My Father’s Daughter

MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER BY Hannah Pool, published by Hamish Hamilton on July 28, £14.99

Until she was 20, Hannah Pool knew little about her background. Born in war-torn Eritrea, Africa, she was told her mother had died in childbirth and that her father passed away soon after. That was how she came to an orphanage in the capital Asmara, dumped by a distant relative or neighbour.

Six months later, Hannah was adopted by a white couple, eventually growing up as part of in a white family in Manchester. On its own, there’s enough material to keep any biography fan happy – but that’s only half the story.

When she was at university, she received a letter with an Eritrean postmark; a letter from the brother she never knew she had. My Father’s Daughteris a life-affirming tale of what happened next – of what it’s like to go from England to Africa to meet the family you never knew existed, to be 29 before you look in the eyes of a blood relative, and what it’s like to have two fathers separated both by culture and by thousands of miles.