{"product_id":"book-vq4i","title":"Ten Hail Marys","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eTen Hail Marys\u003c\/em\u003e, Kate Howarth vividly recalls the first seventeen years of her life in Sydney's slums, suburbs and rural New South Wales, Australia. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAbandoned by her mother as a baby, and then by her volatile grandmother. Kate was 14 when she was sent to live with a neighbour, who barely tolerated her. Kate was taken out of school three days before she was scheduled to take the exams for the Intermediate Certificate, the minimum education required to obtain meaningful employment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt 15, everything and everyone Kate called family and home was gone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn January 1966, Kate gave birth to a healthy baby boy at St. Margaret's Home for unwed mothers in Sydney. In the months before and the days after the birth, she resisted treatment that had been deemed tantamount to torture when she steadfastly refused to sign the consent for adoption.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKate's son, whom she called Adam, was the only family she had left. If they were going to take him, they would have to do so without her consent.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOf the thousands of unwed mothers at the time, Kate became the only unwed mother who could be found who left the institution with her baby. She was only sixteen years old. What inspired such courage and determination?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTen Hail Marys is a frank, at times funny and incredibly moving true story, told without an ounce of bitterness or self-pity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore than a memoir of Kate's life struggles, Ten Hail Marys blew the whistle on one of the darkest chapters in Australian social history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFollowing publication in 2010, \u003cem\u003eTen Hail Marys\u003c\/em\u003e was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Award for Indigenous writing and won the Age Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2010 in an open category.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2011, Kate gave evidence to the National Senate Inquiry into what is now known as Forced Adoption Practices, which led to changes in adoption laws. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"INAudio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":50246505791792,"sku":"BDvq4i","price":13.13,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/vq4i-cover.jpg?v=1761378989","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-vq4i","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}