WINNER OF THE BIG RED READ PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION IN 2013.Cathryn Kemp was a successful travel journalist who was struck down by a life-threatening illness, pancreatitis. After four years of operations and mis-diagnoses she left hospital with a repeat prescription for fentanyl, a painkiller 100 times stronger than heroin. Within two years she was taking more than ten times the NHS maximum, all on prescription. Her family struggled to understand; her boyfriend left her, she hit rock bottom. Discovering she had only six months to live if she didn't give up the drugs she sold everything she owned and checked into rehab. In the addiction treatment centre she was told that she was unlikely to recover from 'the highest level of opiate-abuse in the clinic's history'. To everyone's amazement, she proved them wrong.This is an extraordinarily poignant, vivid and honest memoir. Based on the twenty-four diaries that the author kept during this period, we travel with Cathryn through her hospital agony, descend with her into the hell of addiction and cheer her as she pulls herself out and upwards. It is a love story, a horror story, a survival story, and one that shows only too clearly the very real dangers of the over-prescription of painkillers and tranquillisers.There is also a resource section for sufferers and their loved ones.

Painkiller Addict: From Wreckage to Redemption - My True Story

Biographies & Memoirs

Kemp, Cathryn

Professionals & Academics

Piatkus Books

'A brave, heartfelt and extraordinary book' Corinne Sweet, author of Overcoming Addiction, psychologist and broadcaster What if the drugs that were meant to cure you slowly started to kill you?
After falling dangerously ill with acute-on-chronic pancreatitis, Cathryn Kemp left hospital with a repeat prescription for fentanyl, a painkiller 100 times stronger than heroin.
Within two years she was taking almost ten times the NHS maximum daily dose - all on prescription - and her life began to spiral out of control. Cathryn discovered she had just three months to live, unless she gave up the drug she clung to so desperately.
After selling everything she owned and checking into rehab, Cathryn was told by the doctors that recovery was highly unlikely. Yet to everyone's amazement, she proved them wrong.
Coming Clean is a poignant, vivid and honest memoir of a woman's struggle with, and subsequent victory over, her demons. It is a love story, a horror story, a survival story, and one that shows the very real dangers of the over-prescription of painkillers.

Coming Clean: Diary of a Painkiller Addict

Piatkus

'We ain't got no drink, Pa.' I trembled as I spoke. Then somewhere inside me I found the anger, the courage to answer him back. 'We don't have no grog cos you drank it all!' I knew he was going for me tonight, so I reckoned I might as well go down fighting after all. Growing up in the slums of 1920s and 1930s Bermondsey, Hilda Kemp's childhood was one of chaos and fear. Every day was battleground, a fight to survive and a fight to be safe. For Hilda knew what it was to grow up in desperate poverty: to have to scratch around for a penny to buy bread; to feel the seeping cold of a foggy docklands night with only a thin blanket to cover her; to share her filthy mattress with her brothers and sisters, fighting for space while huddling to keep warm. She knew what it was to feel hunger—not the impatient growl of a tummy that has missed a meal; proper hunger, the type that aches in your soul as much as your belly. The eldest of five children, Hilda was the daughter of a hard drinker and hard hitter as well. A casual dockworker by day, a bare-knuckle fighter by night, and a lousy drunk to boot, her pa honed his fists down the Old Kent Road and Blackfriars, and it was Hilda or her ma who bore the brunt of them at home. This is the powerful and moving memoir of Hilda's childhood growing up in dark, filthy, crime-ridden Bermondsey; a place where you knew your neighbors, where you kept your eyes down and your ears shut as defense against the gangs at war in the streets. It's a time when days were spent running wild down the docklands, jumping onto barges and stealing coal, racing through the dank back-streets of east London like water rats, dodging the milk cart or the rag-and-bone man. And out of this bleak landscape emerges a brave, resilient young girl whose life is a testament to the power of love and good humor. Moving, dazzling and somber by turns, once opened this brilliant, seductive book will not let you rest.

