Too Many Mothers by Taylor, Roberta

In this remarkable memoir, Roberta Taylor tells the story of her early life and the extended family that brought her up. Nanny Mary was the wily matriarch who would do almost anything to survive, including stealing from her seven children. Her nerve, humour and sheer determination were also the glue that held the family together.
Travelling to the emotional heart of her childhood, Roberta reveals the lives of the men and women who influenced her most in her formative years. She portrays an embattled family at war with itself and the outside world. From petty crime to pet monkeys, tender romance to emotional blackmail, illegitimacy, adoption and even murder, Roberta Taylor has written a brilliant, bittersweet account of an East End childhood.