By Dan Walsh
It was a pleasure to meet successful author Sadie Harpur in Gorey Library recently months after she launched her first book ‘The Hidden World of a Foster-Girl’ there, a fascinating work which explores her childhood in foster care, the challenges involved with having a learning disability and losing her brother Gary.
A full-time mum and working as a Special needs assistant (SNA) at Gorey Educate Together while writing her book meant that Sadie wrote whenever she could find the time.
Now living at Newborough, in Gorey, took four years to write the book (co-authored with Jackie Hayden of Killinick) which is biographical and a memoir revisiting and immersing herself in her tumultuous childhood.
“I was very withdrawn as a child and didn’t talk much. I was quite wary of my foster parents. At first our foster parents had to feed me under a tea towel for a while before I got used to being around people,” said Sadie.
Sadie lived in many homes in Dublin throughout her childhood. While her mother was pregnant with Sadie, she was unaware that she was carrying twins. Sadie’s mother went into labour three months premature, and at the time she was unaware that she was pregnant with twins.
Sadie arrived accompanied by Kizzy. Soon after, Sadie was able to leave the hospital with her parents, but Kizzy remained in hospital for months due to having heart problems. During those first nine months of their lives, Sadie moved back and forth between her parents’ home, foster care and the nuns. They were eventually reunited when they went to live with their foster parents, and they remain very close to this day.
Sadie Harpur and Jackie Hayden were guest speakers at an event in the Mansion House, Dublin, hosted by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Daithí de Róiste, who praised Sadie’s honesty in outlining the details of her life in foster care.
The Hidden World of a Foster-Girl by Sadie Harpur (with Jackie Hayden), paperback, ISBN 9781399970112, is available to buy at Bridge Street books, Wicklow town, Hampton’s bookshop, Donnybrook, Dublin 4. And in local bookshops in Maynooth, Wexford town, Gorey, Enniscorthy and Rosslare. You can buy it online at https://booksupstairs.ie/product/the-hidden-world-of-a-foster-girl/https://bridgestreetbooks.ie/product/the-hidden-world-of-a-foster-girl/
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