Book Description

For Felicity, growing up with her unmarried mother and grandparents in a tiny bungalow in Scarborough, life could be frightening and confusing. Why did her beloved granddad just make excuses when her gran subjected her to physical and psychological abuse? Why did her dad, who lived alone nearby, call her by a different name and hide her from his family? What was wrong with her? Sick of it all, Felicity ran away from home aged fifteen and for years she struggled to find her way until she qualified as a teacher and found a career she loved. But at the age of fifty, a successful woman, she still felt hollow inside. Needing to understand why her gran had abused her, she started to research her family's history and uncovered their secrets one by one, including a shocking truth kept buried out of shame. Her great-grandmother Emily Swann, a brutalised wife, had been hanged for the murder of her violent husband... Powerful and moving, Sins of the Family shows how tragedies can impact generations to come but understanding and forgiveness can heal the past. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED AS GUARD A SILVER SIXPENCE