My Life in Houses

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Sian Thomas

Margaret Forster

Sally Marmion

Justine Willett

Book of the Week: My Life in Houses: Episode 1: I Was a Lucky Girl

Episode 1

Episode 1: I Was a Lucky Girl

I Was a Lucky Girl

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, My Life in Houses, I Was a Lucky Girl

Margaret is born in the front bedroom of a sparkling new council house in Carlisle.

The 'lucky girl' dreams of other people's houses. Margaret Forster's journey through houses she's lived in. Read by Sian Thomas.

I was born on May 25, 1938, in the front bedroom of a house in Orton Road, on the outer edges of Raffles, a council estate. I was a lucky girl.'

So begins Margaret Forster's journey through the houses she's lived in, from the sparkling new council house, built as part of a utopian vision by Carlisle City Council, to her beloved London house of today, via Oxford, Hampstead and the Lake District. Forster's houses aren't just bricks and mortar, but homes which have all meant something to her and which have all had a profound effect on her - from her writer's 'room of one's own', to the family hub and finally a sanctuary in times of illness. It is also a sideways look at the life of one of the greatest contemporary British novelists.

Born in Carlisle, Margaret Forster is the author of many successful and acclaimed novels, including Have the Men Had Enough?, Lady's Maid, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, Is There Anything You Want?, Keeping the World Away, and Over, bestselling memoirs (Hidden Lives and Precious Lives) and biographies. She is married to writer and journalist Hunter Davies and lives in London and the Lake District.

Read by Sian Thomas. 

Writer: Margaret Forster
Abridger: Sally Marmion

Producer: Justine Willett

First broadcast on BBC Radio in November 2014.

Book of the Week: My Life in Houses

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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Factual: Life Stories

Margaret Forster's journey through the houses she has lived in and loved.

Sian Thomas reads Margaret Forster's journey through the houses she has lived in and loved.

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