Publisher's Synopsis
As shadows of impending war lengthen in 1939, a lone woman, shamed and shunned by her family in Northern Ireland, has no option other than leave her rural community. With nothing more than a few pounds and a scribbled note, she carries her expected child to an address to go to in London. The Marie Stopes worker she meets there finds her short term accommodation. Unable to continue in her lodgings, she is forced to surrender her boy child, born in Romford, Essex, into the care of an Order of Religious Sisters. In this book, the author describes his early life living with others in similar circumstances. Reflecting on a period of twelve years, he describes how the Sisters controlled a wide variety of behaviour and situations in a setting containing over a hundred boys grouped together. He is led to believe his mother has died and his father died heroically in war torn France. He makes friends that last a life time. "Of What Is Past" is the first book in a series entitled "Scenes From An Examined Life".
