Circles

This is a book about an 'ordinary' life, and in this age of celebrity worship we perhaps need reminding that there is no such thing as an average life.Circles: Hidden Lives is the story of a remarkable woman, Gertrude Annie Stroud, by her granddaughter Ginny. Gertrude's life is unique, with its personal tragedies and triumphs, but familiar to fellow travellers on the road between cradle and grave. While Circles describes this journey, its main theme is continuity. Ginny's grandmother was born at the beginning of the 20th century and she lived into its final decade. During that time she encountered arguably one of the most progressive and destructive periods in human history. The world she entered in 1905 was still recovering from the death of Queen Victoria. The world she left in 1993, even without the effects of her Alzheimers, was unrecognisable. She witnessed some of the most momentous and horrific events. Yet through good times and bad, Gertrude and her family did what generations of 'ordinary' folk have always done: they carried on.I had a notion to rescue this lifetime from oblivion and it became a promise to write this story someday. It was years later when I remembered my neglected intentions and went back to resuscitate them. I hope that this story will encourage more people to acknowledge the contribution of their own ancestors and perhaps even write about them. Too many histories, in particular female ones, have been lost,"e; says Ginny, behind her reason to write Circles.Circles:Hidden Lives will appeal to fans of adult biography, especially those with a specific interest in women's lives and accounts of the 20th century.

This is a book about an 'ordinary' life, and in this age of celebrity worship we perhaps need reminding that there is no such thing as an average life.Circles: Hidden Lives is the story of a remarkable woman, Gertrude Annie Stroud, by her granddaughter Ginny. Gertrude's life is unique, with its personal tragedies and triumphs, but familiar to fellow travellers on the road between cradle and grave. While Circles describes this journey, its main theme is continuity. Ginny's grandmother was born at the beginning of the 20th century and she lived into its final decade. During that time she encountered arguably one of the most progressive and destructive periods in human history. The world she entered in 1905 was still recovering from the death of Queen Victoria. The world she left in 1993, even without the effects of her Alzheimers, was unrecognisable. She witnessed some of the most momentous and horrific events. Yet through good times and bad, Gertrude and her family did what generations of 'ordinary' folk have always done: they carried on.I had a notion to rescue this lifetime from oblivion and it became a promise to write this story someday. It was years later when I remembered my neglected intentions and went back to resuscitate them. I hope that this story will encourage more people to acknowledge the contribution of their own ancestors and perhaps even write about them. Too many histories, in particular female ones, have been lost,"e; says Ginny, behind her reason to write Circles.Circles:Hidden Lives will appeal to fans of adult biography, especially those with a specific interest in women's lives and accounts of the 20th century.