Brought up between the controlling, strict matriarchal presences of her foster mother and grandmother, Judith never had the opportunity to ask about her birth parents, and was discouraged from even acknowledging the possibility of a wider family. Hers was a 'seen but not heard' upbringing, with loving but uncompromising guardians who would be familiar to anyone who grew up in the fifties.
It's unsurprising, therefore, that it took Judith so many years to brave the question of her origin, and start a journey of self-discovery. By this time it was too late for such questions to be easily answered, and it would take many years of perseverance for the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to fall into place. In the meantime, Judith grew and changed, married and had children of her own, all the while with a single question niggling in the back of her head: where did she come from?
This is a journey with surprises, reunions, travel, loss and love, homecomings and heartbreak; the story of an isolated, cowed only child growing into an adventurous woman, determined to track down her family.
As the fog of Judith's early life lifts and her family tree becomes visible, developments grow ever more surprising. My Hidden Family is a heart-warming memoir about the family you're given, and the family you find.