Hungry Years

William Leith is a journalist who has written about subjects as diverse as cosmetic surgery, Palestine, Hollywood directors, and drugs. He writes regularly for the Guardian, the Observer, and the Daily Telegraph.

'This hilarious, self-lacerating memoir of a compulsive eater is a superb book. I feel about The Hungry Years the way William Leith feels about buttered toast: I couldn't get enough and I panicked when I was reaching the end. Leith has always been one of our best non-fiction writers and this is his crowning achievement' Jon Ronson 'The Hungry Years is a confessional, satirical, wise, tragic, truly original book about addiction, food and what's really inside a fat man that's trying to get out. The Hungry Years defies categorisation - it's part memoir, part diet book, part comedy, and part sugar rush. It's the first real book about body image for men, and it breaks taboos, breaks new ground, and breaks your heart. William Leith has finally fulfilled his always huge potential. I loved it' Tim Lott 'As a memoir and as comedy, it succeeds beautifully. As a sugar rush, it is definitely compulsive ... As a confessional, it is pretty much a masterclass - frank, tough-minded, funny, generous' Zoe Williams, New Statesman 'Compulsively readable. I gulped it down in a couple of greedy bites ... It is a powerful memoir ... it has the unusual qualities of heart and daring. In the end, these are what stay inside you' Daily Telegraph