Barbara Attwood

Barbara Attwood was born in the north of England. She is a retired lecturer, and attended Liverpool Hope University as a mature student, obtaining a degree in English and psychology.
 
She was adopted at 6 months old by a working class family who lived in Widnes, a town on the banks of the River Mersey. During the 26-year search for her birthmother, she kept a log of the roller coaster events that led her to the truth of her birth. Based on this log and memories from her childhood and teenage years during the 1960s, when she saw The Beatles at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, she wrote Blue Plastic Cow, a memoir, and her first book, published in 2021.
 
Barbara called her memoir Blue Plastic Cow in honour of her birth mother, Carole, who gave it to her as a parting gift.

Link to Liverpool Echo Article

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Blue Plastic Cow - One woman's search for her birth mother

Memoir

Based on a true story, this is the tale of three strong women: Barbara, who was given a blue plastic cow that would later change her life forever; Florrie, who adopted a baby to replace the child she had lost; Carole, forced to give up her daughter by an unforgiving society.

Growing up in a loving northern working-class family based on the banks of the River Mersey, Barbara felt that she was different. After accidentally discovering that she had been adopted, she was only given a part of the story. As a teenager unable to deal with the shock of what she had learned, she rebelled against her parents, finding solace in the exciting 1960s’ Liverpool music scene, spearheaded by The Beatles.
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Decades later, Barbara discovered a tear-stained letter from her birth mother, containing heart-breaking words that would send her on a challenging 26-year quest to find Carole.

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