Eight Weeks

Lola Young went into foster care at eight weeks old: few might have predicted she would go on to become one of the first Black women in the House of Lords. This memoir is the moving story of someone who is only now making sense of her childhood and journey that followed * inews, The best new books to read in November 2024 *As an account of growing up in care, Eight Weeks is unsentimental and extremely clear-sighted * The Independent *A remarkable book: at once beautiful and harrowing, deeply unsettling and profoundly life-affirming. It is, quite simply, the best memoir that I’ve read on 50s Britain * John Akomfrah *A remarkable account of rejection, resilience and resolve … It perfectly portrays the essential human need to belong * Michelle Gayle *I love Eight Weeks … Baroness Lola Young reveals how a child is constantly wronged by a system which was supposed to help … In Eight Weeks Lola befriends her childhood self. She holds her by the hand as they enter the storm of a system raging around her. I am in awe of the woman who grew from the child in this book … The pure character necessary to grow through this dark entangled forest of childhood is the stuff of legends. Bravissima Lola * Lemn Sissay, author of My Name is Why *A superb, moving memoir of a fraught childhood forging a great human spirit. Inspirational! * Helena Kennedy LT KC *Lola Young takes us on a remarkable journey, both personal and political, that few have travelled but all can relate to. An inspiring story from an inspirational storyteller. * Gary Younge *This is a remarkable story about a remarkable woman. An eight-week old baby effectively abandoned by her Nigerian parents, raised in foster care and a series of children’s homes, endures loss, loneliness, racism, trauma and depression to become a peer of the realm. It is a hopeful and uplifting story about resilience and self-reliance, simultaneously a memoir and a book about memory: some memories being vague and incomplete, others told in graphic, almost cinematic detail. We may be explained in some sense by our memories, but Baroness Lola Young has valiantly and brilliantly shown that we need not be defined by them. * Hugh Quarshie *From growing up in foster care in north London to becoming one of the first Black women to enter the House of Lords, Baroness Lola Young’s memoir is a fascinating account of a life spent questioning her complex past while working as an activist, academic and actor. An eye-opening read. * Stylist *‘An inspirational and riveting story, Baroness Young’s quest to unravel the mystery of why she was placed in care as a baby is both moving and witty’ * The House Magazine *

Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey became one of the first Black Women members of the House of Lords in 2004. Raised in foster care in north London, she studied at the New College of Speech and Drama, then worked as an actress, before becoming Professor of Cultural Studies at Middlesex University. Later, she worked in arts administration before receiving an OBE in 2001 and becoming an independent crossbench member of the House of Lords. She is active in campaigns on modern slavery and ethical fashion. In 2017 she was on the Man Booker Prize judging panel, and she is also Chancellor of the University of Nottingham.