To Be the Same

Growing up is never easy, but Sheila Doncaster's childhood was riven with hardship. As her mother struggled to raise four children (three girls and one boy) and one stepdaughter alone, money and food were always in short supply. Sheila also suffered relentless bullying and violence at the hands of her abusive brother. However, Sheila herself always showed strength and determination to find a place in the world. Standing by her two sisters, her mother and even her stepbrother through illness and death, this is a tale of survival in the face of adversity and of what it's like to feel so different from everyone else. Sheila Doncaster was born in 1940, the middle child of five, in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Her father left them when they were small, leaving her mother to struggle to raise the family. Her memoirs contain some of the trials thrown at her throughout her very emotional life.