Daughter of the River Country by Dianne O'Brien

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges.

From a victim of the stolen generations comes a remarkable memoir of abuse, survival - and, ultimately, hope.

Born in country NSW in the 1940s, baby Dianne is immediately taken from her Aboriginal mother. Raised in the White Australia Policy era, Dianne grows up believing her adoptive Irish mother, Val, is her birth mother. Val promises Dianne that one day they will take a trip and she will 'tell her a secret'. But before they get the chance, Val tragically dies.

Abandoned by her adoptive father, Dianne is raped at 15, sentenced to Parramatta Girls Home and later forced to marry her rapist to keep her baby. She goes on to endure horrific domestic violence at the hands of different partners, alcohol addiction and cruel betrayal by those closest to her. But amazingly, her fighting spirit is not extinguished.

At 36, while raising six kids alone, Dianne learns she is Aboriginal and that her great-grandfather was William Cooper, a famous Aboriginal activist.

Miraculously she finds a way to forgive her traumatic past and becomes a leader in her own right, vowing to help other stolen people just like her. (back cover)