We Ain't Got No Drink, Pa': A Little Girl's Struggle to Survive in the Slums of 1920s South East London

Kemp, Hilda

Historical

Orion Publishing

"Oi, Hilda, the sign outside says you're frying today but I ain't seeing nothing done in ere!" The voice cut through my daydream, startling me into remembering where I was: standing in the fish-and-chip shop I worked in. We opened for business at 5 p.m. and already there was a queue of hungry customers on the cobbled street of London's East End. In 1950s and 1960s Bermondsey, the fish-and-chip shop was at the center of the community. And at the heart of the chippy itself was "Hooray" Hilda Kemp, a spirited matriarch who dispensed fish suppers and an abundance of sympathy to a now-vanished world of East Enders. For 'Hooray' Hilda knew all to well what it was like to feel real, aching hunger. Growing up in the slums of 1920s south-east London, the daughter of a violent alcoholic who drank away his wages rather than put food on the table, she could spot when a customer was in need and would sneak them an extra big portion of chips, on the house. As Hilda works in the chippy six days a week—cutting the potatoes and frying the fish, yesterday's rag becoming today's dinner plate—she hears all the gossip from the close-knit community. There are rumors that the gang wars are hotting up: the Richardsons and the Krays are playing out their fights across south-east London. And the industrial strike is carrying on for a painfully long time for the mothers with many mouths to feed. At home, Hilda's children are latchkey kids, letting themselves in from school and helping themselves to whatever is in the larder until she gets in from her long, hard day at work. Despite tragedy striking her family, Hilda never complained of the loss of her daughter at a tragically young age, nor the tough upbringing she narrowly escaped. With a cast of colorful characters—dirty ragamuffins, struggling housewives, rough-diamond gang members—"Hooray" Hilda's story is one of grit, romance, nostalgia and British endurance. Told to her granddaughter Cathryn, this memoir is the uplifting sequel to We Ain't Got No Drink, Pa and is a testament to a woman who lived life to the full, who enjoyed laughter and loved fiercely—even though her heart was broken many times over.

A Fish Supper and a Chippy Smile: Love, Hardship and Laughter in a South East London Fish-and-Chip Shop

Enjoy picturesque castles in Dracula's homeland, breathtaking vistas in the Carpathian mountains, dynamic nightlife in stylish Bucharest and sun-drenched coastal resorts on the Black Sea. Get under the skin of Romania and Moldova with our compelling guide, the only one to cover both countries. 
• HIT THE SLOPES, take to the air or head underground with our dedicated Activities chapter • EXPLORE Eastern Europe's "final frontier" of unspoiled countryside and pristine landscapes with the help of enticing highlights and itineraries • EAT, DRINK &amp; BE MERRY - advice on where to find the best bars and bistros to tast Mamaliga and sample Tuica • TALK THE TALK with our practical, comprehensive language chapter • FIND YOUR WAY with over 60 detailed maps covering Transylvania to Transdniestr

Romania & Moldova (Lonely Planet Travel Guides)

Travel

Kokker, Steve

Europe

Lonely Planet

Based on the real-life of Bridget Mary Larkin, aka Tipperary Mary. We journey back to Ireland, to follow the story of a young girl, growing up without her father, who dies before she is born. At the age of 15, she finds the body of her stepfather, a man with a history of mental illness, who has hanged himself in the family home, leaving behind his natural daughter (Bridget’s half-sister, Philomena). Following the death of her mother, Bridget finds love with a local lad, Bill. But when her brother - now head of the household - discovers the relationship, he stops it, threatening Bill – then beating and raping Bridget. Bill is forced to flee to England, while Bridget endures a terrible life at home at the hands of her brother. Finally, after giving birth to her brother’s child at a single mother’s institution, she has her child removed for adoption and she flees to England in search of Bill and a new life. She eventually tracks him down - and they fall into each other’s arms. However, Bill is now married with a child of his own. They begin an affair, and she adopts his surname – but Bill, wracked with guilt, returns to his wife. Now pregnant with Bill’s child, Bridget’s drinkingbecomes worse. As her life spirals out of control – her daughter, Phyllis (named after her beloved young half-sister Philomena) is born. Bridget holds onto the child she has had with the love her life for as long as she can – but is finally forced to let her go. Will they ever meet again...?

A Song for Bridget

Whitsell, Phyllis

Memoirs

Mirror Books

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