Books

IN HER ROOM  Buy now




Published April 2020 by Bonnier Books UK

'This affecting memoir charts a parent's journey to come to terms with their child's diagnosis . . . Cook writes with compelling candour about his grief and frustrations.' The Times Literary Supplement

'A highly personal and beautifully written memoir . . . an affecting, captivating account.' The Bookseller

'Profoundly moving . . . a vivid portrait of family life at a time of acute stress, and a love letter to the healing power of music.' Ali Mercer (author of His Secret Family)



When James Cook’s daughter was nearly one, he began to suspect that she wasn’t simply a 'late bloomer', as he and his wife were telling friends and family. Emily was strongly taken by images and patterns around the house, had a marked response to music, but never pointed at anything, and hadn’t crawled yet.

At the age of two-and-a-half, after months of invasive tests, Emily was finally diagnosed with severe autism, and everything changed.


Forced to embark on a fraught journey from denial to acceptance, James  discovered the multi-faceted link between music and autism, and how singing and playing guitar for Emily could provide a unique form of communication.

In Her Room is an extraordinary and heartbreaking story of a father’s attempts to connect with his daughter, and how music can help bridge the divide.






MEMORY SONGS  Buy now



Published May 2018, by Unbound

‘Resonant and eclectic . . .The Bookseller (Editor's choice) 

'Cook writes evocatively and persuasively . . . efficiently mixing memoir, music criticism and social history.' Irish Times

'Intelligent and sensitive . . . his writing retains a sense of immediacy and excitement.' Review 31

'The first properly literary take on the Britpop years.' Boundless magazine


‘Engaging, affecting and funny . . . highly enjoyable.’ David Stubbs (Author of Future Days, Faber & Faber). 

'A future classic.' Walthamstow Rock n Roll Book Club




This is the story of a music-obsessed boy’s journey from his bedroom in Hitchin to the heart of nineties London just as Britpop is about to explode...

From James Cook’s early encounters with pop’s pioneers – Revolver heard for the first time, Led Zeppelin glimpsed on evening TV – through an adolescence in which friendships are forged on a mutual love for the Velvet Underground, to the high-stakes gamble of moving to the metropolis, the years between the assassination of John Lennon and Kurt Cobain’s suicide are mapped in musical memories. Along the way, we explore the diverse influences that fuelled the nineties guitar pop boom, from John Barry to Bryan Ferry, and follow James as he forms a band with his twin brother and releases a critically acclaimed debut album.  


More than a memoir, Memory Songs stands as a testament to music’s power over the imagination, the way it punctuates our past and shapes our future. Woven through with meditations on the artists who defined the UK's last legendary scene, it delivers a passionate analysis of the music that shaped a crucial moment in British cultural history. 




ANTHOLOGIES AND COLLECTIONS

'In My Rooms' (essay), published in GARDEN AMONG FIRES, Dodo Ink, 2020 Buy now  




'Draining Pleasure' (short story), published in VAGABOND HOLES, Fremantle Press, 2009 Buy now


















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