Overview

All the Times You Were Not There is a story about growing up in an East End family in 1980s London. It's a story about elite sport and illegal raves. It's about drug addiction, steroid abuse and how everything you thought you ever wanted can end up nearly killing you. It's about Essex, XR3is and having a world champion powerlifter for a dad. This is a story about finding faith and finding yourself when everything around you is falling apart. All the Times You Were Not There is a powerful memoir about a girl who thought nothing could ever go wrong. It's about an ordinary family, elite sport and how everything you thought you ever wanted can end up nearly killing you. It's about growing up under the shadow of a drug addiction that no one saw coming, finding faith and holding onto hope that good can come from even the most painful of circumstances.

Full Product Details

9780281091683

Table of Contents

Reviews

""This is a memoir unlike anything I have read before - deception and sorrow, reconciliation and forgiveness, all lyrically woven through Emma's vulnerability and her masterful ability to lead us back to the beauty of the Gospel."" -- Joshua Luke Smith, Poet, Author and Founder of The Psalmists 'I wept my way through Emma's story, having walked a road of redemption with my own dad. She writes with tenderness, honesty, humour and grace. The humanness and pain are not glossed over or neatly tied up - they are felt in the ache and witnessed in the slow, steady repair that only God can bring. This is a story for anyone who has ever wondered if hope could reach the hardest places. It can. And it does.' -- Adrienne Camp, author and musician 'Beautifully written. Honest and raw. Heartbreaking, yet full of hope. If you've ever wondered where God is when life falls apart, this book will speak straight to you. A story of grace that weaves broken threads into something beautiful, redemptive and lifegiving. Unflinching and brimming with grace.' -- Al Gordon, leader of SAINT Hackney and founder of Renaissance 'This memoir packs an emotional punch as you experience family breakdown through the eyes of a teenager. Emma's story contains plenty of heartbreak, but it also demonstrates that nothing is beyond God's ability to heal and restore. Brilliantly written and full of lighter moments, too. It's the best book I've read all year.' -- Sam Hailes, editor of Premier Christianity magazine 'I love a great story. If you do too, I feel almost certain you will fall in love with this book as much as I have. Emma’s storytelling is vivid and deeply human, and she holds the truths of both pain and hope with a sense of courage that made me feel a bravery rise up in me. In these pages she invites us to sit with the complexity of family, faith and forgiveness - honouring the ways our past shapes us without rushing to easy answers or platitudes, with equal parts grit and grace. This is a beautifully written, tender exploration of loss, love, generational resilience and the God who meets us in all of it.' -- Jo Hargreaves, the faith-filled therapist 'There are two types of stories that move me more than any other: those about dads and those about redemption. This is both. All The Times You Were Not There is a painful and gritty journey with enough raw honesty to keep you wincing, enough nineties nostalgia to keep you reminiscing, and just enough hope to believe it might all end well. Emma is an outstanding writer who leads you by the hand through her biography and situates you beside her in the living rooms, bowling alleys and weightlifting gyms of her life. But most importantly, this book is about hope when all seems lost and the resurrection of impossible circumstances.' -- Phil Knox, evangelist and author of The Best of Friends and Good News People 'This is a beautiful and courageous memoir; a story of one family that manages to shine a light on the complexity of all families. Emma writes with searing honesty and a clarity that makes this book unputdownable. This story of faith and fracture will be a breath of fresh air and a healing, redemptive balm to many.' -- Chine McDonald, writer, broadcaster and author of Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perfect Motherhood 'I read Emma's brilliant memoir almost in one sitting. It's real, raw, honest and vulnerable - a powerful story of family and redemption. My eyes welled up in so many places as I felt the pain of infidelity and drug abuse she describes, and I marvelled at the goodness and power of God who can make something beautiful out of something so broken. This book is full of hope and unputdownable!' -- Jemimah Wright, author of five books, including Isabella's Voyage, and deputy editor of Premier Woman Alive magazine 'An honest, gritty masterpiece that speaks to both the devastation that addiction brings to a family and the transforming, miraculous hope of a surrendered life of faith. Emma recounts the life of her younger self with incredible detail, and we see the East End world she grew up in with great clarity. This is an unmissable, no-holdsbarred memoir of redemption against all the odds. I couldn't put it down.' -- Emma Timms, author and founder of The Prayer Orchard

