There have been some great reviews of Margaret’s Story that clearly picked up on some of the themes: mum’s childhood troubles and later ill health, the constant upheavals of army life but, for me, there was one underlying theme that pulled them all together. The deprivations Margaret suffered were emotional rather than physical. The adults in her life seemingly blamed her for the circumstances of her birth and destroyed her sense of self worth.

‘Family’ was vitally important to Margaret because she grew up without one. She was a loving mother who always put her family first but the one person she couldn’t find it in herself to love was herself. She took to comfort eating and, from being a waif like creature in her youth, became increasingly over-weight. In later life she neglected her health with a cavalier disregard for what was good for her.

While she was a loving mother and would do anything for her children the lack of self-belief was to an extent passed on. Hence, the surprise when I passed my eleven plus, Janette ‘dropping out’ of grammar school because she found the other, pony owning, girls too posh. Mum’s genuine surprise when I talked about people who thought they were better than us. “Aren’t they?!”, she said and she meant it.

 

She loved everyone except herself

Blame her fate on the cards life dealt.

Stories don’t end they carry on,

She’d left her mark on everyone.

Lack of belief can get passed on,

Cast it aside for love of mum.

I’ve finally done what I wanted to do

Presented Margaret’s tale to you.

They made her feel of little worth

But such as her will rule the earth.