Call Me Auntie Call Me Auntie

Call Me Auntie

My Childhood in Care and My Search for My Mother

    • 3.5 • 2 Ratings
    • £9.99
    • £9.99

Publisher Description

A truly original story of life in and after care. A unique account of trans-racial fostering which focuses on identity, family history and loss. Call Me Auntie adds to the literature of post-Windrush 1950s Britain and tells of ‘Heartbreak House’ care homes.


The author’s account of being abandoned by her mother as a young child and her life in homes and institutions will captivate any reader. The mystery of her search for her mother and constant rejections will leave the reader wondering what demons drove her to be so elusive. “Call Me Auntie” was the best her mother could offer but this was just the start of a bizarre sequence of events. After discovering she had a brother and looking for her long lost family in Barbados the author finally came to understand she “may be a princess after all”.


Call Me Auntie is a story of survival, resilience and changing attitudes to racism and ethnicity as the author forged a successful career beginning as a Woolworth’s shop girl before joining the police, then moving into social work.

Reviews


‘Anne’s story is a compelling account, not just of her search for her birth mother but of her extraordinary journey from being a child in care, then qualifying as a social worker and finally becoming a magistrate?…?I read it at a sitting and could not put it down. Her account of life in a children’s home in the 1960s and 1970s deserves to find a place on every social work training course’— Retired Judge Robert Zara.


‘This is an excellent read for anyone who has compassion. The author had a really tough childhood brought up by the care system. She raises really important questions. A must-read for anyone who wants to make a difference for children and their lives. Make it compulsory for all social work students’— John Bolton, Visiting Professor, Institute of Public Care, Oxford Brookes University, and a former Director of Social Services.

Extract


‘Our new house-parents were Harold and Dora … He was a big guy who always looked angry. She was a little mousy figure but with a steel will underneath … Overnight, the household regime changed. As controlled as our lives might have been in the [previous houseparents’] time, the changes were shocking. Chores had to be performed to much higher standards, and there were new ones … There were new rules, routines, and responsibilities. But this was not all. With the new chores and new rules, our fear set in.'

Author


Anne Harrison was brought up in care. She was a shop assistant before she joined the Warwickshire Police. From there she became a residential social worker and social care manager for local authorities in the West Midlands and Warwickshire. She lives with her husband in Coventry.

GENRE
Biography
RELEASED
2020
7 October
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
146
Pages
PUBLISHER
Waterside Press
SIZE
8.5
MB

Customer Reviews

A Mc1212 ,

An extremely powerful story of self discovery

I wonder if my review will do this book justice. “Call Me Auntie” is absolutely a must read for people of all walks of life. Beautifully written and unapologetically raw, this book has been a real page turner for me. Pages of raw emotion, passion & determination to find what I can only describe as ‘a belonging’ which really comes to life through the intensity of each chapter. It’s eye opening to see the world in at points such an unforgiving place - with Anne from such a young age having to navigate through both race inequalities and identity searching. Throughout the book, I felt engaged and almost alongside Anne on her emotional journey. It is not sugar coated and each memory written with an openness and honesty that for lack of a better word is inspiring. A captivating read.

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