‘So much of it seemed very familiar to my own struggles and wow moments.’
Thank You
Your order has been received and it will be packed and shipped as soon as possible.
In the mean time if you have any questions please contact Brian.
Your order has been received and it will be packed and shipped as soon as possible.
In the mean time if you have any questions please contact Brian.
‘So much of it seemed very familiar to my own struggles and wow moments.’
‘I liked the surprise of it, the feeling that anything could happen. There is a time in life when one enters any open door. I guess that’s how you grow up.’
‘An utterly readable account of a memorable ‘ordinary’ environment. Uncle Vic is a ‘funny bugger’ with a Conradian outlook. ‘Uncle’ Stan is wonderfully disreputable. A charming book…as tender a maternal portrait as you will ever read.’
‘A classic. A lovely book.’
'I enjoyed A Saucepan in the Sky immensely – it stirred filed-away memories and refreshed the affection held for early relationships.’
‘An absolutely delightful read…fascinating.’
‘This is the first time in my long life that I have felt IMPELLED to convey to a writer my opinion of his/her work. I began reading A Saucepan in the Sky at 6 am and finished it at 11.30 am. Couldn’t put it down. Haven’t been able to do anything else since then except think about it and read extracts to my husband over tea and lunch breaks.’
‘Thank you for your story and your style.’
'Highly entertaining.'
‘It has everything: humour, pathos, history, laughter, tears.’
‘A wonderful story beautifully told.’
‘Brian Nicholls creates an array of memorable characters. A lack of sentimentality is a strength of both McCourt’s (Angela’s Ashes) and Nicholls' memoir, but the national humour and idioms of A Saucepan in the Sky stand out as unmistakably Australian.’
‘I really did enjoy it and – the mark of a good book – I definitely did not want it to end.’
‘Had me in fits of laughter in the train en route to work.’
'The world that Nicholls evokes is vivid, full of laughter, triumph and tears.’
‘Never a dull moment.’
‘I laughed the whole afternoon as I read it. How delightful in this grim world to find such humour.’
‘Nostalgic as well as immediate… and thoroughly engrossing.’
‘I particularly empathised with the days which for no reason at all become mood days and that thing about times where nothing “happens”.’
‘Dry, witty, sad, funny and amazingly frank.’
‘Simple experiences imbued with charm… dilemmas presented clearly in a way that should strike chords of recognition…this is worth reading’
‘Comic and loving…the reader is hooked from the beginning. You’ll want to raise your glass to Brian and his gang of relatives.'
‘Some of the book was comfortably close to home for me: some uncomfortably so.’
‘Paints a vivid picture of a colourful extended family. A compelling tale.’
'What a mixture! An awkward Aussie, a few screwball mates and four fascinating women. I don't think I've ever read a book before that so revealingly describes the influence a woman can have on a man - for better and for worse!'
‘Your book is an affirmation of something or other that is probably too big to put a label on.’
‘Wanderlust talks about things that people think but do not say.’
‘I absolutely enjoyed your book and couldn’t put it down. I had so many laughs along the way.’
‘An absolutely delightful read from beginning to end. Funny, moving, insightful – and your authorial voice instantly appealed to me.’
‘Details the mapping of a moral universe…a wry, humorous approach to living. ‘Uncle’ Stan is my all-time favourite character – a man with a unique worldview. I thoroughly recommend it.’
'Philosophical but not academic. A good read. A tribute to women.'
‘I really liked the subtext as well as the story.’
‘A Saucepan in the Sky has a lot more going for it than just a great title. Nicholls gets the child’s voice just right, no mean feat without getting mawkish.'
‘I’m definitely going to be reading your book over and over because as well as the history behind it there are the constant stories of mischief and humour.’
‘I reluctantly read the last page and immediately wished for more.’
‘Your book has helped me understand the men in my life so much more… and recognise the enormous value of parenting and mentoring the unique nature of boys.’
'The humour and the entertaining bits make one laugh out loud, but underlying this is the layer of pathos and longing. Hyperbole confronts understatement; sensitive and poetic passages of intense sympathy contrast with brutal reality.'
'Many of us have memories of our own innocence abroad.'
The ClarrieMay Publishing photo-logo shows Brian’s father Clarence George Nicholls (1915-2004) and mother Eileen May Nicholls (nee Hudson) (1919-1989) on their honeymoon at Luna Park, Sydney in 1935.
They were married for over fifty years. They survived many set-backs and difficult years including the Great Depression of 1929-1933, and long separations during the Second World War.
They are major influences in Brian’s childhood memoir A Saucepan in the Sky.