Returning to England after the war, my mother remarried and started a family, which grew to include me and my two sisters.

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In this case it was the family-friendly classic My Neighbor Totoro, in which sisters wandering in the forest meet King Totoro, a spirit whose powers include making the trees grow and the wind blow.

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Suddenly, at 20 years old, I was the head of the family, and I had to take care of my sisters, who were 15 and 16, on my own.

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Some of the clothes my sisters and I wore were handmade (we came from a family of expert embroiderers and knitters).

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