A Beginner's Guide To Acting English [Paperback]

"written with an admirable lightness of touch and a novelist's eye for comic detail" --Stephanie Merritt, The Observer

"Charming and funny, I loved reading it." Jonathan Ross --Jonathan Ross

"filled with laughter, wonder and compassion...It plunges us into the vibrant heart of a loud, loving Iranian family and vividly recreates the experience of being a child torn between vastly different cultures"

A funny and heartwarming memoir about an Iranian girl growing up in 1980s Britain

In the tradition of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love and Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals, comes a story of a young narrator in the midst of her eccentric family. But rather than landed gentry or bohemian travellers, it’s a mad extended Iran clan who flee Tehran to 1980s Britain after the fall the Shah. Five year old Shappi and her beloved brother Peyvand arrive with their parents in London - all cold weather and strange food - without a word of English. If adapting to a new culture isn’t troubling enough, it soon becomes clear that the Ayatollah’s henchmen are in pursuit. With the help of MI5, Shappi’s family go into hiding. So apart from checking under the family car for bombs every morning, Shappi’s childhood is like any other kids – swings in the park, school plays, kiss-chase and terrorists.

Shappi Khorsandi was born in 1973 in Tehran and moved to London with her family in 1976 who were exiled after the revolution of 1979. She studied drama at university and has now been a stand-up for over ten years. She has performed all over the world including her annual sell-out run at the Edinburgh festival. She has appeared on countless radio and television programmes including Just a Minute, The News Quiz, The Now Show, Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, Question Time and Newsnight Review. She lives in West London with her husband and son.