Every family should have an aunt munca, I absolutely loved this book. So well written and gave you a real insight on social history from the time from Second World War to present day. Family secrets and intriguing rumours all need investigating and with the evolution of DNA testing the pieces are brought together to form the full picture. Thank you #NetGalley for the book to review.

They often say fact is stranger than fiction, and never has this been more true than with Kiss Myself Goodbye. After the death of his loving, but eccentric Aunt Munca, Ferdinand Mount decides to investigate her life as there have always been a couple of facts that didn.t quite add up. As he delves deep in to her past he discovers relatives that weren't who they claimed to be, friends became relatives and an amazing journey from the back streets of Sheffield to a life where they call Claridges "The Pub".

A truly fascinating story that doesn't end at the end, at times a little hard to fkeep up but I think that was just the life of Aunt Munca.

I was given a copy of Kiss Myself Goodbye by NetGalley and the publishers in return for an unbiased review.

This beautifully written memoir, about the endearing and eccentric Aunt Munca, gives a wonderful insight into British Society. Full of wit and charm, at times both funny and sad, the story takes you to a different era. A memorable book that had me transfixed from the beginning and perhaps a story that would translate well to screen. Highly recommended.

A fascinating, sad, enthralling and well written story. A story of people and a sort of social history of England.
It's the first book I read by this author and thoroughly enjoyed it.
i loved the storytelling, how the story flows and you are involved in sadness, mysteries and different social environments.
Fascinating and well written.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I requested this book after reading a review in a magazine and then seeing the book on the NetGalley website.
I’m always intrigued into how the other half live and this book did not disappoint at being the shock factor. Aunt Munca led a drama filled life that’s for sure! It’s fair to say that those who knew her could never say they actually knew her! This is a woman who was multi faceted, intriguing and downright shameless. At times I had to tell myself this was a real person and not a character from a Jackie Collins novel.
The narrator manages to tell this shocking memoir still with elements of love and respect and you can tell that even though the revelations about Munca’s life shocked him he still remembered the good times he had with her.
I also loved the history of this story. Learning about the rise and fall of the Sheffield steel industry was fascinating for me.
Overall, this was an epic memoir and an amazing peek behind the curtain of how the other half live.

What an absolutely enthralling memoir to read! Aunt Munca would easily wedge her way into the reader's all-time favourite "wish I had met them in person to understand them better" figure list. Reading about her journey from the eyes of her nephew turned out to be so fascinating, and Mount has done a remarkable job in capturing her character, with all its endearing vulnerabilities brilliantly. Be it the secret shadowiness that Aunt Munca seemed to exude, or the heart-wrenching grief she nees to cope up with on more than one occasion, it's quite a travel to ride along with Aunt Munca as constantly tries to kiss her real self goodbye. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and my sincere thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and Ferdinand Mount for gifting me with an advanced copy for my review. Do not miss the book if memoirs make your cup of tea.

What a brilliant real life mystery! It's so well written that the author brings you along with him on the journey of discovering about his mad cap aunt. I really hated finishing this book because I just loved the whole story. If I could give it 10 stars I would.
#KissMyselfGoodbye #NetGalley

3,5 - This may very well be the most English book I have ever read. It feels like an old great-uncle you didn’t know you had sits you down and tells you the complete story of all the old relatives you didn’t know existed. Including all the gossip and all the possible liaisons with long forgotten celebrities you have never heard of. I love good family mysteries (e.g. Bart van Es, Ester Safran Foer, Hadley Freeman), but this one was rather…well, different.

It is often said of good books that they do not contain a word too many. This book is the opposite: every possible digression or association that came to the author’s mind has made it into the final text. I can imagine he must have been difficult to edit (if edited at all). It took me some time to get used that, but in the end I actually didn’t mind, in fact even enjoyed it and found myself smiling frequently (even though not being English myself, many of the old cricketers and business men are completely unknown to me).

I found the author somewhat pedantic and arrogant but in a pleasant rather than annoying way. Clearly, he is mesmerised by class and everything reminiscent of the high society and while I initially shook my head at that, perhaps it is better to be grateful to still hear the voice of a generation that seems to be disappearing so fast.

I have loved Ferdinand Mount's works for so many years that he will never be able to disappoint me.
Kiss myself goodbye is a delightful slice of 20th century British social life and customs through the delicious portrait of Mount's aunt and her egregious life, a witty and unforgettable woman and the indelible marks she deliciously left on her nephew's life.
At times hilarious and always full of surprises this heartwarming book should definitely be on your reading list if you can't stay away from everything "British". Situated half way between Travel with my aunt and Auntie Mame, it really deserved to be discovered 👍👍
Highly recommended and to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for this terrific ARC

“There is a kind of magic about it all, a not entirely pleasant kind. This is [my aunt’s] territory, where nobody is quite at home and nobody stays very long.”

This was an interesting book - the story of what comes from delving into genealogy and the slow revelation of hidden tragedy across the decades.

When growing up, we glimpse the lives of our older relatives but can’t really pick up on much of the detail. We’re dependant on recollections and occasionally a handful of documents. This book shows what happens when the new frontiers of genealogical research allow for family secrets and illusions, carefully maintained for decades, are slowly revealed piece by piece. Indeed, this is a review of the paperback edition, which contains further revelations provided by readers and relatives.

The book also gave a glimpse into the social history of England in the 20th century and how one might move in and out of a social class through the coming of war, illegitimate children, broken engagements, adoption, bigamy, poverty, bankruptcy, and moving overseas. What effect might it have on someone to have little to no fixed foundation, to have no solid family line, to spend an entire life time being caught in a web of deception after deception?

This book reminds us that until the computer revolution in our own lifetime, it was quite possible to reinvent yourself with ease, to move to another place, and take another name. These second chances - and third, fourth, and fifth chances in the case of this book - are no more.

However, whilst it was interesting, I cannot commend it. The hardback has reviews full of praise, and it feels bold for me to go against the Sunday Times, TLS, Spectator and New Statesman that praised this as a ‘book of the year.’ I found it over-long, with one chapter on the architecture of a certain house for me broke the flow of the text. The twists and turns became increasingly complex as the book progressed, which irritated it rather than intrigued me. The author’s writing becomes overwrought at times.

In the end, it is merely the story of one family, and we will all have met someone who is terribly keen to convey to you all the curiosities they’ve found whilst going through Ancestry. Someone else’s anecdotes are interesting for a few minutes, but they quickly become tedious when at length. I’m afraid I found the same with this book - it would have made a fascinating long-read article - or something serialised in the Daily Mail - but as a book, it just didn’t hold my interest.

Aunt Munca never told the truth about anything. Calling herself after the mouse in a Beatrix Potter story, she was already a figure of mystery during the childhood of her nephew Ferdinand Mount. Half a century later, a series of startling revelations sets him off on a tortuous quest to find out who this extraordinary millionairess really was. What he discovers is shocking and irretrievably sad, involving multiple deceptions, false identities and abandonments. The story leads us from the back streets of Sheffield at the end of the Victorian age to the highest echelons of English society between the wars.

An unconventional tale of British social history told backwards, now published with new material discovered by the author about his eccentric aunt, Kiss Myself Goodbye is both an enchanting personal memoir and a voyage into a vanished moral world. I read late into to the night because I just had to know what the ending was going to be