Lech Blaine with the strange true story of his childhood, shaped by love, religious zealotry, and four wildly different parents. CW: descriptions of foster care and child removal.

Lech grew up in a big family in country Queensland, where his dad Tom ran pubs for a living.

He had six older siblings, who had come to the family as foster kids before he was born.

It was a happy, knockabout, sports-obsessed childhood. But in the midst of all the love and warmth, Lech's mum Lenore lived with a creeping sense of dread.

She knew that one day, the troubled biological parents of three of the children in the family would appear in their lives.

Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics wandering from place to place, in and out of jail and psychiatric hospitals, and notorious for stalking politicians and judges.

One evening, when Lenore was at home with some of the children, Mary Shelley knocked on her door, changing the family's life forever.

This episode of Conversations explores family, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, family dynamics, parenting.

Further information

Australian Gospel is published by Black Inc.

Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day on 13 11 14.

This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison and presented by Sarah Kanowski.

It explores family dynamics, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, parenting, blended families, biological children, adoption, Australia, books, writing, journalism, memoir.

Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website.

Encore: Love, jail, Jesus, and pubs — a tangled tale of four very different parents

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