The Photographer at Sixteen

A truly remarkable book about identity, image and memory. It is fiercely compelling.

Szirtes uses his poet’s eye to build images and details that bring his mother superbly to life … [this] is a beautifully written and utterly compelling narrative. - Sunday Times

In this extraordinary, hybrid book - part memoir, part history, part poetic journey - Szirtes re-makes the life of his mother, tracing her childhood in Europe’s darkest period to her life in Britain after the Hungarian uprising. He brilliantly captures how sometimes it’s those closest to us who remain the most mysterious.

Unforgettably sad … Szirtes has made [his mother’s] monument. It is a courageous and remarkable achievement. I’ve read no memoir that moved me more. - Financial Times

In this quest to understand the enigma of his mother ’s life and death, George Szirtes travels back from personal memory to deeper history, as he reconstructs his family’s tragedy-darkened past … An original, probingly thoughtful memoir whose restraint only increases its poignancy and impact

A book full of warmth, grief, curiosity, wisdom, staggering anecdotes and a coming to terms with the vicissitudes of 20th-century history … [a] highly original telling of the author’s mother’s life and the heartrending events through which she lived. - New European

[An] exquisitely told memoir … By telling the story of his mother’s life backwards Szirtes has performed a sort of conjuring trick … Not simply a memoir but a hybrid of history and biography interspersed with photographs, poems and several standout moments - Spectator

As isolated snapshots build into a family portrait, and a historical fresco, we grasp the wider picture … beautiful, devastating - Arts Desk