80s London
A01=Emma Fowle
adultery
Author_Emma Fowle
autobiography
body building
Category=DNC
Category=DNXP
cheating
childhood
childhood trauma
Christian faith
Conversion
conversion story
convert
east end
east london
emotional recovery
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
exercise
family
family breakdown
family relationships
father daughter
finding Jesus
fogiveness
healing journey
infidelity
Jesus
life
life story
memoir
personal stories
personal story
real life
substance abuse
testimony
transformation
weight lifting
young family
Product details
- ISBN 9780281091683
- Dimensions: 129 x 198mm
- Publication Date: 19 Feb 2026
- Publisher: SPCK Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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In 1980s East London, families lived by an unspoken code. You can throw a punch to make a point, stolen goods make financial sense, and a few too many beers were par for the course. But you never abandon your family.
That was Emma Fowle's father's greatest mistake.
A champion powerlifter with a dangerous appetite for risk, he dragged his family into a world of steroids, cocaine, illegal raves, debt collecting, fraud and infidelity. Then, one day, he simply walked out - leaving behind a trail of chaos and questions that would take decades to untangle.
Set against the gritty backdrop of London's East End, All the Times You Were Not There is a raw and redemptive memoir about the cost of broken promises and the unexpected grace that can transform even the most fractured family story.
Through her Christian faith, Emma learns to reframe her past: not as a story of failure, but of survival, forgiveness and hope. With unflinching honesty and tender insight, she writes about what it means to grow up searching for love in the ruins and to find redemption where you least expect it.
For readers of Cathy Rentzenbrink, Dani Shapiro, and Lemn Sissay, this is a story about addiction, absence, and the long road home, told with warmth, courage and astonishing grace.
Emma Fowle is deputy editor of Premier Christianity and editor of Voice of Hope, Premier's quarterly devotional magazine. Emma lives in Cornwall with her husband and two teenage daughters. She loves to read, swim in the sea, play netball and lift weights with her dad.
