2008-07-11 Triumph of love

John Rodgers is a real person with a real story to tell. His book is a testament to survival and post survival. The jigsaw that accompanied him from early childhood with its many missing pieces has given this writer a gift for finding the picture from the pieces he has in view rather than losing meaning by concentrating on the blanks. It is clear that he had a good idea of the complEte picture in view of the outcome to date.

Few contempories of Rodgers in Ireland will have avoided some contact with the child 'boarded out' from the orphanage, whether they belonged to a household who fostered someone or maybe a class mate at school. Rodgers proves that these children very often gave more than they received by showing their vulnerability and strength in sheltered places which hid behind institutions such as those described in this book to maintain a status quo at the expense of mothers and babies. John Rodgers has returned to remind us that while he is there, and while his book is read, this will not happen again.