Belonging

Patricia James was born into a large family in the Dulais Valley of south Wales. After Seven Sisters Primary School and then Neath Girls Grammar School, she worked for the Civil Service as a tax officer before marrying John James whom she had met in a dance hall in Neath. They had their first child in 1963. Her young husband had often spoken of working abroad after he had finished his articles as an accountant. His first posting was Benghazi, Libya. They had both never left the country before. It was the start of a lifetime of travel and adventure.

Through a lens of lifelong affection, Patricia James recounts her cosmopolitan early years bringing up children in Africa, feeding crocodiles, dealing with snakes and bugs, and the lasting impact of friendships and people. But when the Sixties come to a close andhiraeth calls, finding home starts again – this time, leading to deepest Powys.Back in Wales, she continues her full and adventurous life, becoming part of a renowned textile company and even mingling with royalty, while tackling the highs and lows of building a house and fitting into a new community. This down-to-earth and absorbing memoir reveals anextraordinary and intrepid life full of love, friendship and travel spanning over eight decades.'Patricia James packs her delightful memoir with colourful characters and crisp, entertaining stories about her life as a young mother in Libya and Ghana. A childhood neighbour is too houseproud to allow her husband into the house; cultural readjustments in Accra include routinely having to sieve weevils out of your flour and buying beef by pointing to the relevant parts of an enormous dead cow hanging up at the butcher’s shop. James’ voice is instantly likeable and trustworthy. Her pithy, succinct narrative captures in brilliant detail scenes from a past that make our modern world seem at once more brutal and more sanitised.' – Mandy Sutter