DAUGHTER OF SHAME
Gwen Madoc
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN 0 340 792779

Review by Jean Currie

Jenni Goodenough grows up in the Welsh Valleys with her loving mother, rarely seeing her father who works away and provides barely enough to feed his wife and daughter. When Jenni's mother wants to ensure her daughter will be independent and have a different life from her own, her husband refuses the money that would pay for an apprenticeship. This is 1920 and there is only one thing for women, marriage and making a home for a husband and children.

As a result of her mother's determination Jenni gets her training, but tragedy follows that wrecks her young life and that of others around her. Friends, neighbours and relatives turn against her and as soon as the opportunity arises she runs away to the town, but she does not escape.

This Welsh saga is an excellent tale of life in the mining communities between the wars, the twists and turns of the story encompassing characters good and evil, as Jenni fights her shame.