The Drowning Girl – Margaret Leroy

'She's my daughter, but in some weird way I feel she isn't really my child'.

Young single mum Grace is drowning. Her little girl Sylvie is distant, troubled and prone to violent tantrums which the child psychiatrists blame on Grace. But Grace knows there's something more to what's happening to Sylvie. 

There has to be. 

Travelling from the London suburbs to the west coast of Ireland, Grace and Sylvie embark on a journey of shocking discovery, forcing Grace to question everything she believes in and changing both their lives forever.

My Rating 5/5 Loved This Book (Fiction)

Not the sort of book that I would normally read had I known what it was about. (I only go by the front cover I never read the back as I find it spoils the book for me) It was the haunting image and the question on the cover  - ”What if there was something deeply wrong with your child, and nobody believed you?” That caught my eye.

I could not put this book down. I found it a fascinating read.

Annie’s Girl – Maureen Coppinger

Maureen Coppinger’s earliest memory is of watching the woman she believed to be her mother walk away and abandon her to the care of the nuns at one of Ireland’s notorious industrial schools. She was just three years old. 

She remained in the orphanage until the age of 16, subjected to cruelty and neglect, and starved of love and affection. Throughout these tormented years, Maureen dreamed only of escape, and when she was contacted again by her mammy she believed all her dreams were about to come true. Life in the outside world brought its own challenges, however, and Maureen was thrown into turmoil when she discovered that the truth about her past was more murky than she had ever realised.

Annie’s Girl stands apart as a poignant testimony to the resilience of the human heart. This touching and evocative memoir is the incredible story of an illegitimate industrial school survivor’s profound struggle to overcome a shame-filled past and solve the mystery of her origins.

My Rating 5/5 Heartbreaking (Autobiography)

So sad.  I really wanted it to carry on for a few more years and not end as it did as I felt that I needed to know more.

Maybe there will be a follow-up book.