'I wept my way through Emma's story, having walked a road of redemption with my own dad. She writes with tenderness, honesty, humour and grace. The humanness and pain are not glossed over or neatly tied up - they are felt in the ache and witnessed in the slow, steady repair that only God can bring. This is a story for anyone who has ever wondered if hope could reach the hardest places. It can. And it does.' -- Adrienne Camp, author and musician 'Beautifully written. Honest and raw. Heartbreaking, yet full of hope. If you've ever wondered where God is when life falls apart, this book will speak straight to you. A story of grace that weaves broken threads into something beautiful, redemptive and lifegiving. Unflinching and brimming with grace.' -- Al Gordon, leader of SAINT Hackney and founder of Renaissance 'This memoir packs an emotional punch as you experience family breakdown through the eyes of a teenager. Emma's story contains plenty of heartbreak, but it also demonstrates that nothing is beyond God's ability to heal and restore. Brilliantly written and full of lighter moments, too. It's the best book I've read all year.' -- Sam Hailes, editor of Premier Christianity magazine 'I love a great story. If you do too, I feel almost certain you will fall in love with this book as much as I have. Emma’s storytelling is vivid and deeply human, and she holds the truths of both pain and hope with a sense of courage that made me feel a bravery rise up in me. In these pages she invites us to sit with the complexity of family, faith and forgiveness - honouring the ways our past shapes us without rushing to easy answers or platitudes, with equal parts grit and grace. This is a beautifully written, tender exploration of loss, love, generational resilience and the God who meets us in all of it.' -- Jo Hargreaves, the faith-filled therapist 'There are two types of stories that move me more than any other: those about dads and those about redemption. This is both. All The Times You Were Not There is a painful and gritty journey with enough raw honesty to keep you wincing, enough nineties nostalgia to keep you reminiscing, and just enough hope to believe it might all end well. Emma is an outstanding writer who leads you by the hand through her biography and situates you beside her in the living rooms, bowling alleys and weightlifting gyms of her life. But most importantly, this book is about hope when all seems lost and the resurrection of impossible circumstances.' -- Phil Knox, evangelist and author of The Best of Friends and Good News People 'This is a beautiful and courageous memoir; a story of one family that manages to shine a light on the complexity of all families. Emma writes with searing honesty and a clarity that makes this book unputdownable. This story of faith and fracture will be a breath of fresh air and a healing, redemptive balm to many.' -- Chine McDonald, writer, broadcaster and author of Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perfect Motherhood 'I read Emma's brilliant memoir almost in one sitting. It's real, raw, honest and vulnerable - a powerful story of family and redemption. My eyes welled up in so many places as I felt the pain of infidelity and drug abuse she describes, and I marvelled at the goodness and power of God who can make something beautiful out of something so broken. This book is full of hope and unputdownable!' -- Jemimah Wright, author of five books, including Isabella's Voyage, and deputy editor of Premier Woman Alive magazine 'An honest, gritty masterpiece that speaks to both the devastation that addiction brings to a family and the transforming, miraculous hope of a surrendered life of faith. Emma recounts the life of her younger self with incredible detail, and we see the East End world she grew up in with great clarity. This is an unmissable, no-holdsbarred memoir of redemption against all the odds. I couldn't put it down.' -- Emma Timms, author and founder of The Prayer Orchard

Author Information

Emma Fowle is deputy editor of Premier Christianity and editor of Voice of Hope, Premier's quarterly devotional magazine. Emma lives in Cornwall with her husband and two teenage daughters. She loves to read, swim in the sea, play netball and lift weights with her dad.

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