The Liars' Club

‘You’ll want to forget it and won’t be able to’ – Zadie Smith

‘The essential American story’ – The Washington Post

My father comes into focus for me on a Liars’ Club afternoon. He sits at a wobbly card table weighed down by a bottle. Even now the scene seems so real to me that I can’t but write it in the present tense.

Mary Karr grew up in a swampy East Texas refinery town in a volatile and defiantly loving family. In this funny, devastating, haunting memoir and with a raw and often painful honesty, she looks back at life with a painter mother, seven times married, whose outlaw spirit could tip over into psychosis, and a hard-drinking, fist-swinging father who liked nothing better than to spin tales with his cronies at the Liars’ Club.

When it was published in 1995, The Liars’ Club raised the art of memoir to a new level and brought about a dramatic revival of the form. It is a classic that paints a harsh world redeemed by Karr’s warmth, intelligent humour and finely spun prose. The Liars’ Club is both heart-stopping and heart-felt.

‘Extraordinary’ – The Guardian
‘Exceptionally powerful’ – The Observer
‘Utterly gripping’ – The Sunday Times

Part of the Picador Collection, showcasing the best of modern literature.

You'll want to forget it and won't be able to. Zadie Smith
The essential American story The Washington Post
Harrowing but funny . . . Through it all shines humour, warmth and genuine love. The Sunday Times
Extraordinary The Guardian
Astonishing . . . One of the most dazzling and moving memoirs to come along in years. The New York Times
Exceptionally powerful The Observer
Breathtakingly shrewd and loving The Independent
Utterly Gripping -- Margaret Forster, The Sunday Times

A poet and essayist, Mary Karr lives in New York State.

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