Eva Henighan

Set in both the northeast of England and London, Eva Henighan: How We Survived The Twentieth Century is the biography of a much-loved woman. After Eva passed away in the early nineties, a small, hardback notebook, brown and blue in colour, was discovered amongst her belongings. It contained her life story.

The pages revealed the true story of a nineteen-thirties childhood made dangerous by exposure to mental illness, poverty and neglect. Eva wrote fondly about the army of aunts who came to her rescue and about the hardship and joy in equal measure of her teenage years during World War II. The little book revealed for the first time answers to family intrigues and described the circumstances that led to her move to London, marriage and motherhood.

This biography attempts to tie together the personal story of a kind and generous woman with the wider societal changes that shaped her life over the twentieth century. A reliable, and frank witness to events, verified by those who knew her well, Eva's story deserves to be told.