No Cake, No Jam by Marian Hughes
This wartime autobiography describes how Marian Hughes, her sisters and brother were put in an orphanage after their father's suicide, leading a strict and regimented life until their mother returned and took them to live in a squalid flat off Baker Street. After that life became a story of moonlight flits from one temporary home to another while the Blitz raged, of semi-starvation and no schooling. Marian's sisters and brothers disappeared and she was left to support her deranged and violent mother until she was finally certified. Yet this account of a turbulent childhood is full of vigour and a passionate love of life.