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A Question of Paternity

Life as an Unaffiliated Reporter

David Tereshchuk author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:EnvelopeBooks

Published:19th Sep '24

£18.95

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A Question of Paternity cover

NEW FROM ENVELOPEBOOKS: David Tereshchuk leapt from an unpromising childhood in a small town on the English-Scottish borders to a precocious high-flying career as a TV journalist, first in London, then New York. During his time, he has managed to elicit definitive answers from tyrants and the oppressed, but never managed to coax his mother into revealing who his father was, even after her revelation to him, when he was in his 50s, that she had been raped, aged 15, by a priest. Alongside his career, the search for his mother's abuser has haunted him, adding further layers of stress to a life already marked by alcoholism and insecurity. This is his astonishing story, and one that deserves to sit alongside those of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and David Brinkley. RECOMMENDED BY CARL BERNSTEIN, NEAL ASCHERSON AND CARY BARBOR

CARL BERNSTEIN

Investigative Reporter, Co-Author, All the President's Men

David Tereshchuk is one of the great reporters of our era, covering global conflicts and the leaders who have initiated them, from patriots to despots. Now, using the skills he has honed as an investigative journalist, he may have found his most important subject yet: the real story of what happened in his own young life. Tereshchuk's quest for truth, about both his immediate family and the stories he's covered around the world, resonates through the pages of A Question of Paternity, an exceptional memoir that is at once moving, shocking and undeniably heroic.


NEAL ASCHERSON

Journalist and Author, Stone Voices: The Search for Scotland;

The Book of Lech Walesa

The compelling, often heart-breaking story of one man's search for the stories behind the world's conflicts and for the dark secret of his own birth. He recalls and reflects on many scenes of horror, but the connecting thread is one of haunting suspense. It's his never-ending effort to find out who made his fifteen-year-old mother pregnant and became his secret father.


CARY BARBOR

Host, National Public Radio Book Club (WGCU Radio)

Tereshchuk's vivid writing lands you smack in the middle of a fascinating and heart-rending quest.


LAWRENCE BLOCK

Crime novelist, Matthew Scudder series

David Tereshchuk spent the past half-century chasing through every hot spot and hellhole in the world. Now he's written a memoir and it's everything I'd hoped it would be-and here's the surprise: the richest story of many in it is his very own.


RICK MOODY

Novelist, The Ice Storm

Even-handed and reportorial but also deeply moving, complex and very sad. Tereshchuk is committed to the truth even when the truth is challenging. It's refreshing to read a work so knowing, so honest, so wise.


DAVID W. DUNLAP

Newspaper Historian and Author, From Abyssinian to Zion

A harrowing journey, rich in detail, shaped by transcendent longing. I found myself engrossed by the account of Bloody Sunday.

ISBN: 9781915023155

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 24mm

Weight: 465g

434 pages