Broken Greek

...you'll be enthralled by Paphides' funny, warm and sometimes heartbreaking account of how life-affirming music can be

Telegraph

A perceptive writer, brilliant on bittersweet details... this is a plaintive account of cultural assimilation that is also brilliantly, honestly funny

Mojo

A damn-near perfect book

The Arts Desk

A book that will leave you smiling

Independent

Wonderful

Q Magazine

If you have ever... found solace in a song, you will relish this book

The Sunday Times

Paphides can write like a dream, and knows how to make his particular circumstances resonate for anyone who, when young, hungered for music... a terrific achievement

Spectator

If you are in the market for a wonderfully written, deeply touching, pitch-perfect childhood memoir laced liberally with 70s nostalgia, then you need look no further

Long Live Vinyl

All the energy, thrill and immediacy of your favourite single. I can think of no higher praise than that

the Herald

Tender, heartfelt, humane and very funny

The Times

The day before I read the last line of the last page, I was struck by an immediate longing to stay in it

Svenska Dagbladet

Paphides turns what could have been just another immigrant story into a detailed profusion of fact, genuine fun and a yearning, yarn-spinning search for cultural identity

Irish Times

Many of the challenges faced by young Paphides are standard childhood fare. It is in the telling that the author elevates his story to something rather beautiful

Big Issue

This is such an exceptional coming-of-age story, not just because Pete Paphides has stunningly faultless emotional recall, but because he puts the memory to such warm and generous use. It is, for me, a study in kindness, borne of a lifetime of listening - to records, to his parents' stories of their past, to others, to everything. Perhaps three childhood years without speaking makes you the most extraordinary listener. I didn't just laugh and cry - though obviously I did both those things throughout. I completely fell in love with this book, and with its boy hero, though I'm sure he'd be far too modest and mortified to be described that way. He is, though. In fact, Pete Paphides may very well have the biggest heart in Britain

Marina Hyde

This is a truly beautiful book. It makes the deeply personal profoundly universal and reminds us all of how much we have in common, wherever our parents might have come from

James O'Brien

I thought I wouldn't be musicky enough. And then I started reading. I wish I'd started earlier! So moving. I'm having to read it in short instalments, which is a cruel constraint, but at least it means I have longer to go before finishing it. And I don't want to finish it ever

Nigella Lawson

Heartwarming, sharp and beautifully observed

Roisin Ingle

Oh, how I love Pete Paphides and this book. He can't write a paragraph that isn't funny or moving or insightful and often all three at once. For someone from a refugee family, like me, it just reads so true, but it's also a painting of another life so rich, so deep, that they should hang it in the National Gallery

The Times

Unflinching and heartwarming

Adam Kay

Tender, clever and as funny as it gets ... a heart-piercing joy

Lauren Laverne

I ADORE this utterly wonderful coming-of-age memoir. Joyful, clever, and a bit heartbreaking

Nina Stibbe

Heartfelt, hilarious and beautifully written, Broken Greek is a childhood memoir like no other

Cathy Newman

So wonderfully written, such a light touch. Drenched in sentiment yet not in the least sentimental

John Niven

An absolute cherished read. Didn't want it to end

Annie Nightingale

Warm and eccentric, it's rightly being talked up as the Fever Pitch of Pop

Guardian

With its forensic attention to detail and exquisite unpacking of the pre-teen mind, Broken Greek is an intensely personal hymn that sings a universal tune. Like the very best pop songs, it gets under your skin, and stays there

i

Every single page is a joy to read, entertainingly but unsentimentally written ... This is one of the most enjoyable books I've read for a long time, a coming of age memoir that manages to be simultaneously tender, heartbreaking and laugh out loud funny

The Afterword

Epic childhood memoir

The Week

Utterly joyous

Financial Times

Entertaining, authentic and funny

Strong Words

A must-read for music fans

Sheerluxe

Such a heartfelt, genuinely affecting read

The Daily Express

A smart and nostalgic read

Magic FM

Endearing

Saga Magazine

Confessional, sorrowful and sublime

BA High Life Magazine

If you love music and how it weaves its way into our lives, this is a perfect read

Get Ready to Rock

A warm and welcome corrective to the typical music-themed coming-of-age tale

Radio Times

An extraordinary, moving and funny coming-of-age memoir

Love It! magazine

A love letter to cheesy 1970s pop

Telegraph

Funny and evocative

Guardian

A sweet and funny ode to the power of music

The Times

Anyone who has felt the power of pop to 'explain' their life to them, as Paphides has, will love this

Metro

There are a tonne of music-related memoirs by songwriters and music journalists out there, but this funny, soulful, coming-of-age autobiography will get under your skin like no other this year

The Big Issue

[Broken Greek] captures why the 1970s was such a weird decade and is also a loving testimony to the part music played in helping Paphides find a cultural identity. The book is also full of witty, authentic reflections on football, something you don't always find when authors horn in on the beautiful game.

Independent

Broken Greek took me on a fantastic journey back in to pop obsession and I loved it

Damon Albarn

Original, wry and radical

Mary Beard

This prize-winning memoir is a tender portrait of growing up between two cultures

Daily Mail

A delicious, music-mad coming of age memoir

Daily Mirror

Explains with enormous wit, warmth and pathos why pop music came to be [Paphides's] life-consuming passion

The Guardian

The model of the music-writer-memoir-with-a-twist ... enormous wit, warmth and pathos

Guardian