In the Blood is Andrew Motion's beautifully written prose memoir of growing up in post-war England. First published in 2006, it is now reissued in a fresh contemporary design to sit alongside its biographical sequel in verse, Essex Clay. Written from a teenage child's point of view, Motion captures the pathos and puzzlement of childhood with great clarity of expression and freshness of memory. We encounter a strange but beguiling extended family, a profound love of the natural world, a troubled schooling, and a growing passion for books and writing. By turns funny, heartbreaking and elegiac, In the Blood is a deeply moving portrait of the bond between a mother and her son, and the capturing of a moment in time before the loss of childhood innocence.