The purpose of this exegesis has been to demonstrate the veracity of my following memoirs in respect to the stated major theme of personal struggle and the four related subthemes:

• • social class and government-provided school education;

• • the efect of adolescent sexual abuse on an individual's life chances;

• • the lifelong disadvantages and benefts of correspondence/distance education; and

• • untangling the insidious long tentacles of racism.

Veracity in the choice of these subthemes has been established through the connection of this major theme and the four related themes by reference to other literary forms such as novels and to the fndings of research literature, additionally what authors of memoirist advice literature are advocating.

First, however, this exegesis sought to uncover the diferences between memoirs and autobiographies, the former being a vignette of an individual's life – at the same time, about something much bigger than information about oneself. Hence, in the case of the author's memoirs preceding this exegesis is the aptness of the genre in explicating the aforementioned major theme and its four subthemes.

This exegesis then revealed the multiple number – and growing – of sub-genres of the memoir genre, not least is the coming-of-age memoir, which has a special appeal for education undergraduates, postgraduates and teachers participating in professional development programmes.

Signifcantly, inter alia, this exegesis has revealed further multiple reasons why we might write our memoirs. Little wonder that the genre has become so popular, least of all in a pedagogical setting for both school and college students as well as their teachers.