Stories
Renée
“My father clearly didn’t give a hoot about what would happen to us”
The writer Renée Taylor – known simply as Renée – endured a start in life as dramatic as one of her plays when her father inexplicably shot himself, leaving his wife and children homeless and penniless.
Jan Williams
“I thought she’d died, but didn’t want to ask”
Jan Williams grew up with her father and her four sisters, and the acceptance her mother was dead. It wasn’t until she was a teenager she realised the story she’d lived with – or built up around herself – wasn’t the full story.
Caitlin Cherry
“It’s up to me to look after myself, there’s nothing coming my way”
Caitlin Cherry’s dad left New Zealand for Australia when she was six then died suddenly when she was nine. Growing up with little money and less support, Caitlin knew she had only herself to rely on.