The Way We Were by Beryl Fury

‘I well remember asking my parents if I could have coloured soaps in my stocking one year, as we all used Puritan soap. Big rough cut blocks of it. 'Why do you want coloured soap?' my father asked. 'Because I want to grow up beautiful,' I said. Taking my hand he led me outside the back door, where a rambling rose was clinging to life up the wall. 'Do you see that rose?' my father asked, 'well that is beautiful and do you know what makes it so lovely? Once a week I put a bucket of cow manure around its roots, that is the secret. Do you know I walked through gallons of the stuff before I realised he was telling me porkies.’

The unforgettable story of growing up in the harshness and deprivation of a mountain farm, the triumphs and tragedies, laughter and tears lovingly recollected by a natural storyteller.