Shoemaker’s Children

“Home” that year for sixteen-year-old Janet was a ten-by-ten shed without heat, water or electricity, to be shared with Aunt who dared to think a lone woman could farm successfully where even strong men had failed.

Then there were the animals – the Afghan Rug who was a kind of cow, Bob the horse who declined to pull the plough, and Wamba the duck who was a dwarf. To say nothing of the neighbours, like the Pig Boy and Mr Deems and the alarming Fenmortons. It was year of flood, fire, gales, loss and gain, and a great deal of growing up.