Carmen Potter

In August 1934 Carmen is born into a middle-class English family. They live in a picturesque thatched cottage deep in the idyllic Devonshire countryside. Carmen arrives in the middle of a storm, one that breaks the long drought that is ravaging the local farming community. Her early childhood appears happy and her parents provide a secure and loving environment, but Carmen is not the type of girl that everyone expects, or wants. Early in her life, well before puberty, she begins to...
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In August 1934 Carmen is born into a middle-class English family. They live in a picturesque thatched cottage deep in the idyllic Devonshire countryside. Carmen arrives in the middle of a storm, one that breaks the long drought that is ravaging the local farming community. Her early childhood appears happy and her parents provide a secure and loving environment, but Carmen is not the type of girl that everyone expects, or wants. Early in her life, well before puberty, she begins to feel uncomfortable in her body and she starts to question her gender. However, it is a problem that pales into insignificance as the Second World War begins to affect those around her, including her immediate family, two of whom fall victims to the war.Later, as a teenager, Carmen sets off on a course that causes outrage in her community and she is beset with further deaths among her most beloved friends. It takes her a considerable time to recover from these setbacks. 'I seem to attract death,' she says at one stage to her mother. However, Carmen has an innate intelligence and a resilience, and in the years that follow she comes to terms with her future. Further, she learns to live with her internal conflicts and also with those that have developed in her family.This is a book about love, loss and healing, as well as the changes in society's attitudes towards the queer community, which spans two continents and the more than eighty years following Carmen's stormy birth.