Why I Wrote 'Olga - A Daughter's Tale' (A Memoir)

In 1994 my mother Carmen Browne was admitted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton seriously ill. As she slowly recovered, I realised had she died so, also, would the chance for me to find out about our past, her family in Jamaica and, of great importance to me, who my father was, information she had resolutely refused to share with me. So, I decided to find out for myself.

My first discovery was that my mother was in fact Olga Browney, born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica and one of eleven children from a close-knit coloured Catholic family. A kind, naive and gentle girl, Olga came to London in 1939 to live with her malevolent, alcoholic aunt and intending to stay only six months. But world events, personal tragedy and malicious intent all combined to prevent her from returning to her family in Kingston.

Based on a true story and written using diary entries and letters, "Olga – A Daughter's Tale" is about cruelty, revenge and jealousy inflicted on an innocent young woman and about her moral courage, dignity, resilience and in particular, love. It is the story of a remarkable woman who because of circumstances made a choice which resulted in her losing contact with her beloved family in Jamaica. That is until nearly half a century later, when her past caught up with her.