Gunter Grass' parents ran a corner shop, but his mother, whom he adored, encouraged him towards books and music. This memoir evokes his modest upbringing in Danzig, his time as a boy soldier fighting the Russians and concludes with the writing of "The Tin Drum", in Paris.

Gunter Grass' parents ran a corner shop, but his mother, whom he adored, encouraged him towards books and music. This memoir evokes his modest upbringing in Danzig, his time as a boy soldier fighting the Russians and concludes with the writing of "The Tin Drum", in Paris.