When Kay O'Gorman started writing this book, every word she put down was infused with shame and guilt. How could this devoted mother, whose whole world was her family, have left her five children? Kay tells of her own traumatic and neglected childhood, of the early death of her mother, of her domineering but charismatic father. To escape, she married early only to discover too late that her young husband was an alcoholic and a philanderer. She hoped that children would change things, but they did not. Her circumstances grew ...
Read More
When Kay O'Gorman started writing this book, every word she put down was infused with shame and guilt. How could this devoted mother, whose whole world was her family, have left her five children? Kay tells of her own traumatic and neglected childhood, of the early death of her mother, of her domineering but charismatic father. To escape, she married early only to discover too late that her young husband was an alcoholic and a philanderer. She hoped that children would change things, but they did not. Her circumstances grew ever more desperate. 'I think if I hadn't left I'd be dead, or I'd be in a mental home.' She fled. She formed a new relationship and planned to take three weeks to establish a new home before returning for her children. But in a cruel twist of fate, she was never to get her children back. In Where's Your Mama Gone? Kay writes with unflinching truth about the reasons she did what she did. It recalls an Ireland of casual cruelty, all-powerful authority figures, sexual ignorance and non-existent choice. 'If society doesn't punish mothers as much as it used to, mothers still punish themselves. It is clear from every word that Kay writes that her anguish and suffering at being separated, still, from her children is heart scalding.' Mary Kenny, Irish Independent
Read Less