The confessions of a dancing girl

Born in Camden Town in 1887, Marion grows up amid poverty, family upheaval, and a succession of indifferent or cruel guardians. After losing her mother, she is passed from relative to relative, receives only a modest convent-school education, and learns early what it means to be unwanted and unprotected.

At last, unable to endure life with her grandfather and his wife, Marion runs away into the foggy streets of North London. Hungry, exhausted, and alone, she sits on a doorstep until a policeman discovers her and tries to help. Told with striking simplicity and compassion, her account offers an intimate portrait of a child’s loneliness, courage, and determination to escape hardship. As Marion looks back on the experiences that shaped her, listeners are drawn into a candid life story beginning at its most vulnerable point.