A Working-Class Family Ages Badly

How does an untrained eye recognise the process of dying, when your mind is fixed firmly on living?

A radically honest and uplifting memoir about defying death and learning to live.

Juno Roche was born into a working-class family in London in the sixties, who dabbled in minor criminality. For their father, violence and love lived together, for their mother addiction was the only way to survive. School was a respite, but shortly after beginning their university course Juno was diagnosed with HIV, then a death sentence.

Juno is a survivor; they outlived their diagnosis, got a degree and became an artist. But however hard you try to take the kid out of the family, some scars go too deep; trying to run from AIDS and their childhood threw Juno into dark years of serious drug addiction, addiction often financed by sex work.

Running from home eventually took Juno across the sea to a tiny village in Spain, surrounded by mountains. Only once they found a quiet little house with an olive tree in the garden did Juno start to wonder if they had run too far, and whether they have really been searching for a family all along.

In an incredibly honest and brave book, Juno takes us through the moments of their life: Mum sending Christmas cards containing Valium, drug withdrawal on a River Nile cruise, overcoming their father's violence and finding their dream house in Spain. Showing immense resilience, Juno's memoir is a book about what it means to stay alive.

Emotional, tragic and incredibly funny, A Working-Class Family Ages Badly is an unforgettable must-read memoir for anyone who loves Educated, Deborah Levy and Motherwell.

What readers are saying about Juno Roche:

'Juno Roche is a writer that goes beyond the surface, and tackles topics with care, razor sharp intellect, but an open-hearted accessibility. Juno's writing leaves me affirmed, but also challenged, and always wanting to read more.' Travis Alabanza

'Roche's words are a gift to anyone looking to open their minds and fall in love with the possibilities of love.' CN Lester

'An inspiring, empowering book that is very real and staggeringly visionary.' Attitude

'Juno's writing is brilliantly personal and honest and always funny.' Amelia Abraham

'I love this brave, inspirational, and ground-breaking book! Juno Roche is having the kinds of conversations about bodies, intimacy and sex that I've been longing to hear... Brava, Juno!' Barbara Carrellas


'Simply phenomenal.' Bitch Media

'I salute this deeply personal, honest and instructive book.' Caryn Franklin MBE

'Poignant, thought-provoking, ground-breaking and refreshingly honest.' Workers' Liberty

'Juno's writing shines throughout, and on more than one occasion I found myself nodding my head and thinking, yep, I feel that!' Freiya Benson