In the Family Way

byJane Robinson

Illegitimacy Between the Great War and the Swinging Sixties

Format:

PaperbackEbook

Buy the book from:

AmazonOpens in a new tabBlackwellsOpens in a new tabBookshop.orgOpens in a new tabFoylesOpens in a new tabHiveOpens in a new tabWaterstonesOpens in a new tabWHSmithOpens in a new tab
Only a generation or two ago, illegitimacy was one of the most shameful things that could happen in a family.

In the Family Way tells secrets kept for entire lifetimes: long-silent voices from the workhouse, the Magdalene Laundry or the distant mother-and-baby home. Anonymous childhoods are recalled, spent in the care of Dr Barnardo or a Child Migration scheme halfway across the world.

There are sorrowful stories in this book, but it is also about hope: about supportive families who welcomed 'love-children' home, or those who were parted and are now reconciled. Most of all, In the Family Way is about finally telling the truth.

An important social history tracked through personal stories that need to be heard, and will soon be beyond memory. They are not all harrowing. Compassion breaks through the stony ground

Daily Telegraph

About Jane Robinson

Jane Robinson is also the author of Bluestockings: The Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education and Ladies Can't Climb Ladders: The Pioneering Adventures of the First Professional Women. She was born in Edinburgh, grew up in North Yorkshire and read English at Somerville College, Oxford. She has worked in the antiquarian book trade and as an archivist, and is now a full-time writer and lecturer, specializing in social history through women's eyes. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical and Royal Geographical Societies, a Hawthornden Fellow, and a Senior Associate of Somerville College. In her spare time she collects books and designs pop-up Escape Rooms. She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and two feline assistants, Emmy and Mrs Chippy. Trailblazer is her thirteenth book.
Details
  • Imprint: Penguin
  • ISBN: 9780241962916
  • Length: 352 pages
  • Dimensions: 197mm x 22mm x 133mm
  • Weight: 264g
  • Price: £15.99
All editions