47,335 Words

Kit Sadgrove’s life reads like a novel—except every word is true. In this gripping and deeply moving memoir, Sadgrove recounts his brutal years at a Catholic boarding school, where he was beaten weekly for the smallest of faults. But this isn’t just a story of suffering—it’s a sweeping journey through 300 years of family history. From the filth and cruelty of London’s workhouses, where his great-great-grandmother was sent eight times, to the decks of a Napoleonic war frigate, this book brings the past to life. You’ll meet Irish ancestors pushed into starvation by the British – and how they ended up dancing in Dublin’s grand ballrooms. You’ll find others who rose through the chaos of war—like Sadgrove’s father, who accepted the surrender of German forces in WWII, and his mother, who fled the Nazis. Alongside these tales are Sadgrove’s own wild adventures—learning to make explosives, cleaning offshore rigs in the North Sea, and riding freight trains across America. Unflinching, rich in detail, and often astonishing, Across the Broken Years is a powerful story of pain, resilience, and the unbreakable threads of family.