You Don't Know What It's Like

Description

Following a drunken violent attack by her husband, Barbara Cunningham, grabs her two children and flees the family home.

To her, this will draw a line under the most difficult part of her life, it will bring to an end, living in fear, for she always knew that one day her alcoholic husband would attack her. “Things can only get better …” the song says but for her and her children, David, 5 and Louise 2 ½ life gets harder and harder.

Living in abject poverty, fighting periods of dark depression, yet displaying an air of confidence and coping, Barbara finds sleep impossible. She turns to the bottle for uncritical support, until one morning, she walks her children to school in a drunken haze. Whilst crossing the road, the three narrowly escape injury when a car swerves to miss them. From that point on, Barbara fights to turn life around for herself and her children. She takes on anyone who dares stand in the way of her children having every opportunity other children take for granted.

The desire to crawl out of the poverty trap and throw off the stigma of being a single mother living on benefits, takes her and the children 200 miles North where she puts herself through University.

At the same time, not wanting men in and out of her children’s lives and not feeling able to commit to a relationship, she chooses a life of celibacy. This will last for 10 long years, until her children are independent.

Then feeling like a born again virgin, Barbara explodes back into the world of men and dating only to find that this world has changed and all the men of her age have turned into her father……………


About the Author

My Mum, Barbara Cunningham, is a fabulous if at times slightly eccentric mother of a beautiful, witty intelligent daughter and a ginger son. Educated at Keele University, she holds a dual honours Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Criminology, as well as various slightly less orthodox qualifications including Culinary Arson Studies.

With a career history that borders on chameleonic, her lines of work have included journalism, insurance broking, running a pub, being the life and soul of the staff party at the Keele University Nuffield Library (a surprisingly tall order) and most recently putting the youth of our nation on the straight and narrow as part of the Essex Youth Offending Team.

A keen badminton and netball player, she even had a stint playing for and managing a netball team who, while not perhaps being the most feared opponents in the land, were nonetheless the envy of the Chelmsford league for being such a thoroughly nice bunch of girls! Whilst this is her first literary publication, she has high hopes of writing a host of Pulitzer Prize winners in the future. Possible titles include ‘The Carbon Cookbook’ and ‘100 Ways to Shut Your Daughter Up: A Practical Guide to Domestic Serenity’.

I might have never told her, but now she can see it in print, that I am one of her biggest fans. I admire her for her endurance, for her courage and for her strength. I admire her for the care and guidance she gave to her offspring when she would have desperately needed someone to guide and care for her, and I admire her for her selflessness and durability. But most of all I admire her for never giving up and for giving so much love to those she loved even though she was so often deprived of it herself.

Mum, you are really cool and I love you … loads.