Most children and grown-ups too will recognize some of their own experiences in the story of the Nurse s Children although it is about the authors childhood in the 1950 s. Mary and Pamela had their own world of adventures into which they escaped from the responsibilities and strict rules at home. With few toys and little time to play the girls made up their own games; praying for a miracle to dry the kitchen floor sliding down an icy hill in their music bags or climbing the coal heap outside the school boiler house. The book also explores the pain of feeling different being adopted growing up with dual heritage in a very white community and accepting and understanding disability.