Helen Parker-Drabble | Author | Speaker | Former counsellor | Family historian
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Silver Award, Nonfiction Book Awards
Runner-up, Alan Ball Award for Best Hardcopy Publication 2025
Featured in Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, May 2026
'No one believed me. "Children couldn't have been treated like that." But we were.'
— Harry Drabble
'Yet' is the powerful true story of Harry Drabble, a disabled child separated from his family after contracting bovine tuberculosis from unpasteurised milk.
Confined for years to Sheffield's King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children, Harry endured isolation, immobilisation, restricted family visits, and a society that wrote him off as someone who would never work, marry, or live an ordinary life.
Harry proved them wrong.
Told through Harry's own memories and his daughter Helen Parker-Drabble's meticulous research, Yet is a moving memoir of childhood separation, disability, trauma, medical history, family history, and resilience. It shines a light on hundreds of thousands of forgotten British children whose experiences were rarely recorded, and offers a timeless reminder of the power of one small word: Yet.
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Praise for 'Yet'
"This isn't just a biography; it is a daughter's profound tribute to her father's resilience."
— Nonfiction Book Awards
"A must-read book... an inspirational feast."
— Nonfiction Book Awards
"Brilliantly written with excellent additional research."
— Alan Ball Local History Awards
"A remarkable testament to the resilience of one individual in overcoming such huge disadvantages in the face of deprivation and prejudice."
— Michael Leach, retired GP, The Local Historian
"It brought back a whole lot of memories... I was there, back in the hospital with him and remembering. Yet has been a mirror image of what I experienced."
— Bob Shaw, former long-stay child patient
About the Book
In 1937, two-year-old Harry Drabble was diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis after drinking unpasteurised milk. His childhood hospitalisation began when he was taken from his family and confined to Sheffield's King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children.
For years, Harry lived through emotional neglect, isolation, immobilisation in plaster casts, restricted family visits, and a medical culture that gave little thought to a child's need for comfort, attachment, education, or hope.
Society wrote him off as a 'cripple' who would never work, marry, or lead an ordinary life.
Harry proved them wrong.
His guiding phrase was simple: 'I can't... yet.'
When he was told he would never walk without crutches, he added 'yet'. When he was told he could not gain qualifications, he added 'yet'. When the world assumed disability meant dependence, Harry built a career, a marriage, a family, and a life of purpose.
Against impossible odds, Harry became an accountant and senior manager, while also giving 35 years as a beloved music teacher who changed his students' lives.
This father-daughter collaboration combines Harry's unflinching memories with historical research, family photographs, and psychological insight into childhood separation, attachment, trauma, and inherited silence.
Yet is both one man's remarkable story and a tribute to the many forgotten children whose experiences shaped families for generations.
What Makes This Book Essential
- A rare first-hand account of long-term childhood hospitalisation in Britain
- 161 historical photographs bringing Harry's world vividly to life
- Meticulously researched, with 299 endnotes
- Insight into bovine tuberculosis, unpasteurised milk, disability, and early 20th-century healthcare
- A psychological framework for understanding childhood separation, attachment, and inherited trauma
- 18 book club discussion questions to deepen your reading experience
- 322 pages of narrative, family history, medical history, and social history
Perfect for readers interested in family history, genealogy, social history, medical history, disability history, trauma, Sheffield history, wartime Britain, and inspirational true stories of resilience.
What Readers Are Discovering
★★★★★ 'A mirror image of what I experienced'
'It brought back a whole lot of memories... I hung onto every word. I was there, back in the hospital with him and remembering. Yet has been a mirror image of what I experienced.'
— Bob Shaw, former patient, Children's Hospital Birmingham
★★★★★ 'The unknown chapter of my husband's life'
'What a book! Fascinating, informative, but terrifying. The unknown chapter of my late husband's life has now been written. I am more grateful than I can say. It's been a solemn but liberating experience for me and our three children. If I had only known...'
— Mary
★★★★★ 'Captures both heartbreak and resilience'
'A deeply moving and beautifully written book. It struck a real chord with me — my own father and his brother went through something very similar in Sheffield. Helen captures that world with honesty, warmth, and compassion. A powerful reminder of how trauma, love and endurance can shape a life.'
— Neil Anderson
★★★★★ 'You won't put it down. Top class!'
'Helen's book is a real eye-opener. I have never read anything like it. I won't give too much away, but you won't put it down. Top class!'
— Julie Rose, co-author of Tenacity
★★★★★ 'A gift... profoundly moving'
'I just finished reading Yet and want to thank you for this gift. It deeply stirred empathy for Harry and reflections on my own life. Harry's separation from his parents and the emotional weight of his experiences were profoundly moving. A powerful story of resilience and humanity.'
