Children of a Harsh Winter by Janet Cohen

Children of a Harsh Winter

by Janet Cohen

Michael Joseph, Penguin Group, 1994, [First Edition], hardcover, dustjacket, ISBN 0718138260

Fine Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, dustjacket has minor bumped corners with minor edge and shelf wear

'Of the three children who go into trouble playing on urban wasteland, no one would guess who would suffer in adult life from a troubled upbringing and who would triumph over it.
After David Banner's father leaves, he grows up hearing the burdens of his dependant mother and neurotic brother.  Still mourning her father's early death, Jennifer Redwood spends her schooldays fleeing from the sexual abuse of her stepfather.  Orphaned Paul Sele's childhood is in reform school, where he struggles to control the aggression that is the legacy of his guardian's beatings.
As they embark on relationships, marriage and parenthood, however, all three find their early experiences affecting their chances for personal happiness; and as their careers develop, crises come that threaten their hard-won success and will expose the true effects of their damaged childhoods.  Either they will draw strength from the past, or it will be the flaw that makes them crack under pressure.  Not every child survives a harsh winter.'