirectly and haphazardly towards and away from this single happening - leaping from London to Bulgaria to New Zealand and back - it explores the process of recollection itself. Outlining Kevin's experiences of friends, love and work - in such diverse places as a 'translation polishing' office in Bulgaria and the 'revisionists' department of The Times - this book shows the growth of a writer and his unique perceptions of the 1950s, 60s and beyond.