Lee Headington"s poignant memoir of growing up in working-class England is both disturbing and uplifting. There is a profound sadness underlying the unfolding story of his childhood and young-adult years, full of senseless bullying and great personal loss, and lived with an unforgettable group of personalities. Individual chapters in this book are devoted to each distinctive member of his family, many of whom display self-destructive and hard-edged characteristics that impact negatively upon the author. Despite this, Mr. Headington manages to convey his own courage and affection for his family - a bitterness understandably exists, but it is tempered by his appreciation of the many loving, supportive qualities that his relatives also possess. And as a portrait of the often sordid and violent lives of some sections of the modern English populace, this book is a strangely fascinating revelation. Mr. Headington writes in a conversational, down-to-earth style with torrents of emotional recollections quickly engulfing the reader. In addition, the strain of inner pain that runs through the author"s prose is amplified in the extensive poetry section of the book. By the last page of Relentless, we have witnessed a troubled and often-persecuted young man who overcame his destructive environment and began a march into the sunlight.