Bitter Sweet Truth: Recollections of an Anglo-Indian Born During the Last Years of the British Raj (An Autobiography)

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The book, is a true story of an child born in India during the last days of the British India. She was born of an Indian lady from the Village of Latonah, Bihar, and an American Jesuit Priest who came from Detroit, Michigan, as a missionary and worked under the Patna Jesuit Mission.

'Minnie' was the name her father called her by. Her father suddenly disappeared a year before the independence of India. She, and her sister were brought up by her mother as Anglo- Indians and in great poverty. No one seemed to know of her father's whereabouts. She did not know who he was, all she remembered was that he had a fair skin and had blue eyes. She was just four when he disappeared. She had no photographs of him, only the memory of the sound of his voice. They told her that he was dead.

For Minnie, life was just a day to day existence and everything was veiled in mystery. Her mind continually questioned the actions of those around her but her mouth could utter very few questions. She often wondered: Where was her father? Why did everyone stop talking about him? Who was he? Then one day at the age of 16 years she found papers to disclose his identity. She suddenly knew why everyone kept the secret - shame and scandal. She became determined to find him.

Esther Mary Lyons is an Anglo-Indian, born in Calcutta. She grew up in Allahabad. She was a student of St Mary's Convent School, Allahabad. She did her Secondary Teacher's Training from St Mary's Teachers College. Allahabad, and BA from St John's College, Agra. She taught at Frank Anthony Public School, New Delhi, Jesus and Mary Convent, New Delhi, La Martiniere Girls School, Lucknow, and St Joseph's Collegiate, Allahabad. In 1965 she won the Runners Up Famina Beauty Contest, and the May Queen in 1965 as well as the Lady Shri Ram '65. She was a commercial model alongside teaching and also did some programs in the Delhi Television. She was offered a role in a film through Ameen Sayani but turned it down because she preferred teaching and a family life. In 1971 She married an army officer of 2nd Jat Regiment. She migrated to Australia in 1982 with her Mother, and two sons.

This is the true story of a girl born in India in 1940.

'Minnie' survived without anyone to counsel her in the background of Indian and Anglo-Indian culture during and after the British Raj in India. Her father had disappeared a few years after her birth and no one seemed to know of his whereabouts. She had only the memories of him up to the age of three-and- half years, his fair skin, his blue eyes and the sound of his voice on which to conduct her search which took her to the United States.

The American agencies; the FBI and the CIA as well as the Jesuit Order of Catholic priests and missionaries knew the whereabouts of Michael DeLisle Lyons at all times, yet his own family believed he was in India.

Her deeper search for identity led her to discover her French and Irish ancestors who had migrated to the States of Michigan and Ohio in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

The autobiography was written with the encouragement and help of friend, the late Dr. W. A. Suchting, Retired Reader of Philosophy, Sydney University. The author has changed the names of some of the living characters to protect their identities.