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Con Mum & the Cycle of Abandonment
Who’s seen Con Mum on Netflix? It’s the devastating story of British pastry chef, Graham Hornigold, and what follows after he’s reunited with his biological mother, who he’s never met, at the age of forty-five. It’s a tale that’s equal parts sad, intriguing, fascinating, unbelievable, and maddening. It’s quite a ride. I personally believe Netflix has become a premier documentary producing enterprise. Con Mum is one of their most fascinating documentaries — and there have been quite a few.
Think back to 2020 and the beginning of the COVID lockdown. Some of us are floundering. Others are making the best of a surreal and scary situation. People are staying in baking bread for the first time, making TikTok videos, and watching the news. Life is upside down, inside out for all of us. Graham Hornigold, a famous London-based pastry chef, is expecting his first child with his parter, fellow pastry chef, Heather Kaniuk. For Graham, who didn’t know his mother, and who was raised by his stepmother and abusive biological father, this is a new beginning. It’s a chance to start his own family, and he and Heather are ecstatic. He can be the parents he never had.
Then — boom — enters his long-lost mother like a wrecking ball. Yes, she is his biological mother, as this is later proven by a DNA test. The chef gets an email from 79-year-old, Dionne Marie Hanna, claiming to be…