— Jon Marie Pearson, family historian
★★★★★ 'Gave me a perspective I didn't have'
'This has given me a perspective I did not have previously. I am so grateful you took the time to write this book.'
— Kathleen
★★★★★ 'A page-turner that I highly recommend'
'I bought the hardback version of Helen Parker-Drabble's book Yet as a present. When it arrived, I was so pleased with the quality, the pictures and, most of all, the moving account of Helen's father's childhood experiences that I hardly wanted to part with it. The book provides valuable historical information together with very personal insights into the prejudice and suffering experienced by Harry and his peers as they developed into adulthood. It is a page-turner that I highly recommend.'
— Reader review
Awards and Professional Reviews
Nonfiction Book Awards, Silver Award
"This isn't just a biography; it is a daughter's profound tribute to her father's resilience."
"A well-crafted and well-developed story that brings out the original streaks of pain, isolation, complexes, and helplessness that Harry experienced through his adversity."
"The author has done a commendable job of keeping the book's narrative well-researched and evidence-based; it acts like a time machine, pulling you into a world from a century ago."
"A must-read book... an inspirational feast."
Silver Award, Nonfiction Book Awards
Alan Ball Local History Awards, Best Hardcopy Publication 2025
Yet was named Runner-up for the Alan Ball Award for Best Hardcopy Publication 2025, presented by the CILIP Local Studies Group.
Judges described the book as:
"Brilliantly written with excellent additional research."
"An important insight into the history of health services and attitudes to disability."
"An important contribution to the written history of Sheffield."
"Very deserving of a prize."
The Local Historian
"A remarkable testament to the resilience of one individual in overcoming such huge disadvantages in the face of deprivation and prejudice."
Reviewer Michael Leach, a retired GP, also described Yet as "admirably researched, referenced and indexed" and "written in a very clear and readable style."
British Society for the History of Medicine
"This story illustrates what chronically ill children in long-stay hospitals were expected to tolerate and gives us important messages about children who require recurrent hospital admissions these days. The book has been well written and beautifully illustrated and describes the early life of a man whom one can only admire by the way he overcame his difficulties."
— Dr Michael Whitfield
Kevin Brown, author, public speaker, and former chairman of the London Museums of Health and Medicine
"Set against working-class Sheffield during the Second World War, Harry's life is inspirational. Despite assumptions that his disabilities would limit education, work, and marriage, he overcame stigma to build a fulfilling life."
Julie, We Love Memoir
"An excellent medical memoir and fascinating history. The book blends memoir, family history, and medical insights. Well-constructed with comprehensive detail and photos. A compelling and enjoyable read about a disease I hadn't encountered before."
Helen Baggott, author and public speaker
"It's a brilliant book! The author has a wonderful style of factual writing with deep emotion — it's wonderful."
What this book does
Readers consistently tell us Yet:
- Explains patterns in their family they couldn't name before
- Provides validation for experiences "no one believed could happen"
- Offers a framework for understanding inherited emotional distance
- Sparks crucial conversations with ageing parents before it's too late
- Shines light on forgotten chapters of British medical and social history
- Helps family historians understand separation trauma in their family trees
Childhood Hospitalisation and Forgotten Families
Harry's childhood hospitalisation was one story among many, part of a wider history of children separated from their families through illness, disability, evacuation and institutional care.
'Yet' is becoming a resource for thousands of families discovering their own hidden histories of separation, silence, and inherited strength.
Between the 1930s and 1950s, hundreds of thousands of British children were separated from their families through tuberculosis, polio, evacuation, disability, institutional care, and other medical or social circumstances. Many spent months or years away from home in hospitals, sanatoria, residential schools, or other institutions where visiting was restricted, affection discouraged, and emotional needs were often ignored.
Most of these children grew up.
Many became parents and grandparents.
And many carried patterns with them: emotional distance, hypervigilance, difficulty trusting, fear of dependence, or a deep belief that "I'm better off taking care of myself."
If this sounds familiar, you're not imagining it.
Yet helps you understand why.
'Do not weep for me, for I have lived.'
— Harry Drabble, 2022
Available Editions
Paperback: 978-1-9162466-8-3
Large Print Paperback: 978-1-0684013-0-5
Hardback: 978-1-9162466-9-0
Special Edition Hardback: 978-1-0684013-1-2
eBook: 978-1-9162466-7-6
Signed copies are available from my shop.
'Do not weep for me, for I have lived.' — Harry Drabble, 2022
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