This story is based on memories from a seven year old girl through the teens and up to her adult years. It was a different world back in the 1940s. Most children from working-class families were sent out to work from the age of 14 years.

Denmark was occupied by the Germans from 1940 until 1945, so Kirsten's father, like many others, joined the underground fighters. That plus other issues led to a lot of dramatic episodes in her life. Her father started drinking heavily from monies he earned singing in pubs as the only work available was if you didn't care for the Germans. The family was very poor and lived in a very old building in a back street of Copenhagen. These years were especially hard because their father left them and the family became homeless. So, Kirsten was sent out to work as a maid without any guidelines about what to expect in the real world. Sex education was not taught to young girls, so Kirsten was very naïve and vulnerable. Because of circumstances, she was married far too early. Then there was the migration to Australia, to a country where women had hardly any rights. Without any family or close friends to cling to, this cost much hardship and pain as Kirsten became a single mother with two sons and there was no Centerlink in those days.

This story has a happy ending. Kirsten finds love and safety in the end!