Book - Motherwell: A Girlhood by Deborah Orr
Although close to her parents growing up, in hindsight Deborah Orr appears shocked by them. Her father is a working-class man from the industrial town of Motherwell who disliked unions but liked betting shops and golf. Her mother, who mainly resented the golf, is working-class but from rural Essex and fully expected to follow her husband to Scotland when they married, leaving her family and farming way of life behind. The biggest shock for the author, who has worked for the Guardian and the Independent, was that they voted for Thatcher’s Conservatives.
They had a strong marriage to the point of her mother resenting Deborah Orr’s relationship with her father. Deborah Orr doted on her father but had to get past his racism and general intolerance of people, demonstrated by the number of ex neighbours they had. Her mother was obsessed with Hollywood film stars and named her daughter after one. Her little brother David clearly had the luckier break as far as parenting goes. She describes her parents as narcissists and admits having this characteristic herself in this most honest of memoirs.
Motherwell, an enlightening book is a social study on this breed of working-class tories and so much more. I am upset after reading it. Just so saddened by the upbringing but even more so that it affected the author her whole, short life. In fact, it’s more distressing reading about the abuse she suffered after leaving to go to university - where she really didn’t know what to expect or how to behave, being the first in her family to do so. She appeared just desperate for independence. From such a woeful start, came a creative soul - her mum did encourage her art and was disappointed she went to uni instead of art college although that perhaps was more to do with her leaving home.
It’s sad that Deborah Orr barely lived beyond writing this book as there was much more to learn. Why do girls wear ties as part of their school uniform but never at any other time?
Despite the content, everything about the book and the author oozes style. This one is going to stay with me.