Immediately after finishing WHISPER MY SECRET, I bought the sequel MOTHER OF TEN. I wanted to know more about Myrtle, an Australian woman and her family, especially what happened to her first three children, the ones who were taken from her custody by her uncaring ex-husband and his controlling and meanspirited mother and placed in government childcare facilities. We also learn about the lives of the members of her second family whom June, the narrator, discovered and sought out after her mother's death. .
The book was an honest look of the life of a hardworking caring family of little means in Australia starting in the 1940s. We hear about the respectful actions of caring members of the community when her father becomes ill allowing the family to maintain its dignity.
One of the funniest sections is when June's grandmother, Nan, teaches her how to make scones. "Making scones is a skill not many people learn. I'll teach you how to do it. First you need a good recipe. Get me that recipe book in the top drawer." With June reading the directions, Nan makes the scones, ignoring almost everything the book says.
The two youngest ones grew up in orphanages and received no visitors or love. They had been separated from each other and for a very long time did not know they had siblings. All three had also been told lies about their mother so that they would think she was a terrible woman who abandoned them freely. The story of children raised in that situation is explored honestly. Speaking about sharing family stories, histories, and pictures, Rowley writes "Institutional children are deprived of these precious pieces of the childhood jigsaw that most of us assume as our right." They lack personal belongings or privacy and were subject to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.
She also writes of why mothers in these situations may not want to regain contact with their children later on and presents logical explanations.
At the end we learn briefly of what has happened to the members today.
MOTHER OF TEN is well written, honest, and down-to-earth. Rowley includes some updated information about WHISPER MY SECRET.
One of the delights of this book was learning about the lyre bird, an Australian bird whose tail explains its name and mimics all types of sounds. I went on line and was delighted with what I discovered. Go to [...] and other sites listed on Google to hear some of them.
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Anna Murray
other children submitted reports at how no love was given
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2017
