Bristol in the 60s and 70s was a different world. There were
no phones, certainly no mobiles, and television was something you watched at a
well-off neighbour's. This is the world that Angela Skelley remembers growing
up in and recounts in her nostalgia-steeped memoir It's Wake-Up Time. Following Angela's childhood until
she emigrated to Canada, in present-tense, clearly laid out chapters of her
life, the memoir will appeal both to readers who remember the post-war years and
those who enjoy seeing a fragment of history from someone else's eyes.





Life could be hard, Angela and her three other siblings
squashed in a tiny prefab which froze on the inside every winter. But she
recalls that, in many ways, childhood for her still shares similarities with
now: music, (front row seats at the Colston Hall to see the Beatles, for less
than a pound), dancing (more bopping than rave, but still...), weekly visits to
the cinema (lovely long sessions on a Saturday morning), boys (the good, the
bad and the ugly), and family (to inspire, love, get frustrated with, lean on
and push away from, take for granted and, eventually, to miss).





From the first forays of the grown-up world of paid work to
leaving for a new home, Angela shares her experiences in an honest, chatty
account that will alternatively have you glued to the page or chuckling with
delight.