The Secret Painter is so much more than a sentimental rags to riches yarn. Joe uses his uncle's extraordinary life to tell a broader story about the way that working-class people in the twentieth century were excluded from art-making. [A] thoughtful, funny book - The Times
A timely reminder that art did not originate as an investment opportunity or a get-rich-quick scheme but as a way for human beings to make sense of their lives (plus make them bearable into the bargain). Miracles happen in the most unlikely places - JARVIS COCKER
The Secret Painter is a bracingly northern corrective to the metropolitan hype and verbiage that surrounds so much art. [ . . . ] Joe Tucker writes with beautiful casualness - Observer
This memoir is beautifully written, affectionate, witty and touching . . . With its idiosyncratic blend of serious purpose and disarming humour, The Secret Painter is a fitting tribute to its subject - Guardian
A fascinating one-off biography, which lays out the hypocrisy and snobbery of this country's "cultural elite" with an enviable lightness of touch [ . . . ] a book with steel in its heart - iPaper
In this profoundly moving and hugely enjoyable book, Joe Tucker investigates the mysterious life of his uncle, who left behind hundreds of paintings stuffed into every corner of his Warrington council flat - 2025 Critics' Pick, Sunday Times
This warm, often funny book, is a real gem - Daily Mail
Joe Tucker is a natural storyteller and The Secret Painter is a brilliant, engrossing read. Tucker discovers and uncovers a rich and fascinating tale hidden in his own family. What he finds, and how he acts upon it, will change their world forever, and his book serves as an important reminder to all of us that the great stories in our lives are often closer to us than we think - LEMN SISSAY
[A] warm, witty and honest book. [Joe Tucker] approaches his uncle's life with all the love of a relative, but also the clear-eyed curiosity of a true biographer - Prospect
A moving account of how the creative imagination can flourish in the most inhospitable circumstances - Telegraph
[A] slim but fascinating portrait - Financial Times
A thoroughly satisfying enquiry into both a man and an artist. It was such a privilege to experience Eric's world. Joe is such a good storyteller and there is something really interesting about how art - or any creative endeavour - finds a way to a public space and how that can be really reliant on the personal qualities of the artist. I loved The Secret Painter - CATHY RENTZENBRINK
This might be our favourite book of 2025. Joe Tucker has a light touch when it comes to thinking about place, class, art and value when it comes to his uncle. This book is laugh-out-loud funny, sensitive to everyday victories and tragedies and a testament to never counting anyone out. Unbelievably moving - Shortlist
Like his uncle before him, Joe Tucker inserts humanity and humour into the story of art. In this brilliant biography, he paints a heart-warming picture of an ordinary working-class man who achieved creative greatness. This is an uplifting, true story behind the many masterpieces found in an attic in Warrington, and how they were finally brought down for the world to see. I couldn't put this joyous book down! - RUTH MILLINGTON
The process of uncovering [Joe Tucker's] uncle's outsider art, as well as his own concurrent path of self-discovery, are the core of this beautifully written memoir. Partly out of family fealty and partly out of newfound respect for his uncle's skill and insight, the author doggedly navigates constant twists and turns as he endeavours to get his uncle's paintings catalogued, exhibited, and ultimately appreciated - Library Journal
Praise for Eric Tucker's work: 'Tucker's paintings are full of warmth - The Times
Tucker's work isn't just romantic in its mystery, but significant to British art as a whole. The man represents a cultural movement, encapsulating a too often ignored group of painters who studied a life hidden from London's social scene - iNews
Tucker's subjects ooze character - NPR
The collection is a remarkable, important find. Northern artists are so often written out of history - RUTH MILLINGTON
An artist virtually unknown until his death in 2018 but since compared to L.S. Lowry - Guardian
Eric Tucker was shunned by the art world all his life. But after his death, his home was found crammed with portraits of a working class-life - and now they are selling for small fortunes - Daily Mail
Tucker was an irregular who painted regulars . . . [he] works pictorial magic with pub tables, arranging them like stepping stones into the distance and fixing them in position with bottles of stout. He has a sophisticated sense of design: he likes playing abstract games with circles and squares - Spectator
To find a collection of that quality is an incredible coup for British art, and a win for the art community in general . . . That he did this without any ambitions for recognition only makes the work he's created more honest and true to the life he led - ELISE BELL

Joe Tucker originally trained as an animation director before becoming a television scriptwriter. With his scriptwriting partner, Lloyd Woolf, he has created and written the BBC shows Witless, Click & Collect and Black Ops.