On October 24, 1933, Mary Sutton, a 35-year-old mother from Ireland, dies at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin due to complications following the birth of her eighth child. She leaves her children under the care of her husband, an alcoholic and an aggressive individual, who spends every penny at the pub. Mary takes the worry for her children's future with her to the grave.

Twenty-one years later, in England, a girl named Jenny is born as the third child in a similarly broken family. Her future life intertwines in a peculiar way with that of the Irish mother who died in 1933. From a very young age, Jenny begins to experience images of the life of the young woman. Jenny knows that this woman’s name is Mary.

Over time, the images become clearer. Jenny sees both happy and dangerous moments from Mary’s life. She remembers Mary’s death in the hospital room, the moment when she could look at her own body from above, and the priest kneeling by her bed. Jenny feels Mary’s despair, knowing she had to leave her children to fate. As time passes, Jenny becomes convinced that she herself was that Mary. In 1989, when she turns 35, the same age Mary was at the time of her death, Jenny makes a decision: she wants to find her children.

The search begins with memories

As a child, Jenny often drew maps of a village whose name she didn’t know, only that it was in Ireland. With the help of a school atlas, she discovered that the village she remembered was Malahide. It was the only clue she had to begin her search. Jenny bought a map of Malahide and compared it with her own childhood drawings – they were strikingly similar. At that point, she was certain that this was the right place.

On June 5, 1989, Jenny visited Malahide for the first time. She went straight to the parish office to review the church records. There, she found what she had been searching for: in 1933, a woman named Mary Sutton had died in this town, leaving behind eight children who were later raised in various orphanages and foster homes. Jenny knew she was on the right track.

As she walked around Malahide, she had the feeling that she was returning to her hometown after many years. She recognized the streets, the houses, and the places. She knew where to search for her former home – she found it, though only the overgrown foundation remained. However, she managed to get in touch with the property owner, who remembered the Sutton family. Jenny then placed ads in newspapers to locate family members. She succeeded – five of the eight Sutton children were still alive!

Memories and acceptance

Jenny and Sonny began to exchange memories. One would start the story, and the other would finish it. Jenny recalled a particular November day when the boys learned to catch animals in traps. In the morning, they ran to show her the rabbit they had caught. She remembered wiping her wet hands before looking at the animal. She didn’t know what happened next, but Sonny remembered – they released the animal because it turned out to be a hare, not a rabbit, and would have been difficult to prepare.

Sonny started saying, “Do you remember how you did that?” instead of “I remember my mom doing that.” It was Sonny who brought up the topic of reincarnation. Until then, they hadn’t discussed "how" and "why." However, Sonny accepted it.

An extraordinary conclusion

After sixty years of separation, Mary Sutton’s children had to first get to know each other. With the exception of Sonny, not everyone initially believed who Jenny was – mostly due to their Catholic upbringing. However, Jenny dispelled their doubts with her memories of their former family life. As a result, an extraordinary family reunion took place.

Returning to reincarnation...

Thus ended one of the most extraordinary stories of reincarnation.

A difficult meeting with the "children"

The hardest step was making the decision to meet with the "children." Jenny wondered whether she should return as their mother. What would she say to children who were much older than her? Would they believe such an extraordinary story? To lend credibility to the search, Jenny enlisted a BBC researcher who conducted interviews with Mary’s oldest son, Sonny, and with Jenny. Their accounts, independently, matched in every detail.

This gave Jenny the foundation for a conversation with Sonny. She remembered him as a thirteen-year-old. After their first phone call, Sonny told his wife, "I just spoke with my deceased mother."