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Born in 1944, author Brettell recalls seeing Windsor Castle from his childhood home near London. After his parents separated, he, his siblings, and their mother moved several times, desperate for a steady livelihood. Changing schools was a trial for Brettell, but one saving grace was his mother’s purchase of a cow, providing nutrition and inciting the skill of milking. Helping to maintain a homestead—selling various produce and assisting neighbors, sometimes for meager pay—was always tough. Still, Brettel enjoyed being in nature and dreamed of one day having his own farm. All the children assisted in chores that included collecting bedding for pigs, building hay ricks, and raising chickens for eggs and meat and dogs for saleable puppies. Married and soon happily parenting by his mid-twenties, the author began paid employment, with success in many aspects of railroad work, periods of delivering milk and other such local endeavors, and later settling on clearance work, cutting hedges, and other gardening tasks in his vicinity.
Deciding to write his autobiography in midlife, Brettell demonstrates his innate skills as a wordsmith, describing the rigors of his many forms of employment and the great happiness he experiences as a father and grandfather. He has been able to include lively pictures after realizing that he is, in fact, a talented photographer who enjoys making films of events like family vacations. His engaging recollections include incredible challenges such as falling under a train and somehow surviving, struggling with house payments, working long hours, and coping with such national crises as petrol rationing. In contrast are his memories of many pleasant hours spent with children and grandchildren. His memoir will be enjoyed by anyone who may recall similar harsh conditions and longings from their own youth and the triumphs of overcoming obstacles by dint of strong, hope-impelled determination.