About five years ago while sorting through a stack of old, official paperwork, I found a piece of paper on which my dad had written his mother’s maiden name: Agnes Hughes.
That doesn’t sound so strange, until you realise that Dad was an orphan. He’d been raised in various Barnardo’s homes from the age of six and although he knew his father had died in action, he didn’t know what happened to his mother. Stumbling across her name made me determined to find out.
Fast forward five years, and I’ve turned my search into a book. Set out as a series of letters, Regarding Agnes pieces together the story of what really happened to Agnes.
It’s been a labour of love. Looking back, Dad never got over the trauma of losing his mother at such a young age. As well as charting my investigations, Regarding Agnes gives an unflinchingly honest account of the lasting impact of that trauma.
It’s a true story about family, memory, and how it might be possible to find peace and forgiveness in the present by trying to reignite and understand the past.
Regarding Agnes is available in print and e-book versions at Amazon (and can be downloaded for free with Kindle Unlimited). If you do read it, be sure to let me know what you think!
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