Memoirs with Topping & Co

David Sheff — Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction

“What had happened to my beautiful boy? To our family? What did I do wrong?”

This memoir inspired the award-winning film Beautiful Boy, starring Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carrell, and follows a family’s struggle with drugs and the catastrophic way that they can destroy relationships and futures. David Sheff details his son Nic’s childhood, endlessly retracing moments and decisions to try and determine where it all began while consulting with top addiction experts to craft a haunting and educational depiction of methamphetamine addiction.

Set against the headlands of San Francisco, the Sheffs welcome readers into their lives and the reality of addiction, perseverance, and parental love, against all odds. Full of intense highs and lows (both metaphorically and literally), this memoir will have you gripping your seat for its duration and will leave you with a much deeper understanding of the nature of addiction.

Recommendation by Ilaria

Katriona O’Sullivan – Poor

Too many memoirs, it seems, are an offensively obvious money grab from soon-fading celebrities. Others are so niche and unrepeatable that one wonders why the publisher decided to bring it to print in the first place. However, Katriona O’Sullivan’s Poor is neither. The book takes us from her early life battling abject poverty and becoming a mother at 15, to how she - through the lifeline of education - turned her life around, graduated from Trinity College Dublin, and became an award-winning lecturer. As heart-wrenching as her childhood is, at no point does this slip into being a sob story you might brush off as an attention-grabbing Daily Mail headline. O’Sullivan’s story lingers with you. It lives on as a call to action to provide better safety nets for those most vulnerable in society: to do better for that little girl grinning up at you from the front cover.

Recommendation by Sofia

Dolly Alderton – Everything I Know About Love

Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton is a heartfelt and humorous memoir that dives into friendship, romance, and self-discovery. Through a series of anecdotes, Alderton captures the messy, exhilarating and often depressing process of growing up, touching on everything she has experienced, from disastrous dates to the steady comfort she found in her close friendships. Her writing is highly vulnerable, making it easy to connect with her reflections on love in all its forms. Alderton’s honesty about her struggles with self-worth, identity, and relationships gives this book the authenticity that resonates, especially for young adults navigating similar questions and experiences. While primarily a memoir, it reads like a candid guide to life, balancing laugh-out-loud moments with deeply poignant insights. For anyone who’s ever felt lost in love or friendship, Everything I Know About Love offers comfort and camaraderie. It’s a relatable, empowering read that truly sticks with you.

Recommendation by Paula