The Other Side of Life

This is the sequel to The Children of Yester, Victoria Fletcher's memoir of her grandparent's historic home in East Lothian. The Other Side of Life paints a very different picture to the sheltered idyll of her childhood.

When her parents divorced in 1974, Victoria's mother took her and her brother Hugo to live on a farm in Somerset. Thereafter, it was an itinerant existence with her mother teaching riding in Berkshire, cooking in a restaurant in London, then as a secretary to the poet Alfred Noyes on the Isle of White.

At first, Victoria was sent to a private boarding school in Essex, but everything changed again when her mother re-married. Returning to Scotland in 1957, she was enrolled at a co-educational day school in Duns.

In 1960, she became a  physiotherapy student in London and through aristocratic connections entered a social whirl. But whilst "Coming Out", Victoria was also working hard at college and gaining experience at a series of hospitals including Hammersmith and Great Ormond Street.

The Other Side of Life provides a fascinating insight into the author's ability to adapt to circumstances.

 

The book priced £7.50 is available from:

Kesley's Book Shop

63 Market Street

Haddington

East Lothian

EH41 3JE

email: simonkesley@btinternet.com

Tel: 01620 826 725

OR

Victoria Fletcher

5 Brewery Court

Haddington

East Lothian

EH41 4OG

email: vmcfletcher@googlemail.com

Tel: 01620 825350

Also available from libraries.