Sheila Tofield narrates her poignant true story as a single mother in 1950s Britain, in the book The Unmarried Mother.

Sheila grows up in Rotherham, the daughter of a mother who doesn't care for her and makes her believe she's incompetent, foolish, and—most painfully—that she's unloved. As a young woman, her worst childhood fears are confirmed when her fiancé cancels the engagement without explanation. Heartbroken and vulnerable, Sheila becomes an easy target for the worst kind of man—a man who leaves her when she tells him she's pregnant. In 1950s Britain, an unmarried, pregnant girl received not support but condemnation and disdain. Rejected by most of her family, Sheila ends up in an Anglican Church home for unmarried mothers, with no apparent alternative but to give her child up for adoption. But when she holds her newborn daughter in her arms for the first time, Sheila knows she must do the unthinkable: raise her baby alone in a society that will condemn her for it.

Sheila Tofield is a proud grandmother living in Chichester, and The Unmarried Mother is her first book. Her tender story was picked up by Penguin when she entered the successful Saga Magazine life story competition.

Pages: 272, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm