My Father and the Silver King
My Father and the Silver King
Paperback
Couldn't load pickup availability
Join our rewards scheme and earn 57 reward points on this purchase!
Earn 57 points on this!
Sign in or Sign up!- Release Date: 19/03/2026
- Barcode: 9781912788460
- Genre: Non-Fiction
- Sub-Genre: Biography

My Father and the Silver King
Couldn't load pickup availability
Collapsible content
DESCRIPTION
This partly fictionalized biography of the author's father begins when he runs away from home at 7 years of age to live on the street's of London's East End. Inspired by a Victorian melodrama, he took great risks and learned skills that took him to Australia, where he made a fortune by the time he was thirty. Ambrose Erswell ran away from home in London’s East End when he was seven years old, lived on the streets and joined a gang of child pickpockets. At nine he signed on as a “ship’s boy” on a clipper ship sailing to South America — an experience so grim he vowed never to go to sea again. In a bicycle shop, where he found a job, he saw his first automobile. It was the beginning of a lifelong passion for cars. By twelve years of age he’d become a chauffeur. When he saw The Silver King, a melodrama in which the wronged hero is redeemed after making a fortune in a silvermine in South America, he decided that his life must follow a similar trajectory. Like the hero of the play, this cockney lad, who would eventually (in his mid-fifties) become the author’s father, left England and made a fortune in an unlikely business in Australia. The author traces her attraction to the music of the Piraeus underworld and the men who sang the rembetika to her father and to the Music Hall songs she was raised on.
DELIVERY & RETURNS
UK Delivery:
- Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
- £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
- UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
International Delivery:
- Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.
Dispatch and Delivery Times:
- All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
- UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
- International estimated delivery times:
- Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
- USA: 7 to 15 working days
- Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days
View our full delivery infomation here.
-
OVER
2 MILLION PRODUCTS
-
60 MILLION CUSTOMERS
ACROSS 190 COUNTRIES
You might also like
Loading recommendations...