Your mail, your news, your views, your way

from the Hull Daily Mail/East Riding Mail Monday, March 31

Marjorie Shepherd has had the sort of life you could read about in a book. And for that very reason, the 74-year-old has put pen to paper to record the trials and tribulations in her autobiography, Out Of The Chrysalis.

Mrs Shepherd’s debut work tells of her experiences of evacuation from Hull during the Second World War and her service in the British Army after the conflict.

She documents how she raised her family of six children and her battles with mental illness, which plagued her for almost 50 years.

She also tells of her late-blossoming career as a psychic medium.

Mrs Shepherd, of Bilton Grange, said she was proud of the finished product.

She said: “My children encouraged me to write the book.

“They told me I should keep a record of my life for them in the future. I wanted to write about life in Hull during and after the war, to show what it was like to be bombed, evacuated and to have rationing.

“I also wanted to write because I thought it could help people who suffer with agoraphobia and panic attacks. I wanted to demonstrate that there is light at the end of the tunnel.”

The autobiography tells in detail Mrs Shepherd’s early war experiences and her subsequent agoraphobia and mental illness, which culminated in her being admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

She said: “When I was five I was evacuated to Scarborough and split up from my sisters, who were sent to Bridlington and Goole.

“Being evacuated helped sow the seeds for my problems in later life. It made me very insecure because I missed my family so terribly.

“After the break-up of my first marriage I became unsettled and was taken into hospital because I wouldn’t eat.

“I was very, very frightened.

“Today, I don’t think it would have progressed so far because mental illness is given more credence and people can talk about it.

“During the days after the war people kept a stiff upper lip because they had to get on with things. At the same time, there was a real sense of community in Britain after all the devastation.”

Out Of The Chrysalis is published by Lulu and is on sale at Waterstone’s.

The author will be reading excerpts from the book and taking questions at the Jameson Street store in the city centre on Tuesday, April 8, at 6pm.

Waterstone’s www.waterstones.com

History Learning Site www.historylearningsite.co.uk