An Autobiography, by Janet Frame

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Janet Frame (1924-2004) was a New Zealand author who wrote uncompromising stories that examined the complex things that go in in the minds of people in the real world.  In her autobiography, she lays out her own complex inner life for us.

Frame grew up in poverty.  Her first toy was an empty kerosene tin, which she dragged behind her on a string.  Her father was a railroad worker, and her mother was an amateur poet, who often had her poems published in the local papers.  The family moved several times, because of reassignment by the railroad company or financial problems.    The living conditions were generally filthy and decrepit.  The family was close though, and Janet and her four siblings were generally happy.  As a schoolgirl she was surprised when she was singled out as one of the "poor and dirty" children for special attention by a school nurse.

"Cousin Mary" and "The First Primrose", by Mary Russell Mitford

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Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855) worked for much of her life as a professional writer.  It seems to have been work she loved and was well-suited to, but it was also necessary, since her income supported herself and her parents.  Mitford experienced an amazing life of booms and busts.  Her mother was an heiress who married a likeable, happy, but irresponsible man.  He shortly squandered all of his wife's wealth, leaving the family in poverty.

But, at the age of ten, Mary picked a winning number in the Irish lottery and won a prize of £ 20,000.  This made the family wealthy again, and they moved into an opulent house and lived well for a few years.  But Mary's father once again squandered the family's money, and soon they were forced to move to the small village of Three Mile Cross in Berkshire, in Southeast England, where Mary's growing career as a writer supported them all for the rest of their lives.