All My Friends Are Invisible

the inspirational childhood memoir

Jonathan Joly author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Quercus Publishing

Published:3rd Feb '22

£16.99

Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.

All My Friends Are Invisible cover

A mesmeric, harrowing and uplifting childhood memoir that will open up much-needed conversations about identity and mental health

'This will blow you away'- Stylist

'Joly's prose is sensitive and heartbreaking...darkly compelling' - Business Post

'An extraordinary and thought-provoking memoir' - Belfast Telegraph

It was an ordinary day in 2016. In Gatwick Airport, Jonathan and his wife Anna were having breakfast with their two little children while waiting for their flight to be called. And then it happened, a familiar sensation that Jonathan hadn't had for decades: an out-of-body experience that transported him to another place, the safe place he used to escape to in his mind when he was a boy.

Because growing up in conservative 1980s Dublin, where there was little tolerance for children who were 'different', Jonathan Joly was, indeed, a different sort of child: creative, expressive, and - on the inside - a girl. The limitations of the people around him to understand his differences led to years of tyrannical bullying and abuse, forcing him to withdraw within himself to the point of clinical absence. His only chance for survival was the inner world he created for himself, rich with loving and supportive friends and playmates, that only he could see. Jonathan's invisible friends were his lifeline, and on that day at the airport, they came flooding back, and have remained with him to this day.

This extraordinary childhood memoir is not only an important, thought-provoking and exhilarating read, it gives hope and community for all those who have ever felt 'other', and proves how vital it is to provide children with the safe space to be themselves.

In All My Friends are Invisible, Jonathan Joly, known widely as one of social media's most successful content creators, shares the secret he's kept hidden these many years. He shows the beautiful world he retreated to time and time again when life was unbearable for his 'skin machine'. Most importantly, he introduces us to his invisible friends, and in so doing you may be transported back to the friends you had as a child that no one else could see, and who may have saved you, too.

'When you find yourself living in...

An extraordinary and thought-provoking memoir * Belfast Telegraph *
This will blow you away * Stylist *
An admirable triumph * Irish Independent *
A well-placed and well-structured narrative * Irish Times *
An intriguing story of a child's unique response to identity bewilderment, bullying and toxic households * Strong Words *
A starkly elegant account by a YouTube star of how an imaginary friend saved him from a hellish Dublin childhood * Sunday Times *
Simple and friendly with a definite lack of filters and a good dose of self-revelation * Irish Examiner *
Movingly describes how his friends, with the support of a sympathetic school, eventually helped him find a place in the real world * Daily Mail *

ISBN: 9781529420579

Dimensions: 222mm x 140mm x 28mm

Weight: 360g

256 pages