What It's Like Being Raised By An Alcoholic Mother telegraph.co.uk

My name is Camilla and my mother was an alcoholic. She died 17 years ago, but those words still feel like a betrayal, as if I am giving away my family’s worst-kept secret.

Even though people must have known before it became impossible to hide, my two older brothers and I never really admitted it to each other growing up, let alone anyone else.

I remember my father once catching me trying to draw a line on a bottle of Gordon’s so I could tell how much she was drinking.

I told him it was for my homework, but we both knew what I was up to. He wasn’t the only one who had found empty bottles in the utility room cupboard.

When she had drunk too much, my mother had this habit of readjusting her glasses…

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