‘Starting to Frame’ is the favourite expression Roger Gordon’s father used for ‘getting your act together’. It is a perfect title for this memoir, as Gordon, a scientist and retired academic, shows his story-telling skills and courage in starting to frame his memories of growing up in a troubled family in Sheffield in the 50s and 60s. The reader gains insights along with the author, as he recognizes that compassion and forgiveness are necessary for personal healing to occur, making Starting to Frame a riveting and unforgettable read.”

—Dianne Hicks Morrow,PEI Poet Laureate, author of What Really Happened Is This, 2012 PEI Book Award winner.

“When a memoir author allows us into the intimacy of their memories, it is always a privilege. When they take us into a richly remembered world, it is a tender joy. In Starting to Frame, Roger Gordon brings to life the language and social mores of 1950s Sheffield and 1960s England through the eyes of a boy in a disordered family. He grows to be a man of appreciative wit, forthright narration, and probing insight into family dynamics, mental health, and how parents’ choices and social norms can shape identity—positively, negatively, or forgivably.”

—Jane Ledwell, author of Last Tomato