BEYOND UGLY
Constance Briscoe

Hodder & Stoughton, £8.99

Jason M Hadden
When Constance Briscoe wrote the first instalment of her bestselling autobiography Ugly in 2006, she told a tragic yet remarkable tale of childhood abuse at the hands of her mother, which her mother contests.


The sequel to that story, Beyond Ugly, takes us on from where the first left off, exploring her time studying law at Newcastle University and thereafter her early years at the bar under the pupillage of Michael Mansfield QC. What is so inspirational about this story is Briscoe’s work ethic and dedication. At university and at the bar she takes on several jobs at weekends and during holidays, including working with the terminally ill in a hospice to subsidise her ambitions. She saves money both from work and her student grant so that she can undertake cosmetic surgery treatments, not as a modern day indulgence but to deal physically at least with her mother’s abusive chants that her daughter is ‘ugly’.



While this book is easily readable, it is a little disappointing, though my criticism may well have more to do with the macabre expectations of the reader than with the story itself. While with Ugly you could sympathise with the horrid treatment of a young child by her cruel and unforgiving mother, in Beyond Ugly the problems afforded to Briscoe are perhaps more common to all of us: finding acceptance at university and thereafter her struggle for inclusion within the legal profession. You are left wanting, almost expecting, a little bit more crisis and desperation. The relationship with her mother is not mentioned again in this book, nor do you feel in sufficient detail the difficulties which she experiences as a black barrister in a predominantly – certainly at the time – white man’s club.

But these criticisms should not in any way detract from this warm, compelling read. The book particularly comes to life not as a tragedy but as a solid exposé of life at the bar, and Ms Briscoe’s attempts to find acceptance as a young, ambitious black woman within a rather staid profession. This book is at its best when we see the struggles a pupil has in any high-profile chambers: being turned down for any form of financial help, while struggling with other barristers within the civil rights chambers at Tooks Court in her fight for tenancy.

On being turned down for tenancy, she astonishes both chambers and the reader by writing to each and every single member of chambers asking for their reasons for her rejection. I would be surprised if many pupils these days were politically brave enough to take such a position. Briscoe not only takes the position but almost revels in the dispute, which must have been particularly trying at the time, with chambers and in her fight for justice and understanding. A delightful read.


Jason M Hadden is a solicitor advocate and presenter at BPP