Goalkeeper: Memoir of Poet Peter Street

by Peter Street, Lorraine Worsley-Carter (Foreword)

Goalkeeper is one ‘alone, but not lonely’ boy’s triumph over adversity, motivated by his dream of becoming a professional footballer and a longing for truth and connection.

Street’s childhood memoir is a sensitive and honest portrayal, through a poetic autistic lens, of growing up with learning differences and epilepsy in an unconventional family during the 1950s and 60s.
A unique and vivid social document of the period, highlighting much of the discrimination still faced by minority and disabled communities today.

'A beautiful insight into growing up in a challenging world. A sensory delight, I lived every page!' Alan Gardner - The Autistic Gardener

'The most astonishing life story of anyone I have ever interviewed.' John Harris - Guardian

'...an often startling memory of things felt in a rather frightening, yet fascinating past.' Alan Brownjohn - Poet/novelist

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Autistic Spectrum Disorder

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2021

About the author

Peter Street is a British autistic author and poet, born in Wigan 1948. He has published five poetry collections, performing his work internationally and on television and radio—including BBC Manchester where he was poet in residence. He won a National Poetry Society commission, and wrote a series of poems in collaboration with fine artist Tony Bevan.

Street was a Royal Literary Fund recipient and has been writer-in-residence in schools, colleges and prisons. He is also a qualified youth worker, and previously worked as a chef, head gardener, gravedigger and exhumer.

Peter was diagnosed with epilepsy at fifteen, and fifty years later, after returning from war torn Croatia with PTSD, received his formal autism diagnosis at the age of sixty-six. He lives with his wife Sandra, and has two children and six grandchildren.

Reviews

[Pamela Galloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peter Street’s Goalkeeper – Games, secrets, epilepsy, love pulled me through its fast-paced story. With its weaving together of all that its sub-title promises the story grabbed my attention and was a quick read. It begins dramatically enough in war-torn Croatia in 1993 when Street has gone as a volunteer during the Croat-Bosnian war. Soon, his memories return to the streets of Wigan and Bolton, his home with “Mum”, Kitty, and “Dad”, Thomas, who is responsible for quite a few of the secrets. There are friends and more than one potential girlfriend who provide, at different stages of Street’s life, empathy, companionship, early stirrings of love and desire and tragic losses. But these are not Streets true friends. He describes the comfort and ease he felt when it was just “me, ball and wall” as he practised his football skills and played marbles in the old outside toilet
where he felt safe and happy.

“On rainy days, I would spend most of my time inside that outdoor toilet. It seemed to come alive with purpose whenever I turned up”.

The heart of this story is in Street’s documentation of learning difficulties at school and in a string of soul-destroying jobs, epilepsy surfacing at the age of fifteen, ultimately ending his passionate wish to be a professional goalie. Not that he doesn’t have some success at football and there are gripping play by play accounts. Street also very effectively conveys his experience of being a child who was clearly showing signs of autism spectrum disorder from his very early years. He shows us what this was like in so many of his recollections by depicting objects as having agency, appearing to be more human than the real humans in his life. At first I thought that this way of describing things acting on him was a stylistic choice and perhaps rather over-used until I began to see that this was exactly how Street saw his world. The stairs and the doors are active players in his games of football, cobbles and steps walk him along, pictures in books admired him as much as he admired them. And the young lad, Peter, was more at ease by himself than with most other people. Being around people set off uncomfortable sensations and at times caused him real distress.

“To me, lonely was a kind of freedom for my ears and my whole body, giving the real me a rest”.

Goalkeeper includes charming pictures illustrating life in the North in the 50s and 60s that really bring Street’s account alive. It is a satisfying read that is often heart-warming and at times heart-wrenching as Street battled (even when not fully aware of the nature of his foes) all that life threw in his path. The human spirit is strong. Peter Street has become, if not a famous goalie, a talented writer and poet.

[Mari Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goalkeeper is at the top of my list of best memoirs. There are few memoirs that go into beautiful prose detail about learning disabilities, neurodiversity and other difficulties from personal experience. He has shared his life and his beautiful soul.

[Lulu deCarron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review: Lulu deCarron

I loved Goalkeeper! I think you will too.

Peter’s writing is beautifully poetic, like the poet he is, with words and images you can feel. He will make your heartbreak at other times, his memories will warm your heart. You will laugh out loud, and at other times your eyes may tear due to the power of his heartfelt words.

His narrative moves quickly, carrying the reader along with him, swept up in his life, marveling at his indomitable spirit, all the while navigating Autism at a time it was rarely diagnosed. But most of all, you will, delight in Peter’s intelligence and wit.

Peter is a true goalkeeper.

Lulu deCarron
Writer, Storyteller. Working on a dramedy series for TV.

[Emma Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really thoughtful and honest account of schooldays, and growing up and seeing the world a little bit differently.
I liked the references to Kitty, and the little quotes.
Thought provoking, honest, and sensitive.
Really insightful.

[Angela Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Street has a uniquely engaging way of writing that helps the reader to enter his world and imagination. In this case, he looks back at his childhood and youth, brought up in a Northern town in the '50s and '60s.
Although he had his own battles and problems, his upbeat personality and inquiring mind offer a fascinating glimpse into life then - the money struggles, the relationship realities, friendship and fun.
Like few other writers - with the possible exception of Bill Naughton - he chronicles Northern life fairly and fondly with colourful characters and genuine humour.
Above all, he is an honest writer, both about himself and others and the life around him, to provide a rare open door into a challenging time that shaped the lives of many creatives.

[Michelle Tuite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading 2025
Book 77: Goalkeeper: Memoir of Poet Peter Street by Peter Street

Another book recommended to me by Goodreads after I read, She Danced With Lightning. This memoir is not widely available and only has 8 reviews on GR.

Synopsis: Goalkeeper is one ‘alone, but not lonely’ boy’s triumph over adversity, motivated by his dream of becoming a professional footballer and a longing for truth and connection.

Review: Peter seems like a fighter and survivor. He doesn’t let anything keep him from his dreams for his life. This book, however, did not land with me. The prose seemed scattered and confusing in places. The story did not flow in a timeline that I followed well. My rating 3⭐️.

[Lisa Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Exceptional Recollection of a Childhood Lived.
An easy read.

It is very touching, an honest account of childhood through the eyes of boy who happily occupied his own space.

It clearly illustrates the perceptions of adults to those who don't fit completely in a box, those on the edges of our society and the many prejudices they face.

It is both poignant yet heart warming, the children in the memoir clearly being the ones most accepting of Peter's differences.

Highly recommend

[JE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goalkeeper is a memoir of the poet Peter Street. It follows his life growing up in the 50’s and 60’s as an autistic child. This memoir highlights the difficulty of growing up neurodivergent. This memoir is a good reading experience for young adults. I was sent this review copy by the publisher for Disability Book Week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Content Warnings for animal cruelty and bullying.

[Helen Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable readable account of a neurodivergent. epileptic person growing up in post war Northern England. Captures the innocence of a boy who dealt with the sense of being different .