Ondaatje Prize (Royal Society of Literature)

Slightly Foxed Biography Prize

Best book of the year from: New Yorker, Financial Times, Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, and Sunday Times.

Lea grows up in Albania in the late 1980s, a country where state ideology has officially replaced religion. During those years, it was nearly impossible to either enter or leave Albania. It was a place with endless queues and shortages in stores, with political executions and an all-powerful secret police.

For Lea, it was her home and her safety. People were equal, neighbors helped each other, and children growing up would build a better world. There was a common purpose and hope. And then, in December 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, everything changed, almost overnight. The statues of Stalin and Hoxha were toppled. You could vote freely, wear what you wanted, and no longer feared being overheard by a prying ear.

However, factories closed, jobs were lost, and entire families left, by the thousands, for Italy and Greece, aggressive pyramid schemes took over, alongside organized crime and human trafficking. Her father was forced, despite his leftist beliefs, to make layoffs; her mother evolved into a conservative politician in the style of Margaret Thatcher.

Upi combines the personal and the political, literature with political theory, in a remarkable book. It is the story of a child who literally grew up between two worlds, the book of a person who found herself facing the End of History, and who today wonders about the meaning of the word.

“Reading Upi’s book over and over, we feel how much the way she approaches her core themes—politics, personal history, the very meaning of freedom—concerns us all today.”   Sandeep Parmar, Patrice Lawrence, Philippe Sands (Ondaatje Prize Advisory)

“A stunning and wonderful book.”   Nigel Warburton

“Thought-provoking, deliciously humorous, sharp, with keen observations, an autobiography of childhood like few others – a truly wonderful book.”   NOEL MALCOLM

“The first book after Ferrante's My Brilliant Friend that I persistently recommended to friends, family, and colleagues to read… a shocking autobiography and profound reflection on what freedom means.”   Ruth Scurr, Spectator, Books of the Year

“It beautifully combines the personal with the political and delivers an unforgettable book, humorous, moving, and equally serious, a book that will be read for many years.”   DAVID RUNCIMAN

“Lea Upi’s teenage journey at the end of Albanian communism tells a universal story: ours is a time of collapsing illusions for many generations.”   PAUL MASON

“An incisive personal story, heartbreaking and moving, the tale of a child growing up amidst major historical changes – ideology, war, loss, uncertainty.”   TARA WESTOVER

“Amazing. Lea Upi has an innate storytelling talent. A captivating, often hilarious, heartbreaking, penetrating book, a masterpiece.”   OLIVIA SUDJIC