This Time Next Year We'll Be Laughing

By: Jacqueline Winspear

Narrated by: Jacqueline Winspear

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

“Jacqueline Winspear has created a memoir of her English childhood that is every bit as engaging as her Maisie Dobbs novels, just as rich in character and detail, history and humanity. Her writing is lovely, elegant and welcoming.” (Anne Lamott)

The New York Times best-selling author of the Maisie Dobbs series offers a deeply personal memoir of her family’s resilience in the face of war and privation.

After 16 novels, Jacqueline Winspear has taken the bold step of turning to memoir, revealing the hardships and joys of her family history. Both shockingly frank and deftly restrained, her story tackles the difficult, poignant, and fascinating family accounts of her paternal grandfather’s shell shock; her mother’s evacuation from London during the Blitz; her soft-spoken animal-loving father’s torturous assignment to an explosives team during WWII; her parents’ years living with Romany gypsies; and Winspear’s own childhood picking hops and fruit on farms in rural Kent, capturing her ties to the land and her dream of being a writer at its very inception.

An eye-opening and heartfelt portrayal of a postwar England we rarely see, This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing chronicles a childhood in the English countryside, of working class indomitability and family secrets, of artistic inspiration and the price of memory.

©2020 Jacqueline Winspear (P)2020 Recorded Books, Inc.

Wonderful autobiography

I don’t normally write reviews but this book deserves one. It was amazing

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the Masie Dobbs books which I love.

Her autobiography details her challenging childhood. It’s amazing she was able to overcome everything and become the author she is today. Even though she had a hard scrabble early life she looks back with love for her family.

This is a very uplifting book & I’m grateful I listened to it.

A Vivd Look at the Life of Jackie Winspear

I loved this book As I read it I thought that it was written with a very sharp pencil so vivid was the writing. I also have enjoyed the novels she has written. I listened to the book. It was read by Jackie Winspear. Listening to her read with her English accent made the places and people she described real.

I loved this memoir!

This is a wonderful, charming memoir by one of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Winspear. she narrated her own memoir, and that made it kind of special. she shared so many interesting vignettes about her growing up years. I heartily recommend this book.

Facts less enjoyable than fiction

Disappointing. Winspear's parents were doubtless marvelous people, but their story wasn't half as much fun to read as the saga of her sweet, earnest Maisie Dobbs.

memoir that reads like a novel

I never lost interest in Winspear's memoir. It is better than her novels! Loved it!

A biography you won’t forget.

An unexpected view into the background of an exceptional storyteller. So , “pull up your socks “ and grow into your own voice! I won’t forget these lives. A gift to the reader.

Thank you!

Thank you Jacqueline. After listening to 15 of your audiobooks in another’s voice I was absolutely thrilled to be able to hear your voice with your stories of your life. It is well written as are all your other books. I truly enjoyed every word!!!

A delightful series of tales of real people

I so enjoyed listening to this in the author's own voice. Ms. Winspear is not a profesional voice-over artist, so if you're looking for the energy and drama being provided that way, you won't find it too often here. Instead, in her own words, the experiences she shares come to life as only the person who lived them, or as one so close to those who did, could portray. And for those of you who, like me, love and admire Maisie Dobbs, you may even catch a glimpse or two of her here. Brava! And thank you!

Love love love Maisie Dobbs

Did not love the memoir. Should have returned the book after listening for 30 minutes.

personal note to author, Jacqueline.

I'm a fan! I enjoyed every book on Maisie Dobbs, believing that since she's my heroine you must see her as yours too. Then I read your autobiography... and I'm not surprised that you and I have so much in common. we even share the dynamic relationship with our mothers. I too am fiercely loyal and love my mother, long since gone, however she has wounded my heart like none other. I have always forgiven her even before she withheld her emotional support for me.
I can envision us , you and I, in a cafe somewhere sharing our experiences over our favorite cupper. My DNA testing shows that I am mostly of English descent with other European influences. my father is the most English looking man I have ever seen but was raised in Idaho. I felt the bond you shared with your father as a familiar comfort in my life as well. Even Maisie Dobbs always had a safe place with her father.
I hope you have more Maisie stories for us . Thank you for sharing her with your readership. Finally I hope I'm not too bold when I offer this thought; Your mother may have known you would never forgo your loyalty to her but that's not enough of a reason to lay the burden of pain at your feet. I sense a woman who given the chance, would raise you up with only unconditional love. Furthermore, she would treasure every moment with her adult child and not sully it with her own lacking. I believe your mother has since been healed of her own trauma to the heart and is awaiting the eternities to rejoice in a fully functional relationship with you. You will know her sorrow for the mistakes made with you. She is sorry, is not adequate to express her now enlightened mind. At least this is what I believe of my earthly mother. Until we meet, your loyal friend, Melony