Woman's Hour - 22/04/2010

Presented by Jane Garvey. Trezza Azzopardi's first novel, "The Hiding Place", stunned the literary world and was Booker-shortlisted; tomorrow the novelist discusses her latest book, "The Song House" - about music, memory and water - and talks about her work at the University of East Anglia teaching the MA in creative writing, the celebrated course that helped shape her as a writer. Critics of an adoption bill in Ireland explain why in their view the new law will fail to help adopted people trace their natural parents. Since 1975, all those adopted in Britain have the right to apply for information to enable them obtain a copy of their original birth certificate, but the same does not apply in Ireland. Susan Lohan represents the Adoption Rights Alliance and Rosemary Horgan is a legal partner and expert in family law. A newspaper called 'Financial Freedom' is now available to help women leaving prison sort out their money issues. A former prisoner discusses the links between debts and re-offending with Juliet Lyon from the Prison Reform Trust and Lisa Buckingham, the editor of the Financial Mail on Sunday. A new poll shows that British parents can spend more than £400 updating their daughters' outfits for the current season, while more than half the parents polled wouldn't dress their children in hand-me-downs if they could afford to buy new clothes. Given the current economic climate, why do some parents insist on buying new? Journalist Viv Groskop and writer John-Paul Flintoff discuss the pros and cons of passing on of old clothes.