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Book description

Felicity's earliest memories are of pain and confusion, of being beaten daily by her nan and watching her mum being beaten too. She ran away from home at fifteen. At thirty-six she was a single mother of three sons who was broke and lost. Remarkably she turned her life around, becoming a teacher. But it wasn't quite enough . . .



Felicity needed to understand why her nan abused her - and in researching her family history uncovered a corrosive secret that had scarred succeeding generations. In 1903 her great-grandmother Emily Swann was hung for the murder of her violent husband. The Wombwell Murder was a notorious case, and it brought shame on Emily's orphaned children. Discovering the povery and hardships of Emily's life in Barnsley, and the traumas her nan suffered as a girl, Felicity came to see the destructive patterns that had been repeated in her family for nearly 100 years, and was finally free to walk away into her own future. Felicity Davis was a finallist in the 2009 Barbara Taylor Bradford Woman of Substance Awards, recognising women who've become high achievers against the odds. She is the deputy head of George Pindar Community Sports College in Scarborough.