Rising to the Surface : 'Moving and honest' OBSERVER

by Henry, Lenny | The arts
Published 01/09/2022 by FABER & FABER in the United Kingdom
Hardback | 336 pages
162 x 242 x 34mm | 568g

The rise and fall and triumphant rise from the ashes of Lenny Henry during the 80s and 90s.

'Moving and ebullient' Daily Telegraph 'Relayed with characteristic exuberance and self-deprecation' Guardian Rising to the Surface traces Lenny Henry's career through the 80s and 90s. The 16-year-old who won a talent competition, now has to navigate his way through the seas of professional comedy, learning his craft through sheer graft and hard work.

We follow Lenny through a period of great creativity - prize-winning tv programmes, summer seasons across Britain, the starring role in a Hollywood film, and stand-up gigs in New York. But with each rise there is a fall, the most traumatic being the death of his mother. But by the end of the book he has been able to rise through a sea of troubles and breaks out to the surface to accept the Golden Rose of Montreaux for his work in television.