What do you think?
Rate this book
‘Yet’: A Story of Triumph over Childhood Separation, Trauma, and Disability
"No one believed me. ‘Children couldn’t have been treated like that.’ But we were."
—Harry Drabble
In 1937, two-year-old Harry Drabble was diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis after drinking unpasteurised milk. Torn from his mother’s arms, he spent much of his childhood confined to Sheffield’s King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children, enduring emotional neglect and years of isolation while immobilised in bed.
Told through Harry’s unflinching words and his daughter Helen Parker-Drabble’s meticulous research, this poignant memoir reveals the shocking inadequacies of early 20th-century healthcare while celebrating one boy’s extraordinary resilience.
Harry’s life was defined by a simple yet transformative ‘I can’t… yet.’ Told he would never work, find love, or support a family, Harry refused to give in to those predictions. He taught himself to read and mastered the violin while living with physical challenges, earned professional qualifications despite limited schooling, and went on to create the loving family he was told was out of reach.
This father-daughter collaboration offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten chapter of British medical history, ensuring the forgotten children institutionalised during the early to mid-20th century are seen, heard and remembered. Yet is both a tribute to Harry’s indomitable spirit and a timeless reminder of the power of hope, perseverance, and the word ‘yet.’
—Harry Drabble
In 1937, two-year-old Harry Drabble was diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis after drinking unpasteurised milk. Torn from his mother’s arms, he spent much of his childhood confined to Sheffield’s King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children, enduring emotional neglect and years of isolation while immobilised in bed.
Told through Harry’s unflinching words and his daughter Helen Parker-Drabble’s meticulous research, this poignant memoir reveals the shocking inadequacies of early 20th-century healthcare while celebrating one boy’s extraordinary resilience.
Harry’s life was defined by a simple yet transformative ‘I can’t… yet.’ Told he would never work, find love, or support a family, Harry refused to give in to those predictions. He taught himself to read and mastered the violin while living with physical challenges, earned professional qualifications despite limited schooling, and went on to create the loving family he was told was out of reach.
This father-daughter collaboration offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten chapter of British medical history, ensuring the forgotten children institutionalised during the early to mid-20th century are seen, heard and remembered. Yet is both a tribute to Harry’s indomitable spirit and a timeless reminder of the power of hope, perseverance, and the word ‘yet.’
316 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 6, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 17, 2025
An excellent medical memoir, and a very interesting piece of history.
I love medical memoirs. This one concerns Tuberculosis. I haven't read about this disease before. I remember a young woman who had TB who lived across the road from my Nanna. She would sometimes be in bed when we went to see her-and one time she gave us a lift home from town, driving her car. She seemed fine to my young self at that moment. But she was dead a while after that.
This is the author's dad's story. Helen Parker-Drabble made notes of the things he told her about his experiences, and this has become this book. She tells his story, and his thoughts and feelings about it. Told by Helen, and her father Harry.
Harry contracted Bovine Tuberculosis. He started being ill at just two-and-a-half years old. He had to stay alone in hospital, away from his parents.
The book combines memoir, family history, and medical matters. It was incredibly interesting, and I enjoyed reading it. Well-constructed, I loved the comprehensive detail, and supporting photos. Includes many interesting pictures, both of Harry, and his hospital days, plus historical photos e.g. artefacts of wartime Britain. I found the pics of recipes of the time, during rationing, very interesting.
It brought some of my own memories up, (obviously years later-1971ish?), I had to have a small operation. I can still remember being alone in hospital, in a cot bed, with metal sides on, crying and crying for my parents. The hours seemed endless. In those days parents couldn't stay with their children as they do now. I was in hospital just a matter of days-Harry would need to stay in hospital a few times, and for long periods-13 months at one point. Not just about his illness and hospital stays, it follows Harry through life, and tells of the prejudices and unkindness he would suffer. There are good times in store too, and it's an ultimately uplifting story.
An excellent book. Made me think and feel. I knew I wanted to read this when I first learned of it-but didn't realise how many things I would connect with, and how it would move me.
I love medical memoirs. This one concerns Tuberculosis. I haven't read about this disease before. I remember a young woman who had TB who lived across the road from my Nanna. She would sometimes be in bed when we went to see her-and one time she gave us a lift home from town, driving her car. She seemed fine to my young self at that moment. But she was dead a while after that.
This is the author's dad's story. Helen Parker-Drabble made notes of the things he told her about his experiences, and this has become this book. She tells his story, and his thoughts and feelings about it. Told by Helen, and her father Harry.
Harry contracted Bovine Tuberculosis. He started being ill at just two-and-a-half years old. He had to stay alone in hospital, away from his parents.
The book combines memoir, family history, and medical matters. It was incredibly interesting, and I enjoyed reading it. Well-constructed, I loved the comprehensive detail, and supporting photos. Includes many interesting pictures, both of Harry, and his hospital days, plus historical photos e.g. artefacts of wartime Britain. I found the pics of recipes of the time, during rationing, very interesting.
It brought some of my own memories up, (obviously years later-1971ish?), I had to have a small operation. I can still remember being alone in hospital, in a cot bed, with metal sides on, crying and crying for my parents. The hours seemed endless. In those days parents couldn't stay with their children as they do now. I was in hospital just a matter of days-Harry would need to stay in hospital a few times, and for long periods-13 months at one point. Not just about his illness and hospital stays, it follows Harry through life, and tells of the prejudices and unkindness he would suffer. There are good times in store too, and it's an ultimately uplifting story.
An excellent book. Made me think and feel. I knew I wanted to read this when I first learned of it-but didn't realise how many things I would connect with, and how it would move me.
September 4, 2025
This marvellous book is a loving tribute to the author’s father Harry Drabble, who with so much grit and determination, rose above the dreadful illness that beset him in childhood, the results of which he carried throughout his life. Despite being afflicted with bovine tuberculosis at the tender age of two, then subjected for so many years to the horrendous treatments of the day, even as a small child Harry never allowed himself to become a ‘victim’. Across the timeframe of the book – from Harry’s birth in 1934 to his marriage in his early 20s, we see that he achieved more than many able-bodied folk manage in a lifetime. If he was unable to do something, his attitude was not that he could never do it, just not ‘yet’ – hence the title of this most moving story.
‘Yet’ is not only a personal story of the role of will over circumstance, but a fascinating and well-written historical account of attitudes to children’s hospital treatment, and beliefs about the capacities and rights of the disabled during the first half of the 20th century. Helen Parker-Drabble brings to this book her admiration and respect for her father, her knowledge of psychology and her extensive historical and social research. I couldn’t put it down! The pictures are great too.
‘Yet’ is not only a personal story of the role of will over circumstance, but a fascinating and well-written historical account of attitudes to children’s hospital treatment, and beliefs about the capacities and rights of the disabled during the first half of the 20th century. Helen Parker-Drabble brings to this book her admiration and respect for her father, her knowledge of psychology and her extensive historical and social research. I couldn’t put it down! The pictures are great too.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews