Discovering My Family

What an extraordinary tale of tangled relationships my family turned out to be, in the first half of the 20th century! As an only child brought up by a single mother, I knew very little about my family history. Among my ancestors, I knew the identity of only my mother and a grandmother. That was the impetus for beginning, in my 40s, the decades-long detective work of finding out more about the family to which I belonged. I was surprised by what I discovered. The story centred around my grandmother Ivy Consterdine and her children, biological and adopted. This book not only presents memories of happy family life. It also includes mistresses who became rich through generous patrons; friendships with Indian maharajahs, British aristocracy and the social elite; a marriage under false names; bigamy; changes of identity to conceal past scandals; pistol-carrying; daughters running away from home; multiple informal adoptions; an attempted child kidnap; children not knowing who their real parents were; only-children discovering in later life they had half-brothers and sisters; the sudden emergence of a family member no-one knew existed; numerous false entries on official documents; disappearances to escape large debts; tragic deaths; a bankruptcy; and unmarked graves. 159 photographs illustrate this remarkable true story, together with three family tree charts. This ebook edition is in pdf format.