Biography 'A stab at truth': my grandmother and the problem with family histories Secrets, missing pieces and shocking opinions: writing a family’s story is never simple. Aida Edemariam’s book tells the story of the life of her grandmother, pictured in the late 1930s. ‘You can only write it once’” – which is true both for Michael, and perhaps for his whole family. But in a memoir you can deal with it.”There is still the problem of voice, which is another version of the problem of ownership. It’s certainly, says Lee, “rather mysterious and self-concealing – most people would be telling the story of their family because of themselves”.

Source: The Guardian February 12, 2018 06:00 UTC