All names and identities have been changed in this memoir, to protect both the living and the children of those who have died. Some changes have been made to historical facts for the same reason.
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First published by HarperElement 2014 as My Mam Shirley This edition 2018
© Julie Shaw and Lynne Barrett-Lee 2014
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018 Cover photographs © plainpicture/Emma McIntyre (woman); plainpicture/bobsairport (moody street)
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Julie Shaw and Lynne Barrett-Lee assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780007542284
Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780007542291
Version: 2018-02-21
Contents
A wall full of faces smile down on me,
And my heart begins to swell,
Past fuses with present so seamlessly,
Oh the stories these pictures could tell.
Old black and white memories are dancing,
Side by side with the colour of youth,
Hidden heartache temporarily halted,
By smiles that are clouding the truth.
Such happy times, such sad times,
Each inextricably linked to the last,
With spaces left for the future,
Amid these echoes of my past.