This Is Where You Have To Go – that is what Dunghutti woman Lynda Holden was told when she became pregnant. Directed to stay at a Catholic home for unmarried mothers, her child was taken from her and put up for adoption without her consent. Many years later, those same words have become the title of her memoir, written with co-author Jo Tuscano.
From her childhood spent in constant motion to avoid the Welfare, to her time in the home, her years of grief afterwards and then onto her role as a lawyer and humans right advocate today, the book is a comprehensive catalogue of Lynda Holden’s life.
As the title suggests, the forced adoption of her son – and the way the Stolen Generations had already effected her family long before her own birth – is a through-line of the novel, but it is far from its only focus. It’s a walk through her entire life, both the good parts and the bad, with seemingly very few details spared or withheld. And her journey truly is an incredible story of both struggle and success.
The memoir is both a very personal and a very comprehensive discussion of her experience with forced adoption. Not only does it go deep into the detail of her thoughts and feelings at the time it happened, but also explores the effect it had – and continues to have – on her, rippling through the rest of her life and her relationships with those around her. It delves into aspects of this issue not always discussed – her reunion with her son and struggles to connect with him after all the time and distance, her battles with bureaucracy and the legal system, and the impact her trauma has on her life even now.
Though it may be deeply personal, raw and emotive story, Lynda Holden’s background and knowledge in the legal system shines through in this memoir. The novel moves between memories and family anecdotes to explanations of Australian law, reports and research on forced adoption, and the documentation from her own time at the home for unmarried mothers. It’s a stark reminder that this story, though individual, is not entirely uncommon or unusual, which only adds to its power.
This memoir documents some truly distressing events, and does so with no holds barred. It is a story which is not always easy to read. Despite that, however, the book is not difficult to get through. The prose is deeply effective in its relative simplicity, almost matter of fact at times, which also serves to make it extremely accessible for those wanting to learn more about the issues faced by Lynda and others like her.
Raw in emotion yet polished in execution, speaking frankly on the issues which have defined the author’s life, This Is Where You Have To Go is a powerful memoir. Its comprehensive discussion and Lynda Holden’s personal experience with forced adoption makes it an essential read.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
This Is Where You Have To Go by Lynda Holden is available now from Pantera Press. Grab yourself a copy from a local bookstore HERE.
