Martha Wainwright - Stories I Might Regret Telling You : A Memoir

Stories I Might Regret Telling You

With disarming candor and courage, Martha tells us of finding her own voice (one, in my opinion, without peer) and peace as a working artist and mother. Her story is made more unique because of the remarkably gifted musical family she was born into.

Emmylou Harris

What a wonderful gift this book is! Martha Wainwright has opened the doors and let us into the fabled, glamorous family that is the McGarrigle-Wainwrights. The ups and downs of a family that lives on the stage are shown in all their backstage squalor, and they are even more magical and cruel than one could possibly imagine. Martha shows us what it is like to be the black sheep of the family, the glorious, earnest underachiever who has always been the most loveable of the bunch. Her warm, rich writing displays the same oversharing sweetness that her songwriting possesses; at the same time, its filled with the humor, panache, and gutsy feminism of her live performances. Martha Wainwright was born in a circus and shows us the great, absurd expectations that come with that birthright. But even more, this book offers a portrait of a modern, blended family that will make you understand and forgive yours. Wainwright shows how a big, dysfunctional brood can be a blessing, filled with surprising gifts that make the heart grow bigger. A surprising and brilliantly relatable book.

Heather ONeill, bestselling author of The Lonely Hearts Hotel

A beautiful and clear-eyed memoir, full of music, friendship, love, and heartache. Somehow at once sizzling and wise, as undeniable as the singer who wrote it.

Sean Michaels, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning novelist and founder of Said the Gramophone

I have been listening to Martha Wainwright for at least twenty years, admiring her from afar. Her new memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, made me feel like I was sitting in a corner of one of her New York apartments, reading her private diaries under a blanket with a flashlight. Martha writes like a soldier in the trenches sending word home, not knowing whether she will live or die, bringing uncomfortable, sometimes unbearable, honesty to bear. I was sucked in from the first page, though occasionally I winced because it was all so relatable. A casual sadness strings itself through her story of becoming herself, taking no prisoners, casting regret aside like a cigarette. I kept rereading certain sentences, thinking they would make such wonderful songs. This entire memoir is a song.

I turned the last page and felt like I had made a new friend, the kind you wish you were cool enough to have but never had the courage to pursue. My only disappointment? Her memoir wasnt long enough. I cant wait for volume two.

Jann Arden

PUBLISHED BY RANDOM HOUSE CANADA

Copyright 2022 Martha Wainwright

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. Published in 2022 by Random House Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto, and simultaneously in the United States of America by Hachette Book Group, New York. Distributed in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto.

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Random House Canada and colophon are registered trademarks.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Stories I might regret telling you / Martha Wainwright.

Names: Wainwright, Martha, 1976- author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 2021025663X | Canadiana (ebook) 20210256753 | ISBN 9780345815088 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780345815101 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Wainwright, Martha, 1976- | LCSH: SingersCanadaBiography. | LCSH: Women singersCanadaBiography. | LCSH: ComposersCanadaBiography. | LCSH: Women composersCanadaBiography. | LCGFT: Autobiographies.

Classification: LCC ML420.W142 A3 2022 | DDC 782.42164092dc23

Cover design: Amanda Kain

Cover photograph: Carl Lessard

Cover copyright: 2022 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Interior design: Abby Reilly, adapted for ebook

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To my dad and his sister Teddy,

born Martha Taylor Wainwright,

19472020