Backwards to forwards

the long version

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.