Hard Truth: Growing out of Adversity, tells the remarkable story of the author’s journey towards healing and resilience. Having lost her father during her childhood the author retraces her earliest memories of growing up in the idyllic setting of Barbados. While happy and securely attached to her parents she experienced poverty. Her mother’s decision to emigrate to England to find a new life for her family increased the sense of loss she suffered during her most formative years. Ince-Greenaway’s explanation of her experiences of arriving in England during the Windrush years demonstrates the enduring impact of discrimination and racism she faced in the community where she lived and during her education.

The Christian values she was taught by her mother during her childhood became the backdrop for her resilience as she faced the death of her husband who was the second Black police officer in the Metropolitan Police. She tells of the trauma that resulted from his death. As she grieved the loss of her husband, she had the bitter-sweet experience of accepting the gift of his son one week after his death. As the author transitioned to becoming a single parent, she fought against the odds to hold onto life in the middle of a frightening, devastating and life-threatening experience.