Mother’s Ruin - Nicola Barry

MOTHER’S RUIN is a devastating account of a childhood lost to a mother’s drinking. Nicola Barry, now a successful and well-known journalist, was brought up in Edinburgh; both her parents were doctors. But behind the doors of their home, Nicola’s mother was drinking herself to death. Her alcoholism was to have far-reaching and tragic consequences on the whole family. But as well as being a harrowing story of addiction, the book is also a very vivid and engaging picture of a dysfunctional family, warmly told, and by turns touching and bleakly funny.