NHOJ : A Memoir That Started Backwards

As ajournalist and author, John Lazenby has spent more than forty years chroniclingthe tales of others. But for much of his life he closely guarded his owncompelling story - a long and challenging struggle with childhood dyslexia,unable to read or write at a time when neurodiversity was rarely considered orrecognised. Sent away to boarding school at the age of seven, John's future pivotedon the life-changing intervention of a teacher who finally understood the boywhom no one else could teach. In this warmand poignant memoir, John traces his misadventures through the unforgiving educationsystem of the 1960s, when illiteracy was viewed as a character defect thatcould be rectified by stern discipline and regular beatings, and takes us on anevocative visit to the not-so-distant past, introducing the kind and eccentricfamily who never gave up on him - and the array of teachers who did. We follow theintrepid progress of a boy who could write only one word - his name, spelledbackwards - to a man who finally found his true calling after a series ofsetbacks and false starts, only to make the late discovery that he hadtravelled through life unaware of a second neurodiversity, hiding in plain sight. Heart-warming, hilarious, raw and shocking, NHOJ is a tribute toovercoming challenges, ignoring barriers and holding on to hope in a world thatinitially seems to have no place for you.