An abandoned Australian child struggles to survive and find her American father. An unacceptable liaison, a secret birth, a mother's silence, and her black child's journey to discover the truth... It is 1948, Sydney, Australia. Pretty, blonde Grace discovers she is pregnant to a black merchant marine who has sailed back to America. The White Australia Policy is in place and society's judgment matters; so what will Grace do with this baby? This is the true story of the inconvenient child. Rescued from neglectful foster care by an American champion boxer, the baby is taken to live in a party house in Sydney's red light district of Kings Cross. Her absent, elegant mother then abandons Sharyn in a convent-orphanage, at age five. By fifteen, discrimination within her family, resentment and clashes over her father's undisclosed identity see the troubled teenager running away to the streets of Kings Cross where she's arrested and sentenced to notorious juvenile detention centers. Sharyn's solace is her love of music but can she realize her dream to become a singer if, by twenty-four, she is trapped in the Kings Cross lifestyle? Determined to find her father, Sharyn sets out in search of her roots, a quest taking her across the world and eventually to America's Deep South. But will she find the loving family and belonging she has yearned for all her life?
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
Sharyn Killens is better known as Sharyn Crystal, a successful Australian singer and entertainer in clubs and on luxurious cruise ship stages around the world.
But her life wasn't always glamorous and her childhood was at times, a living hell.
This is not your usual celebrity biography. It is a gritty, honest and confronting account of an abandoned black Australian child's courageous struggle to survive in a white society and find her identity - her roots.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
All Souls' Day: A Prologue
MY GRANDMOTHER wanted me dead even before I was born.
`Abort it. Adopt it. Drown it. Just get rid of it! That evil child is never coming into my home.'
Her vile words were revealed to me by my cousin a few years ago, after a couple of bottles of chardonnay.
Evidently, my grandmother had gone on to say to my horrified mother, `You will ruin your life. A good and decent man will come along one day and want to marry you. But that will never happen if you keep this devil child. No man will ever want you! And besides, what will the neighbors think?'
She had just heard what was to her, an appalling confession from her youngest daughter: that she was pregnant with me, the illegitimate child of an American `colored' man. My grandmother convinced my mother her life would be ruined if she kept this devil child: I was evil and the sensible thing to do was to get rid of me. And so my mother agreed. Well, almost.
I WAS BORN IN SYDNEY, Australia, on November 2, 1948, three years after the end of World War II, in Crown Street Women's Hospital. I emerged with chocolate-colored skin, brown eyes, soft black curls, huge lungs and a spirit I believe was blessed by God himself. Fortunately, He also bestowed on me the gifts of strength, determination, persistence and willpower to guide me through the next grueling years of my life.
There were no celebrations when I drew breath on that hot All Souls' Day. No baby shower or nervous father pacing impatiently in the waiting room. No tears of joy or relatives and friends rushing to visit with bouquets of flowers and teddy bears. I came into this world quietly and secretly. Few knew of my arrival and fewer still thought I was special.
In fact, the doctor and nurses must have stared in astonishment when they delivered the tiny black baby to the fair-haired and delicate young woman with ivory-colored skin. I imagine my mother would have considered this moment her greatest humiliation.
Later, back in her ward with the other new mothers, the nurse placed me into her arms. No doubt the embarrassment and shame was almost too much to bear as she took in the shocked expressions on the faces of the women in the other beds. What an incongruous sight, she would have thought. Blue eyes and blond hair, and cradling a tiny brown-skinned baby. And to make matters worse, she didn't have a husband by her side! Where was that man? He had promised he would return. He'd promised her love and marriage. When he came back everything would work out, she was sure of it. They would be married. She would be his wife and he would take her to live in America. Wouldn't he?
I was born into a hostile environment because of the color of my skin. Not only was it unacceptable to be born illegitimate in Australia in 1948 but to be born brown or black as well was unforgivable. In my mother's defense, frankly she had few choices. A backyard abortion was far too dangerous, not to mention illegal and extremely expensive, and adoption was just not an option. In that era, `colored' babies were not wanted by anyone, full stop.
Ignoring the whispers and sniggers surrounding her that hot November day, my mother stared into my little face. She knew the road ahead would be almost unbearable but she realized she had to try to take care of me. She had no choice. However, she couldn't take me home to live with her at her mother's house, so she decided she would find people to look after me, somewhere. And so I became my mother's secret.
My existence was to become the family's shame; one of those family secrets known by most but never mentioned.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Absorbing book with a great storyline,
By Fearless Reviews "D. Patrick Miller, Editor" (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)
This review is from: The Inconvenient Child: An Abandoned Australian Child Struggles to Survive and Find her American Father (Paperback)
Fathered by a nameless black soldier and borne and reared, sort of, by a woman she called Princess Mummy (later Ice-Princess Mummy), Australian singer and memoirist Sharyn Killens has led a fairytale of a life -- sometimes a dark one. Like all good fairytales, it's a rags-to-riches saga, but since it's also a twentieth-century tale, the riches are those of the spirit. The inconvenient child Sharyn Samuels transforms herself into Sharyn Crystal, elegant popular entertainer -- and woman on a quest -- and ultimately into Sharyn Killens, who at last knows her own story.
Unwanted and neglected by her white mother and grandmother, despised for her brown skin, Sharyn was sent at age five to the Aussie equivalent of Ireland's notorious Magdalene Laundries, those convents where unwanted girls were locked up to atone for their "sins" with hard work. (Sharyn refers to her caretakers as the "Sisters of No Mercy.") The outcome was inevitable: juvenile detention centers, strip clubs, drugs, a too-early romantic career, children, husbands, and the search for self-respect in a country that despised people of her color. Her eventual success as a cabaret and luxury cruise singer offered Killens a partial salvation, as well as her devotion to her sons and her second husband. Most significant was Sharyn's determination to find her father, the mysterious American G.I. who had wooed and won her mother in 1948, and then sailed away, promising to send for her, but never came back. Co-written with Lindsay Lewis, a businesswoman and former entertainer who is Killens's long-time friend, The Inconvenient Child makes for lively reading, although the prose is seldom more than serviceable, and the book as a whole lacks the sort of deeper insight that makes for a truly resonant autobiography. Nonetheless, The Inconvenient Child is an absorbing book with a great storyline and memorable scenes. It's also a vivid look back at postwar Australia, as well as a moving reminder of the sons and daughters of overseas servicemen, too many of whom still become inconvenient children. -- Melanie Lawrence for the FEARLESS REVIEWS
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding book!,
By
This review is from: The Inconvenient Child: An Abandoned Australian Child Struggles to Survive and Find her American Father (Paperback)
I recently read The Inconvenient Child and could hardly put it down! What an incredible true story about a person of great courage and how she triumphed over unbelievable adversity and hardship. A truly fascinating, heartwarming look inside the life of singer Sharyn Chrystal (Killens). I would never wish such a childhood on anyone, but I would wish such a wonderful ending on everyone! This book is a huge inspiration to me whenever I am tempted to complain about the small inconveniences in my own life! I learned much from Sharyn's struggles. Here's to the girls who endured Parramatta and Hay!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An incredible uplifting journey,
This review is from: The Inconvenient Child: An Abandoned Australian Child Struggles to Survive and Find her American Father (Paperback)
This is the amazing story of an incredible life - beautifully told. From the opening paragraph you are on a journey that takes you from despair to joy as this wonderful girl fights against the odds to find her American father and a family that she can call her own. It was compulsive reading from the beginning to the end and I highly recommend it. Every woman should read this book.
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