Yet sometimes, against the odds, someone did break free.
In the early years of the twentieth century, London’s East End was a place where hope was scarce, and survival was a daily act of defiance. Cramped tenements and ageing terraces hemmed in generations of men, women, and children, most resigned to lives shaped by poverty and hard labour—with little chance of escape.
This is Win’s story.
A Time to Reflect, told in her own voice and the voices of the men who knew her, loved her, and were changed by her, traces a life forged in hardship and marked by loss, resilience, and quiet courage. From a childhood of scarcity to a womanhood defined by endurance, Win’s journey is neither sentimental nor softened—it is honest, intimate, and deeply human.
Ninety years is a long life. Win lived every one of them.
A moving portrait of survival and memory, A Time to Reflect is a testament to the unseen lives that shaped a city—and the strength it took simply to endure.
