Making It

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What to expect

The Sunday Times bestseller, Making It is an inspirational memoir about beating the odds and turning things around even when it all seems hopeless, by Jay Blades, the beloved star of hit BBC One show The Repair Shop.

We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn’t have a lot of food and didn’t have a lot of money. But that didn’t stop me having the time of my life.

In his audiobook, Jay shares the details of his life, from his childhood growing up sheltered and innocent on a council estate in Hackney, to his adolescence when he was introduced to violent racism at secondary school, to being brutalized by police as a teen, to finally becoming the presenter of the hit primetime show The Repair Shop.

Jay reflects on strength, weakness and what it means to be a man. He questions the boundaries society places on male vulnerability and how letting himself be nurtured helped him flourish into the person he is today. An expert at giving a second life to cherished items, Jay’s positivity, pragmatism and kindness shine through these pages and show that with care and love, anything can be mended.

Critics Review

  • Lynch dramatically conveys the diverse cultures, personalities, and accents of Blades’s world, and recounts how he coped with dyslexia and learned to “upcycle”—repair items from a dump for resale—then taught homeless kids this marketable skill. Most memorable is Lynch’s delivery of Blades’s honesty, self-deprecating humor, and can-do motto: “If something’s broken (including life), you can always find a way to put it together.”

    AudioFile
  • Moving and beguiling

    The Bookseller

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