A Voyage Around My Mother: Surviving shelling, shipwrecks and family storms

Eleanor Stewart had always had a difficult relationship with her mother, but when her mother's persistent ill-health, caused by Parkinson's Disease, meant she needed a new home, Eleanor offered her one. 'It will only be for six months' she assured her husband - but it wasn't.It was for ten years. And, initially, those years were hard. Her mother, Mary, had very little interest in Eleanor's life, or even in her two grandchildren.So if a bridge was to be built between the two women, Eleanor would have to build it - and find the necessary solid ground to do so.She found it by exploring her mother's past with her.Mary had had a fascinating life, which included being shelled during the Second World War, shipwrecked and a passionate affair while sailing to India.As Mary Stewart reveals more and more of her past, Eleanor discovers a woman she has never really known, and the two forge a strong relationship that was not possible before.