John Lancaster’s book Family Romance is about the lives of his parents and himself during the twentieth century. It’s a story about the middle classes that regarded Britain as “home” but who lived abroad for most of their lives in places like India and Hong Kong. As a memoir of a different time and different ways of living lives it would be fascinating but what makes this book unusual is the story that he uncovers about the secret that his mother has kept all her life and which has estranged her from her family in Ireland.
The author’s mother was a nun and came from a religious, Catholic family in rural Ireland. She became a nurse and eventually ran a missionary hospital. She gave up her vocation and her career to marry and at this time she also started lying about her identity – this caused complications that then led to mental health problems and a strained relationship with her only son who also experienced similar health issues. His father worked all his life in a bank, a job which he hated, in various places but mostly in Hong Kong. The author himself was sent to boarding school in England. The family seem to have lived lives that were disconnected to each other and to their past and the author shows us how this affected their relationships and ability, or inability, to function as a unit.
I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought it was fascinating how one small secret could snowball and affect the lives of so many people. I thought that the narrative gave me an insight into a world and a way of life that is now gone but which has influenced a lot of our life and culture.
Anne Is Reading 