From There to Here

From There to Here is a memoir by Joe Bennett, tracing his journey from Willingdon to Lyttelton. It is a tale about love, learning, and the transformative years leading up to thirty.

Joe Bennett, well-known for his countless columns and over twenty books, finally presents this long-awaited memoir. From There to Here captures the essence of a childhood filled with fishing, cricket, friends, a dog, some mild molestation, and a few deaths. It delves into the long-haired gloom and vehemence of adolescence, love and heartache, an urge to write, and a fruitless struggle against making a living through teaching.

The memoir is superbly written, dotted with laugh-out-loud moments, it is honest, unsparing, unexpected, and deeply moving.

'Every now and then in the twilight the door of the pub would open and emit a great sough of smoke and light and adult laughter and it seemed the most wonderful place in the world, the place you wanted to be.'