I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Jenny Smith born in 1946 was brought up in Derbyshire and the Prologue describes the warm, happy memories she has of her early childhood, the Roast dinners, homemade cakes, loving parents and lots of children in the neighbourhood to get into mischief with. Sadly her mother is diagnosed with schizophrenia and this has a huge impact on Jenny's emotional well-being as she struggles to make sense of her mothers rages and hallucinations. At the age of 13 Jenny runs away to London where she ends up getting involved in prostitution in order to survive. After a year on the streets she is reunited with her family only to be sentenced to a year in an Approved school.
Jenny's book covers so many sad topics, mental illness, runaways, prostitution, homelessness, Mixed race marriage, poverty and domestic violence. After getting into an abusive relationship Jenny manages to escape with her two daughters to a refuge for battered women in Chiswick, run by Erin Pizzey. The strength of these women is incredible and Erin has made a promise to never turn a battered away. The book describes Jenny's time at the refuge and beyond. The book mentioned two documentaries that were filmed in the refuge, "Scream quietly or the neighbours will here" and "Sanctuary" which was filmed in 1991 for Channel 4. The former was filmed with the same title as Erin Pizzey's book written a couple of years prior to the documentary. I would love to see this book available on Kindle and I'm also now in search online of any clips of the Sanctuary documentary. Erin Pizzey sounds an amazing woman with the strength to fight for what she believed in no matter what the personal cost.
Jenny's style of writing makes this a very easy read despite the harrowing subject matter. She is excellent at creating imagery of what it was like to live in Hackney, London in the late 60's early 70's and the racism that many new immigrants from the West Indies faced from the locals and the police. There are brighter moment where she describes the atmosphere at the Shabeens, the Caribbean food that she comes to love and the smells and sounds of the local markets. As well as living in the same district as the notorious Kray twins.
Later in life Jenny becomes a foster carer something which she is well equipped for with her past experiences. An excellent read, tragic yet inspiring in equal measure.
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Top reviews from other countries
Kindle Customer
A truly inspiring tale.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 8, 2014
Mskittenheels
Inspiring and Pioneering
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2014Mr. M. K. Egan
"You have so much to give, Jenny"
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 15, 2015
