A first-time writer has dedicated her memoirs of an impoverished childhood, blighted by domestic violence, to her late mother.
Tracy Peppiatt was inspired to pen We Never Let Go following the death in 2011 of her mother, whose love she says held the family together amid great hardship.
The 52-year-old receptionist, who now lives in Hounslow, grew up in Hull and says her family was so poor they often slept in their coats and had to substitute old newspapers for toilet roll.
She recalls how her alcoholic father beat her mother, who was put up at a refuge and was admitted to a psychiatric ward after suffering a nervous breakdown.
"Where I am today is because of my mother's strength. The book starts with my mother, who was middle class, meeting my working class father," she said.
"It's about what she faced with her young family and how she kept us all together. The love was always there. It's dedicated to my mother and my three brothers for never letting go of the love we have for each other."
Despite the adversity her book documents, Ms Peppiatt denies it falls into the genre of misery memoirs because she says the love shines through even in the darkest moments. She also says she still loves her father, who died in the mid-90s, despite his actions.
But she admits it was a difficult book to write and says her brother told her he was proud of her because it "took a lot of courage".
Ms Peppiatt believes the story resonates particularly powerfully with readers who remember the privations of the '60s and '70s, as well as those experiencing similar penury today.
We Never Let Go, published by Clink Street Publishing, is available via amazon.co.uk, priced £6.99 (Kindle edition £2.39).
