Thank You Lady

Could you settle down and make good in a country that was your country's enemy in the last war? Would you cross mountains and seas to join a partner who did, then raise children amidst the new and awkward challenges thrown up by a strange land and language?Angela came to England in 1964 from the Puglia region of Italy to be re-united with a husband she knew as Peppino, but now his English mates call him Joe. Only a mobile shop in Chesterfield sells Italian food, only chemists sell olive oil and only at home can Angela use her children's original names.So much else has to become English.This is the story of such a wife and mother's triumphs and tragedies, written by one of her triumphs. Many journalists and pundits write about the migrant experience, but none can boast a daughter's blend of intimate detail and an insider's eye, as she reveals her mother's indomitable character, undiminished by dementia. Whilst on many levels Angela became incapable of living the life she had lived, she never lost the essence of her own person, who she had been and who she was still.

Born in Puglia, southern Italy, Mina Drever came to England age fifteen, not speaking English. She got into university four years later, and went on to become a teacher of foreign languages at many levels and teacher trainer. She is married to Angus, has one son, Jonathan, one granddaughter, Daisy, and Daisy's mum, Lucy, who designed the book cover.