Doreen Burrows

The Gamekeepers Other Daughter Doreen Burrows

This is a journey through Doreen's life. The geographical journey takes you from wild and rugged John O'Groats to a village in Kent (for a stopover of twenty-three years); but there are many stops along the way and the author now resides in the beautiful city of Lincoln. The emotional journey is not for the faint-hearted. As a very young child, Doreen was left to fight her own battles, which were many. In her words, "My father was a man so evil; he used the isolation of the Yorkshire Moors to submit his family to misery and mental torture." She discovered a long-buried secret that shocked and saddened her, also destroying any fond feelings that she had for her mother. A hard life, indeed; Doreen experienced homelessness at sixteen, a brush with danger, the Law and very nearly murder! She had to fight for her family over the years; a fight that she says, "nearly brought me to my knees." More recently was the sorrow that shattered her heart into a thousand pieces but eventually steered her into 'calmer waters'. However there are many moments of humour and snapshots of social history. She explains why she had a deep hatred of school and people in authority. The resilient and feisty child became a teenager looking for 'love's young dream' and finding her first love, who kept a piece of her heart forever. Relish the memories of New Year's Eve in a small village north of the border during the sixties! In Doreen's words, "Buckle your seatbelts, it's a rocky ride."