A VIVID AND HAUNTING COMING OF AGE MEMOIR SET IN PARIS IN THE 1980s

Originally published to widespread critical acclaim, this luminously honest book chronicles the pain of growing up in an illustrious yet dysfunctional family

In this vivid, haunting and luminously original coming-of-age memoir set in 1980s Paris, Alba Arikha chronicles her experience of growing up in an artistic yet dysfunctional family. Her father was the artist, Avigdor Arikha; her mother the poet, Anne Atik; her godfather, Samuel Beckett. Their apartment, where Alba and her sister grew up, was a hub of literary and artistic achievement which still reverberates today. Alba’s tale is played out against the family memories of war and exile and the ever-present echoes of the Holocaust.

Praise for Major/Minor…

‘This is a fiercely honest and compelling account of what it is to grow up in an artistic household…’ John Banville

An unusually affecting book about the rage and rebellion of a stormy adolescence… I read it straight through in a single sitting – unable to stop.’ Paul Auster

‘This is a truly remarkable book.’ Edmund de Waal

Alba Arikha was born and raised in Paris. Her previous books include Soon (CB Editions), Muse (Pan Macmillan) and Walking on Ice (Pan Macmillan). She has an MFA from Columbia University and lives in London.