The worst suffering of all being loneliness and the need to be rescued from it. A realisation, an explanation, sensed in childhood and expressed when he was an old man. Perhaps the inheritance for many sensitive and perceptive children.
Many people are exiles, either from choice or for some unrelenting reason.
Whether we like it or not, we are all exiles, without choice, from childhood. Certain experiences during childhood shape our lives later on. Memories from Ruth Cracknell's childhood present the reader with a sensitive and perceptive child and, at the same time, an adult able to bring to the printed page some of the realisations and explanations from certain events and certain people. A book of this sort is often read with a shameless curiosity and often too quickly. A relaxed reading will show that a wise and honest person is unfolding her experience with poise and balance embellished with a quiet humour.