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Banana Girl

by June Roberts

191 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-2290; ISBN 1-4251-0532-7; US$18.26, C$21.00, EUR15.00, £10.50

An account of a child taken to Dr. Banardo's Homes following the tragic death of a young mother of nine children. The story traces her life from 3-20 years.

About the Book

On the day of a young mother's funeral, the four youngest of nine children were taken to Dr. Banardo's Homes, Stepney Causeway in London.

I was born near Chesterfield Derbyshire in 1934. I was three years old, eighth child of the family, when desperately poor and neglected I was collected with brothers aged four and five and baby sister aged two years.

Deeply traumatised I moved between ten addresses including hospital suffering from rickets. At the age of six I was fostered to a family in Cambridgeshire.

This is the story of my wartime childhood with a strict foster mother and aged foster father. Unable to speak for three weeks I gradually settled and attended the village primary school.

Having passed the school scholarship at eleven years I attended the high school for girls in Ely Cambs. At the age of 16 the prospect of earning money beckoned and I left school, not realizing the impact my decision would make. I was told my foster mother's duty was done and I must go out in the world and "stand on my own two feet".

I found myself back in Banardo's in Suffolk for nursery nurse training. At the age of eighteen and a half I passed the entrance examinations for entry to the W.R.A.F.

Aged twenty years I was posted to Egypt during the Suez Crisis, then to Iraq. Seven months later recovering from illness in the mountains of N. Turkey an accident left me critically injured. The story describes a dramatic mountain rescue. The late King Feisal of Iraq gave permission for his helicopter and pilot to be used during the rescue.

About the Author

June Roberts was born in Derbyshire. After years researching her family background and finding her siblings as a teenager, this is the story of her childhood.

After 19 years marriage to fellow RAF member, and raising a family of eight children which included two sets of twins, she found herself alone with the children and later divorced her husband.

She still lives in retirement on the beautiful Isle of Anglesey surrounded by her family, children, grand children, great-grand children and wonderful friends.

Excerpts