This book is intended as a social fable discussing two completely different aspects of society-the haves, and the have nots. Clara, having been forced to leave school at 14-years of age to care for her terminally ill mother and younger brother, never finished her schooling, and has nothing and no-one to help her. She scrapes a living at the abusive end of the social spectrum. James has everything he needs, has never needed to care for anyone always having people around him to care for him. He knows Clara from school days, naϊvely thinking himself her white knight but to his own ends with scant regard for her dreams. His parents, both successful upper-middle class executives want for nothing in a materialistic world. His mother, a PhD biochemist and Director of a major pharmaceutical company, concentrates on her career as a female craving success. His father is a successful corporate banker but not vying to get to the top. He is the seemingly more lay-back member of the family, but the strength and calm when needed as a single event in the life of Clara brings reality crashing down upon them causing them all to engage in a journey that will transform their lives.
I met 'Clara' on a train to Cardiff where, having fought hard to get her voice heard with no formal qualifications, she was finally to be interviewed at a college to study fashion. I was so moved with the despair she had suffered during those 3-years as the carer of her mother with no State support regarding her education and ambitions during or after her mother finally succumbed to her illness. She had sacrificed formative years to care for her mother, and then forgotten; left to fend for herself at the bottom of the social ladder. The reflections expressed in this book of those 3-years are her story. I would hope that this book makes the plight of these children carers more visible as there are many of them.
