SOW THE WIND

By Peggy Larken

ISBN 1-904181-25-2
PRICE: £8.50, €13

BOOK DESCRIPTION

This memoir spans the first seventy years of a long life. In this vivid account Peggy Larken describes her childhood as a doctor's daughter in Bushey, Herts before the First World War, growing up in wartime, her first job in London and an exciting period in Jamaica in the 1920s. Her marriage to Tom, an officer in the Royal Navy, provides the thread that links many adventures and experiences in this country and overseas. For almost 20 years their home was the Five Sisters, a Thames barge in which they sailed as far as Paris and Holland before finally anchoring in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. Through all her experiences, some tragic and many entertaining, Peggy's unique combination of courage, determination, unfailing humour and humanity shines through.

SYNOPSIS

This memoir spans the first seventy years of a long life. In this vivid account Peggy Larken describes her childhood as a doctor's daughter in Bushey, Herts before the First World War, growing up in wartime, her first job in London and an exciting period in Jamaica in the 1920s. Her marriage to Tom, an officer in the Royal Navy, provides the thread that links many adventures and experiences in this country and overseas. An early venture which might well have broken that thread was her venture to Germany to put in practice her conviction that war could best be prevented if ordinary people got together political differences would fade away. Wartime life married to a serving officer brought out her qualities of courage, resilience and ingenuity in facing many hardships and some personal tragedies. After the Second World War she and Tom fitted out the Five Sisters, a Thames barge, which became their home for the next 20 years. Five Sisters sailed up the Seine to Paris and later back to London and then to Portsmouth following Tom's posting on promotions. Many sailing ventures along the East and South Coasts and across to Holland are the source of some good tales. When retirement arrives for Tom Five Sisters comes to rest in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight where a new project to convert a former gasworks into a boatyard brings another tragedy and an epic planning battle all the way to the House of Lords.