Overview

A Legacy of Survival Beaten each week at a Catholic boarding school, Kit Sadgrove grew up in a world ruled by fear and silence. But this remarkable memoir goes far beyond the school gates. Woven through his own harrowing yet hopeful story is the tale of his ancestors-lives marked by hardship, resilience, and astonishing adventure. Step into the shadows of a Georgian workhouse, where Sadgrove's great-great-grandmother clung to life while burying two children there. Sail into battle during the Napoleonic Wars as a 14-year-old recruit. Stand on the boggy soil where his ancestors eked out a living - and the aristocratic ballrooms of Dublin where they finally danced. Follow his mother, as she flees the advancing Nazis, and Victor, his father, as he takes the surrender of the German forces in WWII. From bomb-making and scrubbing toilets on North Sea rigs to riding freight trains across America, Sadgrove's life is anything but ordinary. Spanning 300 years, this gripping memoir is part family saga, part personal reckoning-and every word of it a true story. True stories: Attacked by a highwayman Two public hangings Condemned to a hulk prison ship Fighting the nascent US navy Attacking Napoleon's army Living in the slums of London A bigamous marriage My family's £2.1m ($2.8m) forgeries We are bankrupt The biggest fraud ever Our aircraft manufacturing business in 1916 Surviving the Irish Famine in 1845 The Irish insurrection 1916 Going to war in Mesopotamia Getting the first ever self-winding wrist watch Being Master and Matron of a workhouse Sending orphan children out to work in the streets Life as a gunner in WW1 Finding love in Rome Living in a house without electricity Sent to boarding school at age 5 Surviving on sugar sandwiches Beaten for not being good at maths Encounters with 11 paedophiles Confessing to masturbation The right eyeball of a martyred saint Thomas Becket's skull A thorn from Jesus' crown of thorns 18 mortal sins The things have stolen A knife attack in church Death from work related silicosis Weekly corporal punishments The first supermarket Working at a strike bound construction site Cleaning toilets in the North Sea Hitchhiking across the USA Riding freight trains My first sexual encounters Women I have known My work colleague is killed by a drunk I become a millionaire Planning for a nuclear war My protest outside the US embassy I create a national newspaper Me and Arthur Scargill I become a fake priest

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