Belonging

Growing up in Yorkshire during the 1930s, Betty Barnes’ childhood is full of hardship and uncertainty. The Depression forces Betty’s family into a life of constant upheaval as they struggle to overcome debt and find financial stability. But perhaps the greatest adversity she has to face is her troubled relationship with her family. A strained relationship with her mother and younger sister leaves Betty looking to her grandmother and other relatives for the sense of belonging that, despite a close bond with her father, has been missing from her life. After uncovering a closely guarded family secret, Betty tries to heal the rift with her mother and find her place in a country moving from the bleakness of depression to the shadow of war. Without bitterness or complaint, she leaves school content to face a laborious future at the slipper mill to help ease her family’s financial woes. Soon realising she wants more, Betty seeks greater challenges, moving from shopwork to nursing before finally leaving her home in the North for the bright lights of the Capital and the cultural diversity of the Quaker Youth House. But ultimately it is only when she finds the love of a caring, devoted husband and has a family of her own that Betty finally achieves a sense of belonging. Author Bio: Betty Barnes spent some years in Kent where she wrote scripts for the BBC and Radio London. After working with teenage girls in care, she enrolled as a mature student on an English Literature course. Betty now lives in Cheshire and enjoys family life, plus active membership of a writers’ workshop.