![From the BEST to the WORST OF TIMES](https://cdn.magzter.com/1389340925/1675258069/articles/8PWlM9tjw1675415393038/FROM-THE-BEST-TO-THE-WORST-OF-TIMES.jpg)
When I was three, my Romany grandma, who lived in her barrel-topped wagon behind my parents' house, looked at my hands and said, 'She's got a writer's fork. She's going to be a famous writer.
Her daughter, my mother, having never read a book in her life, laughed indulgently. We lived a comfortable, Larkin-style Hampshire life, semi-rural, with chickens, and she was a mother to eight kids. My father was a successful engineer, running his own company. He wasn't a Romany - they'd met by chance at a barn dance. I suppose we were rich. My father had a driver called Monty and our house was lovely, set in large grounds.
I was five years old, the youngest of the brood, when this picture was taken at the local Church of England primary school I attended; I always rushed home in the lunch hour to check my flock of hens. I didn't expect to enjoy school, but I was fascinated by the brightly coloured rows of the letters of the alphabet, and there were books in a small library. I dived into them head first, losing myself in fictional worlds.
Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Woman & Home UK.
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Denne historien er fra March 2023-utgaven av Woman & Home UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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