This title presents a hugely moving and affecting literary memoir of adoption, secrets and the need to belong. "Mother Country" evokes a magical childhood spent in transit between Notting Hill Gate and a decrepit houseboat on the banks of the Thames. It is a detective quest, as Harding searches through the public record for a clue about his natural mother, and a rich social history of a lost London from the 1950s. "Mother Country" is a powerful true story, full of thrilling revelations, comic confusion and tender memories, about a man looking for the mother he'd never known and finding out how little he'd understood about the one he'd grown up with.

'Amusing, wry and often thought-provoking . . . its greatest rewards are to be found in the subtle changes which occur in Alex and the people he encounters as he gets ever closer to discovering the truth.'

'A thoughtful and entertaining read.'

'contemporary and assured . . . There is a hint of Henry James in the lonely, bright and kindly young man from America'

'For three-quarters of its course, the novel is pure late Shakespeare . . . A comedy of manners . . . drawn with skill and humour.'