Patricia Young

Thekla's journey Patricia Young

Thekla was brought up during Hitler's tortuous reign in Luneburg. At the end of the war when Germany was devastated she married a Scottish soldier and went to live in the remote highlands of Scotland in Dalwhinnie where she suffered racial and physical abuse and poverty. Contrasted with this is a man who can provide for his family but is weak. They lived and worked at various remote distilleries along the river Spey before settling in Elgin Morayshire. Thekla wanted more for her two daughters and after a return visit to Hamburg decided to leave Peter and she found positions as housekeeper in places as diverse as Caithness in northern Scotland to Sevenoaks in Kent. Finally she settled in Manchester. Her eldest daughter writes the story of the family's journey and her education. Disillusioned after the break-up of a relationship Thekla returns to Germany and her daughters marry. On one return visit she meets George and her life changed again. Manchester in the 1960s is a vibrant if very dirty Victorian city with pea souper fogs and filthy buildings but happiness is found in unusual places and Manchester is where the family settled.