This title presents a hugely moving and affecting literary memoir of adoption, secrets and the need to belong. "Mother Country" evokes a magical childhood spent in transit between Notting Hill Gate and a decrepit houseboat on the banks of the Thames. It is a detective quest, as Harding searches through the public record for a clue about his natural mother, and a rich social history of a lost London from the 1950s. "Mother Country" is a powerful true story, full of thrilling revelations, comic confusion and tender memories, about a man looking for the mother he'd never known and finding out how little he'd understood about the one he'd grown up with.
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Editorial Reviews
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"'Beautifully written, funny and sad, this book is simply captivating.' Cressida Connolly"
--This text refers to the
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About the Author
Jeremy Harding is the author of Small Wars, Small Mercies: Journeys in Africa's Disputed Nations (1994) and The Uninvited, a report on clandestine migrants and asylum seekers in Western Europe. His translations of Rimbaud's poetry were published by Penguin in 2004. He is a contributing editor at the London Review of Books.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Memoirs,
By
This review is from: Mother Country (Paperback)
Well written, often poignant. Harding chooses details and incidents to evoke an era and a style.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adopted child's quest for his natural mother,
By
This review is from: Mother Country (Paperback)
Jeremy Harding was an adopted child who, for a long time, didn't bother investigating the circumstances of his birth. Eventually deciding (for the sake of his own children as much as for his own curiosity) that he ought to at least make an attempt, he set about his task. As he suspected would be the case, there were many twists and turns before the ultimate conclusion.
This book traces the story of Jeremy's quest but it seems to double up, at least in part, as Jeremy's autobiography. No doubt there would be other stuff in here if it were a genuine autobiography, but there's a lot of material in here that isn't obviously relevant to the main story. There is much information about the author's childhood, the places he lived and the people he was surrounded by, which provides an insight into London and the home counties as they were back then. Depending on your perspective, you may find this fascinating or frustrating. Fascinating because it is interesting in its own right or frustrating because you're really interested in Jeremy's quest for his natural mother - it's for you to decide. As to the quest itself, that was at times very frustrating for Jeremy. He tried all the obvious archive sources but nearly missed the line that proved successful. Even then, he got lucky. Yes, he eventually identified his birth mother. Was she dead or alive? If alive, was there a reunion and if so, was it a happy one? You can find the answers in this book, which is certainly worth a read.
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