{"product_id":"9781781725146-jim-neat","title":"Jim Neat","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Case of a Young Man Down on His Luck\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eJim Neat\u003c\/i\u003e is an unusual and striking memoir, a coalescing of prose, poetry, found documents and photographs. In it \u003cb\u003eMary Oliver \u003c\/b\u003euncovers the life of her father (b. 1904) and ranges across the history of England and Canada in the twentieth century. Jim left England in his teens, as a seaman. He travelled to South Africa, stowed away to Australia and eventually landed in Canada just before the Great Depression. Here he met his partner Lizbietta in a bookshop in Toronto, but while he was working as a lumberjack she died in childbirth. Ill and destitute, Jim was declared a vagrant and his baby daughter was sent to an orphanage. Admitted to a mental hospital in Ontario Jim was eventually repatriated to England. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJim met and married Mary’s mother during the war before serving in North Africa and Italy. Their marriage was a difficult one and although it endured until Jim died in 1983, his life was dominated by the loss of Lizbietta and their child. Driven by the prospect of a half-sister, and the enigma of a father she didn’t really know, Oliver set out to discover the truth behind the family stories and to better understand Jim. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56449772913014,"sku":"9781781725146","price":8.8,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_27933066.jpg?v=1760446678","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781781725146-jim-neat","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}