'In January 1966, Kate Howarth gave birth to a healthy baby boy at St Margaret's Home for unwed mothers in Sydney. In the months before the birth, and the days after, she resisted intense pressure to give up her son for adoption, becoming one of the few women to ever leave the institution with her baby. She was only sixteen years old.
'What inspired such courage?
'In Ten Hail Marys, Kate Howarth vividly recounts the first seventeen years of her life in Sydney's slums and suburbs and in rural New South Wales. Abandoned by her mother as a baby and then by "Mamma", her volatile grandmother, as a young girl, Kate was shunted between Aboriginal relatives and expected to grow up fast. A natural storyteller, she describes a childhood beset by hardship, abuse, profound grief and poverty, but buoyed with the hope that one day she would make a better life for herself.
'Frank, funny and incredibly moving, Ten Hail Marys is the compelling true story of a childhood lost, and a young woman's hard-won self-possession.' (From the publisher's website.)
Settling Day
St Lucia
:
University of Queensland Press
,
2015
8305786
2015
single work
autobiography
'Following on from Ten Hail Marys, which chronicled her volatile upbringing and the fight to save her son from the forced adoption practices of the time, Kate Howarth’s extraordinary life continues in Settling Day.'
'Thrust out of her son’s life while he is still a toddler, teenaged Kate has to rely on her wits and courage to start life anew. Filled with remorse and an unwavering determination to be reunited with her son, so begins Kate’s journey as she fights injustice and prejudice to create a better life. She amasses a fortune helping to build one of Australia’s most successful recruitment companies, only to lose it all in a contentious legal battle. Kate once again manages to rebuild her life after a major injury, but is always haunted by her lost son. Settling Day is a remarkable story of resilience that highlights the still prevalent injustices that many women face at work and at home. It took Kate Howarth more than 50 years to discover the true meaning and power of unconditional love.' (Source: Publisher's website)
