I have just finished reading the book and thought it was brilliant and inspiring. I am a 30 year old mother and can relate to the C.C.C members. I met my husband when I was 16 and he was my first and only serious boyfriend. He is nine years my senior and we live on his family farm, in a remote location 100's of miles away from my family and friends.
At the age of 22 I discovered I was pregnant which came as a big shock as I had been told I couldn't have children. I went from a career girl living and working in a city, to being a farmers wife and mother. Also at about the same time I was diagnosed with M.S. and had to face the possibility of being disabled.
The farm income was not enough to support us so my husband had to take on a job as well as running the farm. When he wasn't working he was at the local pub. I never saw him and felt very alone. I went along to mother & baby group and local events, but Welsh is the spoken language of the area and being a non-Welsh speaker I didn't understand what was going on. Most people had grown up in the area and I felt very much the outsider.
I knew nothing about farming and was completely undomesticated. I was a city girl use to all my mod cons. I had to learn how to cook using the old range and the farming way of life, as well as adjusting to motherhood and being disabled. I could certainly have used C.C.C at the time! Instead I corresponded via email with friends and family and spoke regularly on the phone with them. I joined a welsh class and learnt the language and went along to community events. I found things to do, such as reading, knitting, facebook, to fill the evenings spent alone. While my life has not taken the route I planned or would have chosen, now I wouldn't change it for the world.
I found 'can any mother help me?' very moving and a vauable record of womens lives. Thank you Jenna for bring C.C.C to light. I think the book does justice to the C.C.C members and fulfils Ad Asta's dream of a book.
