Press

"I had professional help with my early research - it was Jeanette King, a specialist in finding birth relatives for adopted children, who spotted Marion in Grimsby and discovered James (if it was him) holed up in Leamington Spa on census night 1901. It was she who first found Agnes in 1891, living with her parents and seven siblings in some muddy hovel in Shipley. It was Jeanette - a sharp, tenacious woman who you get the feeling would be up half the night searching records even if you weren't paying her to do it - who told me what to do next and what pitfalls to look out for. What she cannot teach me are the intuitive leaps that come with experience. In vain I have dug for treasure at the British Library and wasted money ordering the death certificates of complete strangers."

'My family tree' - Phil Hogan, The Observer

"'In the summer of 1999, I got an email from Jeanette and there was just something different about it. I wrote back and said it was nice of her to get in contact, but I'd had bad experiences and I wasn't interested - which she said made her even more determined to help. I sent her June's name and the address on the birth certificate. When I came back to London in January 2000, she immediately called and asked to meet. So I turned up at this coffee bar by the Family Records Centre expecting to have a chat so she could put a face to my name and she said: "Well, I've found your birth mother!"

'She'd discovered June had married and that her mother-in-law was still living at the address on the marriage certificate. So she'd called and said she was doing some genealogical research on June's family. It turned out that June and her husband had divorced after about 10 years, and she'd remarried, but her former mother-in-law was still in touch.

'Jeanette suggested I call the number. She went through in detail all the possible responses - that June might hang up on me, might be happy, might be silent, or abusive. So I thought I was prepared for everything.

'As it turned out, I got the one response I hadn't anticipated. I said, "Hello, is that June Evans? Did you used to be Sarah Rose Williams? I know this will come as a shock to you, but I am the son you gave up for adoption." And all she said was: "I knew you were going to call. My ex mother-in-law called me and said someone was researching the family. What do you want?" She was quite hostile. I told her I wanted to ask her why she'd given me up for adoption, the circumstances surrounding it.

I wanted her to know I was all right. I was convinced at that point that she must have been thinking about me.

'It was a very awkward phone call. I gave her Jeanette's number, in case she had any further questions, and after we'd finished speaking, she called it and gave her about an hour-and-a-half of abuse.

'I think they must have spoken again, because a week later Jeanette said it would be OK to call her once more and that she'd be prepared to meet me as long as it was on neutral territory. So June decided on the meeting place, the time, the conditions. I travelled down to Shrewsbury and we met at the station. I'd expected to feel very emotional, overwhelmed by it all. And it was almost like meeting your auntie.'"

'Secrets and lives' - Geraldine Bedell, The Observer