'A lyrical, painful and yet hope-filled memoir . . . Shattering, light-searching'
Observer

'Searing . . . Unputdownable . . . My Name Is Why is authentic and beautiful, a potential game-changer in public attitudes to children raised in care. It’s about bureaucratic cruelty and what happens when love is absent. Don’t miss it'
The Times

'An extraordinary story'
Sunday Times

'The most amazing thing about this book is that it’s not made up. This actually happened. It is an incredible story'
BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH

'I have never read a memoir like it. A blistering account of a young life in the hands of neglectful authorities. It’s a quest for understanding, for home, for answers. Grips like a thriller. Astounding'
MATT HAIG

'The great triumph of this work comes from its author’s determination to rail against what he rightly diagnoses as this institutionally endorsed disremembering of black and marginalised experience. It is a searing and unforgettable re-creation of the most brutal of beginnings'
Michael Donkor, Guardian

'Utterly devastating and beautiful . . . Breathtakingly written'
DOLLY ALDERTON

'This is a deeply moving memoir that speaks with incredible poeticism. A staggering exposé of colonial theft and abandonment, this book is grippingly heartbreaking'
DAVID LAMMY

'A fascinating memoir . . . So powerful'
ELIF SHAFAK

'The engaging transfiguring truth of My Name Is Why is like a baptism of truth – leaving you washed clean of lies and reborn in love. Profound in its kindness, intelligence and unselfish heart, this book is important and unputdownable'
JESSICA HYNES

'Searing . . . heartbreaking . . . Sissay has given us a blistering condemnation of the 'care' system – and his powerful voice asking 'why?' is raised on behalf of all children who have been its victims'
Daily Mail

'Remarkable . . . Sissay puts forward his side of his life story. It is sensational stuff told with an elegant restraint that leaves the reader feeling some of the hurt, bewilderment and anger that he has endured . . . My Name Is Why is a memoir of identity, race, neglect, family and the importance of home. It is also a testament to Sissay himself and his ability to survive, and later thrive. Above all, is it his redemptive chance to ensure that at long last the voice of the child he was is heard'
Sunday Times