You're listening to Love Stories with me, Dolly Alderton, a series in which I talked

to guests about their most defining relationships, the passion, heartbreak, longing, familiarity

and fondness that has formed who they are.

My guest this week is the author, journalist and broadcaster, F.W. Hirsch.

Her work has been varied, voracious, curious and taken many forms, but there are two main

themes at its heart, injustice and identity.

She's worked as a barrister as the West African correspondent for the Guardian and a

social affairs editor for Sky News.

Her recently published and best-selling book, Brit-ish, is an exploration of race identity

and belonging.

She's been a member of the Guardian and a group of women, drawing on her experiences as a woman

of Ghanaian, English and Jewish heritage and part research based, looking at history,

anthropology and the personal experiences of many others.

Brit-ish brings together a thoughtful, intelligent, accessible, informative investigation on Britain

as a nation not only in the midst of an identity crisis, but in denial of what it has been

and still is.

The more I worked and the more it struck me how deep this goes, we are in total denial

about our history and that's the fundamental building block for a sense of understanding

as to who you are.

Either as an individual or as a nation, you need to know your history where you're from,

your roots.

Think about an adopted child, how hard someone who's adopted will often work to find out

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