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Everyone who has ever grown up at sea should read this, and everyone who hasn’t should also read it. I was instructed that I had to look after my brother, I had to cook and clean as I'd been expected to do on the boat. What followed turned instead into a decade-long way of life, through storms, shipwrecks, reefs and isolation, with little formal schooling. In 2021, Heywood spoke out in defence of her late husband, following criticisms made in Nigel Boardman's review of the Lex Greensill affair.
Having sailed around the world with her family as a child for a decade, she studied at Somerville College, Oxford and King's College, Cambridge.One of the things I've learned, as I say, I’m 54, is you do have the ability to choose who you want to spend your time with in life. We’ve hit the doldrums,” said Dad when I went to stand beside him on the deck, gazing out at an ocean of thick honey. When I tired of working, I’d row the house’s small dinghy out on to the water, pull in the oars and let it drift. Her mother died as a few years ago, but they never reached an understanding about her experiences as a child. A couple of months later, Dad announced another decision – Jon and I were going to live in Rotorua on our own, so that Jon could start going to a school there.
When I asked about other subjects, such as history, art or science, she said she wasn’t going to bother with those – if we were good at maths and English, everything else would sort itself out. Monstrous' is the adjective Suzanne uses to describe that 40ft killer wave, which would give her nightmares for years. In 1995, after two years of training, she was appointed private secretary to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury.Why didn’t my parents, middle class and well educated themselves, worry about their children’s education or social isolation? I mean, she, died very unexpectedly, it was very shocking, and very sad, particularly for my father. I read an extract in The Guardian and waited impatiently for publication day, I’ve been going for long walks so I had more opportunities to listen - it’s so gripping. After a while, I went up on to the aft deck to sit next to my father in the cockpit, watching him attach a compass to the binnacle, the wooden instrument stand in front of the ship’s wheel. I found her unconventional upbringing clearly didn’t hold her back: she’s had a very successful life, education, career and relationship, a high achiever in any terms.
For all ebook purchases, you will be prompted to create an account or login with your existing HarperCollins username and password. I think it’s Ilha de Santo Antão in the Cape Verde islands,” said Dad, “which means we’re about 400 miles off the most westerly tip of Africa and halfway to Rio.
I knew I should be fascinated by Tonga, Honolulu, New Zealand, coral reefs, and so on, but what I found most fascinating was the slow-burning psychological torture that Suzanne endured. I did, I joined a club, Aikido, I found a girl who was living in a campervan at the bottom of the road. It requires true courage to take ownership of one’s own story when others involved in the story have such a different version, especially when those others are one’s ageing parents. Suzanne Heywood is a truly remarkable woman to have come through all the experiences she documents, but I don’t feel that this book does full her justice.
Three days later, we make it to a tiny atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean, where I receive multiple head operations without anaesthetic to try and fix the damage from the accident. Heywood reveals the journey she has had both literally and personally in an immensely moving book which above all is a testament to a determined self belief to live the life you want. He had an iron will his wife remarked, 'once you've made up your mind to do something, nothing will stop you'.Yet the reality was utterly different - Heywood was subjected to extreme emotional and physical abuse from a pair of hard-drinking narcissists who cared not at all for the well-being of their children, 7 year old Sue and her younger brother Jon. The main cabin was deserted, so I huddled by the table, holding Teddy, my small brown bear, and wondered if anyone else was hungry. Every so often, if the wind wailed or our movement down a wave was particularly steep, my heart pounded and my legs felt weak. Despite concerted efforts from her family, Sue Heywood (nee Cook), has emerged a survivor with a stoic determination to live life on her terms and thrive.
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