'We ain't got no drink, Pa'
Subtitle: the heart breaking true story of a little girl's struggle to survive in the slums of 1920-30s East London
By: Hilda Kemp, Cathryn Kemp
Contributors: Kemp, Cathryn
Publisher: Orion; Orion Publishing Group, Limited
Published: 2015
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9781409158400; 9781409158417
Subjects: Social conditions; Poor children; Biography; Children of alcoholics
Description: Growing up in the slums of 1920s and 30s Bermondsey, Hilda Kemp's childhood was one of chaos and fear. Hilda knew what it was to grow up in desperate poverty, what it was to feel hunger. The eldest of five children, Hilda was the daughter of a hard drinker and hard hitter as well. A casual dockworker by day, a bare-knuckle fighter by night and a lousy drunk to boot, her pa honed his fists down the Old Kent Road and Blackfriars, and it was Hilda or her ma who bore the brunt of them at home. This is the powerful and moving memoir of Hilda's childhood growing up in dark, filthy, crime-ridden Bermondsey; a place where you knew your neighbours, where you kept your eyes down and your ears shut as defence against the gangs at war in the streets.