The Complete Helen Forrester 4-Book Memoir Book Reviews

The Complete Helen Forrester 4-Book Memoir by Helen Forrester Book Summary

The complete four-volume collection of classic memoir recounting a poverty-stricken childhood in 1930s Liverpool that started with Twopence To Cross the Mersey.

Twopence To Cross The Mersey – When Helen Forrester’s father went bankrupt in 1930 she and her six siblings were forced into dreadful poverty in Depression-ridden Liverpool. Managing the household and caring for the younger children all fell on twelve-year-old Helen. Written without self-pity, Forrester’s memoir of these grim days is as heart-warming as it is shocking.

Liverpool Miss – Life remains extremely tough for fourteen-year-old Helen. Her continuing struggles against malnutrition, dirt and, above all, the selfish demands of her parents, are deeply shocking. But Helen’s fortitude in the most harrowing of situations makes this a story of amazing courage.

By The Waters Of Liverpool – though her parents are as financially irresponsible as ever, wasting money while their children go without, for Helen the future is brightening. At seventeen, she has fought won some important battles with her parents and won, then she meets Harry…

Lime Street At Two – It is 1940 and Helen, now twenty, is working at a welfare centre. Her wages are pitifully low and her mother claims the whole of them for housekeeping but she is still thrilled to be gaining some independence. As WWII rages, tragedy isn’t very far away, but Helen faces it with courage and determination.

Reviews

‘It was the biography that I would have written if my parents had not been given benefits, if they’d had to rely on parish hand outs … [I] want to press this book into your hands and go, “You must read this”.’ Caitlin Moran

‘Remarkable that from so bleak and unloving a background came a writer of such affectionate understanding and unsettling honesty’ Sunday Telegraph

‘What makes this writer’s self-told tale so memorable?… An absolute recall, a genius for the unforgettable detail, the rare chance of subject’
The Good Book Guide

'Should be long and widely read as an extraordinary human story and social document' Observer

About the author

Helen Forrester was born in Hoylake, Cheshire, the eldest of seven children. For many years, until she married, her home was Liverpool, a city that features prominently in her work. For many decades, she made her home with her husband and son in Alberta, Canada. Helen died in 2011 aged 92.

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