Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences

A glittering gem of a memoir.

‘Ranks with some of the best expository prose of recent years in this or any other country’

When I read your books I return to another world.

‘Ken Fletcher was the James Bond of the tennis world. Think Russell Crowe in tennis whites’

Brilliantly witty...a wonderfully innocent, beguiling book

Think Russell Crowe in tennis whites

“A wonderful, wonderful read. It takes pride of place in my house. I’m a very proud Australian and the things that that book covered, it was me. And I’m sure a lot of people saw themselves in all the things described. It was all very, very true.”

Searingly funny account of growing up in a working-class family in 1950s Australia…holds a special place in the heart of thousands of Australians and that has made Hugh Lunn a national treasure.

One of the best political books produced in recent years

A beautiful evocation of childhood. Don’t miss reading Over the Top with Jim. It’s one of the funniest most moving autobiographies around.

A universal story about growing up.

‘Sometimes scarifyingly brutal’

“Hugh has provided us with a large number of candid insights into his formative years, even some scarifyingly brutal insights. I’m impressed by the number of occasions when the notion of impure thoughts is mentioned… It’s an affectionate, slightly wistful, and embarrassingly accurate account of the way I remember growing up.”

" Very funny and irreverent…a classic."

Reading The Great Fletch, I could smell the gum leaves.

‘A marvellous ability to take us back in time to where nostalgia meets reality’

A revealing, funny read for anyone interested in how the media works

‘Powerful, sensitive and often poignant account of young adulthood in the ’60s’

“An embarrassing book to read in public. I defy you to read it without laughing out loud.”

‘Without a doubt the most instructive, emotional, enlightening and ironic book on Rupert Murdoch’

‘Can one really be so blessed with a Fred and Olive for a Mum and Dad?’

‘Has written truly about the Vietnam War. Even the lies are true’

Fletcher's romantic liaisons, flirtations with the rich and famous ... make for a rollicking read

“A triumph for Australian publishing.”

Hugh Lunn writes of his Brisbane suburban childhood with great feeling and affection. It’s a book that had me roaring with laughter…a warm, witty and amusing remembrance.