Stories I Might Regret Telling You

A Memoir

By: Martha Wainwright

Narrated by: Martha Wainwright

Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

The singer-songwriter’s heartfelt memoir about growing up in a bohemian musical family and her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, the music industry, and more.

Born into music royalty, the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and sister to the highly acclaimed, genre-defying singer Rufus Wainwright, Martha grew up in a world filled with incomparable musical legends—Anna McGarrigle, Leonard Cohen, Suzzy Roche, Richard and Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris—and struggled to find her voice in a milieu in which every drama was refracted through song. Then, in 2005, she released her critically acclaimed debut album, Martha Wainwright, containing the blistering hit, “Bloody Mother F*cking Asshole,” which the Sunday Times called one of the best songs of that year. That release, and the albums that followed, such as Come Home to Mama and I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too, showcased Martha’s searing songwriting style and established her as a powerful voice to be reckoned with.

Martha digs into her life with the same emotional honesty that has come to define her music. She describes her tumultuous public-facing journey from awkward, earnest, and ultimately rebellious daughter, through her intense competition and ultimate alliance with her brother, Rufus, to finding her voice as an artist and the indescribable loss of their mother, Kate. With candor and grace, Martha writes of becoming a mother herself, finally understanding and facing the challenge of being a female artist with children. Stories I Might Regret Telling You is a thoughtful, moving account of the extraordinary life of one of the most talented singer-songwriters in music today.

©2022 Martha Wainwright (P)2022 Random House of Canada

Critic reviews

“A beautiful and clear-eyed memoir, full of music, friendship, love and heartache. Somehow at once sizzling and wise, as undeniable as the singer who wrote it.” (Sean Michaels, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novelist and founder of Said the Gramophone)

“Stories I Might Regret Telling You made me feel like I was sitting in a corner of one of [Wainwright’s] New York apartments, reading her private diaries under a blanket with a flashlight. Martha writes like a soldier in the trenches sending word home, not knowing whether she will live or die, bringing uncomfortable, sometimes unbearable, honesty to bear. I was sucked in from the first page, though occasionally I winced because it was all so relatable. A casual sadness strings itself through her story of becoming herself, taking no prisoners, casting regret aside like a cigarette. I kept rereading certain sentences thinking they would make such wonderful songs. This entire memoir is a song. I turned the last page and felt like I had made a new friend, the kind you wish you were cool enough to have but never had the courage to pursue.” (Jann Arden, singer, songwriter, TV star and best-selling author)

“What a wonderful gift this book is! Martha Wainwright has opened the door to let us into the fabled glamorous family that is the McGarrigle-Wainwrights and reveals what it is like to be the black sheep of the bunch, the glorious earnest under-achiever who has always been the most loveable of them all. Her warm, rich writing displays the sweetness her songwriting possesses and, at the same time, is filled with the humor, panache and gutsy feminism of her live performances. Wainwright shows us how a big, dysfunctional brood can also be a blessing, filled with gifts that make the heart grow bigger. A surprising and brilliantly relatable book.” (Heather O’Neill, best-selling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel)