Bread of Angels by Patti Smith

A radiant new memoir from beloved artist and writer Patti Smith, author of the National Book Award Winner Just Kids. God whispers through a crease in the wallpaper, writes Patti Smith in this indelible account of her life as an artist. 

Preorder now for delivery on 6th November

A post-Second World War childhood unfolds in a condemned housing complex described in Dickensian detail: consumptive children, vanishing neighbours, an infested rat house, and a beguiling book of Irish fairytales.

We enter the child’s world of the imagination where Smith, the captain of her loyal and beloved sibling army, vanquishes bullies, communes with the king of tortoises and searches for sacred silver pennies. The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs, Bread of Angels takes us through her teenage years where the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative heroes and role models as Patti starts to write poetry, then lyrics, merging both into the iconic songs and recordings such as Horses and Easter, ‘Dancing Barefoot’ and ‘Because the Night’.

She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred Sonic Smith, with whom she creates a life of devotion and adventure on a canal in St. Clair Shores, Michigan with ancient willows and fulsome pear trees. She builds a room of her own, furnished with a pillow of Moroccan silk, a Persian cup, inkwell and fountain pen.

Format:Hardback 288 pages
Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781408867723
Embargoed until:4 Nov 2025
Classifications:Biography: general
Weight:486g