What began as an intensely personal quest became a broader investigation into family, memory, and the cultural forces shaping identity. The narrative traces Alec’s trajectory from a disrupted Victorian childhood through to remarkable achievements in the heart of Edwardian London’s financial world. Alec successfully floated a major insurance company on the London Stock Exchange shortly after the First World War, only to have his high-flying career derailed by one of the era’s most notorious financial scandals.

Alexander’s account is unflinching in its exploration of family secrets and “skeletons in the cupboard”. Alec’s complex private life – marked by a long-hidden first marriage, a large age gap with his second partner, issues of illegitimacy, and the pain of family separations – mirrors the untold stories in many families, handled with honesty and compassion.

by Lauren Flewett, Truro

I felt a great deal of empathy for the family in this memoir, their tenacity and fortitude as they traversed the changes visited upon them, as they traversed the new era as a family and beyond in bereavement and growth, with a part of Alec within still burning bright

by Ink Stewart, Co Durham    

… a thoughtful and well researched memoir that reminds us how meaningful it can be to understand where we come from.

by Joelle Gibson, Newcastle Upon Tyne