Beryl Martin grew up as Pat Ridge, daughter of Nellie and George. George worked at the Municipal Milk Department; Nellie fostered children, to whom she was mostly cruel. Roaming Wellington as a child and schoolgirl, Pat started work at the Zig Zag factory at 14; she ran away from home at 21, never to see Nellie again. In 1985, the Adult Adoption Information Act was passed and Pat Hawthorne (now with a name bestowed by marriage) set off to find the family she learned about only in her 50's - the "family from Barra". Her natural mother had died only a few years before she met her two brothers, and discovered a family ready to claim her. Barra, the smallest island in the Hebrides, was the original home of the Martin family, to which Beryl Martin, in her 60's, returns, locating Scottish cousins and reclaiming her own history.
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The journey of an adopted woman to find her roots,
By A Customer
This review is from: A Family from Barra: An Adoption Story (Paperback)
FAMILY FROM BARRA by Beryl Martin is the true story of the author's childhood in New Zealand, growing up as Pat Ridge, the daughter of a working man and his emotionally unbalanced wife. It is not until after years of abuse that the author learns that she was adopted and begins the search for her blood relations that eventually leads her back to the island of Barra in Scotland. The descriptions of her early years are captivating, not only because they are a window into the mind of her eccentric and sometimes brutally unfair step-mother, but also because they so clearly capture the spirit of the Depression era with its escapes through endless movies and its many economies. Eventually the author becomes acquainted with her brothers in New Zealand and finds a sense of belonging and happiness. This true story is a triumph of the human spirit, full of admitted failings, but never despairing that there is a place in the world for everyone.
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