Motherwell: A Girlhood
DEBORAH ORR
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 304 PP, £16.99)
Tablet bookshop price £15.29 • Tel 020 7799 4064

When Winifred Orr died, her daughter, Deborah, went back to the little council house in Motherwell, where she’d grown up, to sort out Win’s things and deal with one in particular – the bureau. It was just a desk with drawers full of bills, pills, knick-knacks, school reports and the like, but it had been completely out of bounds to her, her brother and their father – a potent symbol of Win’s absolute power over the household. From the nervousness with which Orr finally delves into this holy of holies, you can guess that the puissant, charismatic Win wasn’t the easiest mum to get on with.