Writer recounts early exposure to alcohol, argues family history shaped her addiction

Arabella Byrne says she was given her first glass of wine at age five, began drinking to excess in her teens and now believes a family history of alcoholism strongly shaped her path to addiction.

In a personal account that accompanies a new book co‑written with her mother, novelist Julia Hamilton, Byrne describes a childhood in which alcohol was normalized and a family pattern of heavy drinking that she says contributed to her own substance use disorder. "Go to Threshers would you, darling, and get three for a tenner?" she recalls being asked at 18, a memory she uses to illustrate how drinking was woven into domestic life.

Byrne writes that her drinking escalated after she first drank alcohol regularly at 14 and that family secrecy and complicity reinforced the behaviour. She describes episodes of arriving at school hungover, increasing depression and a decade in which alcohol became her primary relationship. Her mother, she says, also drank heavily and later joined Alcoholics Anonymous; Byrne credits her mother’s early recovery with helping to point her toward sobriety. Byrne says she has been sober for more than 15 years and now has two young children.

The mother and daughter published In The Blood (HarperCollins) to examine their shared history and recovery. Byrne is also an ambassador for the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (Nacoa), which provides support to young people affected by parental alcohol misuse.

Experts say family history is a strong predictor of alcohol use disorder, though not a sole cause. Research indicates that children of parents with an Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) are up to four times more likely to develop AUD themselves. Genetic predisposition, however, interacts with social and environmental factors — including trauma, socioeconomic stress and co‑occurring mental health conditions — meaning inheritance increases risk but does not determine outcome, clinicians say.

Byrne and Hamilton document how alcohol functioned as coping mechanism across generations. Byrne recounts that her mother began heavy drinking after trauma in adolescence and that she, in turn, learned to seek solace in alcohol. She describes a pivotal moment when, after her mother joined AA, Byrne initially mocked the recovery program but later found herself drawn to its literature and eventually to meetings. Byrne says she did not attend AA with her mother at first but later joined and that their relationship gradually shifted from shared drinking to shared recovery.

The memoir emphasizes both the similarities and differences Byrne sees in herself and her mother. She writes about the discomfort of recognizing inherited behaviours and mannerisms and about the long effort to disentangle motherhood from addiction. Byrne says she sometimes worries about the risk to her own children while also asserting that sobriety and parenthood are compatible.

Clinicians interviewed in coverage of family addiction stress early intervention and family‑based supports. Screening children of parents with AUD, providing access to mental health services, and connecting families with peer support organisations are among commonly recommended measures. Nacoa, the charity with which Byrne is affiliated, promotes resources specifically for children affected by parental alcohol problems.

Byrne and Hamilton said they aimed for candour in the book, refusing to sanitise episodes that might make family members look worse. Reaction to the memoir has been mixed, they wrote, with some readers praising their openness and others saying they had exposed private family matters. In interviews and public remarks, both have framed the memoir as an effort to name and describe a pattern of intergenerational harm and to encourage conversation about how heredity and environment combine in addiction.

Medical literature underscores that acknowledging a family history of addiction can be an important step toward prevention and treatment, but specialists caution against viewing genetics as an immutable fate. Treatments for alcohol use disorder include behavioural therapies, mutual‑aid groups, medication‑assisted treatment when appropriate, and social supports aimed at addressing the environmental drivers of substance use.

In The Blood by Julia Hamilton and Arabella Byrne (HarperCollins, £16.99) is now available. Byrne continues to speak publicly about addiction and recovery and works with organisations supporting children affected by parental substance misuse.