Bøger af Wendy Robertson

The story of Mary Ann Cotton, an alleged serial killer hanged for murder in 1873, is here seen through the eyes of Londoner Victoria Kilburn, who visits the Durham village where Mary Ann is alleged to have killed her last victim. The disfigured Victoria is drawn to the charismatic Mary Ann, and does not believe the rising tide of scandal that leads to Mary Ann's arrest. In this novel, using existing evidence, Wendy Robertson challenges the received wisdom that Mary Ann Cotton was indeed a serial killer. We see Mary Ann's tragic progress to the gallows through Victoria's eyes, even as the girl's disfigurement is cured by Mary Ann's herbal medicines . 'Robertson is a rare breed a writer with an exquisite gift for creating vivid, relatable female characters''Scottish Daily Record Historical Note One - What are the facts? Although clearly a work of fiction, this novel was inspired by the real people and events surrounding the trial and execution of Mary Ann Cotton in 1873. As well as newspapers, census, contemporary documents such as police reports, I reads Mary Ann Cotton by the late Arthur Appleton (County Durham Books 1973). Mr Appleton's concluded that Mary Ann probably killed 14 or 15 people. Tony Whitehead, whose well documented account Mary Ann Cotton, Dead but not Forgotten, (Self-published. Undated) is presented in rigorous style but in the end almost drifts to the conclusion that Mary Ann was probably guilty at least in three cases. Derek Hebden's Murder at West Auckland, a more summary account (History Snapshot Series 1987), was also useful. But as I read and thought about Mary Ann it dawned on me than by modern standards this case was at least unproven. Interestingly Appleton comments that in some programmes put out by the BBC in 1975 the actress playing Mary Ann found her role difficult because she believed Mary Ann to be innocent. Well researched as they are, in all these writers' accounts, impression and dramatic second-hand commentary tend to be used in the absence of truly substantive and connective evidence. In the end it seems that whether Mary Ann was guilty or innocent appears still to be a matter of belief. Tellingly, Appleton says in his conclusion The Mary Ann Cotton family spanned the lifetime of the Durham Coalfield. The underworld of coal was explored and known far better than the underworld mind of Mary Ann Cotton. In writing this novel I was inspired by the thought that perhaps the 'underworld mind' of Mary Ann Cotton might be further explored through the richer, more sinewy medium of fiction, which uses contemporary human insight into the rather thin available facts. In the year I wrote this I came to feel her around me, at my shoulder, cheering me on.

In 1963, on the day of the assassination of President Kennedy, the eminent painter Gabriel Marchant, reflects on his early days when he met Archie, charismatic warden of The Settlement, an arts centre in his home town. Unemployed and feeling very low, Gabriel was rescued by the encouragement he finds at The Settlement, inspired by Archie Todhunter and the enigmatic German Rosel Vonn, a sculptor and artist. With him on his journey are his best friend Tegger, who will become a writer, and the clever, witty schoolgirl Greta who will change lives in her own way. Later, both haunted and inspired by images of life and work underground, Gabriel's painting finds first local and then national fame and his life is changed forever. As he tells the whole tale of how he became a painter Gabriel Marchant celebrates the liberating nature of art in hard-pressed lives and the role of people like Archie Todhunter those magical change-makers in lives like his own. 'A powerful writer.' Mail on Sunday 'A lovely book..' Woman's Realm 'Wendy's characters are wonderful ... quirky and interesting people, utterly believable ... A triumph.' Northern Echo. 'Wendy Robertson is a rare breed - a writer with an exquisite gift for creating relateable characters, ' Scottish Daily Record.

Rachel, an idealistic young teacher tries to make changes in the lives of her tough pupils. The school - tough as it is - is a haven for Rachel's pupil Ian Sobell, whose mother neglects him and whose grandmother abuses him. One of Rachel's adventurous projects leads her class to a place where, hundreds of years before, a boy hung for days in a gibbet until he died in agony: a punishment for the murder of his employers children. Events on this day have a disastrous impact on the lives of both Rachel and Ian: a shock which lasts nearly two decades before they both move on to some kind of resolution, triggered by Rachel meeting Ian again after sixteen years. 'This novel was inspired by my experience teaching in schools where I worked with pupils like Ian who soldiered on under great difficulty, walking the line between violence and normalcy every day. I also know that their desperation and stress is often mirrored in the plight of good, sensitive teachers who have to deal with the ambiguity of children who may be seen as evil.' Wendy Robertson

'A powerful writer' Mail on Sunday 'Now here is my web: four women sitting clustered round a table clutching at the memory of a fifth woman. Stretching behind us are those taut parallels, our individual lives: tense fragile constructions stretched through dark spaces which have led with ineffable elegance to this round table on this wet afternoon. We are five women, counting Christine, webbed together now with shared experience, mutual respect and well won affection. Outside in the rain a police car makes its urgent way, blue light flashing.' Paulie Smith In her first few days out of prison Paulie Smith relishes her freedom and embraces the struggle to adapt to the realities of life 'on the out'. She reflects on her time 'inside' focusing on four vert different women she first met in the white prison van. There is Queenie the bag lady who sees giants and angels; Maritza who disguises her pain with an ultra-conventional life; Lilah, who is the spoiled apple of her mother's eye. And then there is tragic, abused Christine - one with the real scars inside and out. The touching stories of these women merge as Paulie, free now after six years in prison, goes looking for them. The others have been free for some years and Paulie goes in search of them to begin to build her own life again. Reader: 5* 'A Fascinating Novel' The monotony of prison erupts with drama and emotion -I loved the characters in Paulie's Web: their strengths, their weaknesses, their backstories and in spite of everything - their humour.' Reader: 5* 'Wendy is a brilliant story-teller who has written more than twenty novels. This one draws on her experience of being a Writer-in-residence working with prisoners. It's a fascinating glimpse behind the tabloid headlines at the unimaginably hard lives of some of those who end up in the prison system because of mental health problems, abusive childhoods, drink and drug dependency. Wendy Robertson says of Paulie's Web: 'It has taken me some years to digest the extremities of my experience in prison and to write my novel as true fiction in a way that pays tribute to the women I met while working there. If, by the by, Paulie's Web goes some way to cracking the absurd stereotypes of women in prison this will be an extra delight. While there are dark elements in the novel I make no apologies for its ultimately optimistic tone which is a true reflection of the humour, stoicism and kindness that I witnessed in my prison experience.' Wendy Robertson has written popular and well-reviewed novels for adults and children and a memoir of her writing life, The Romancer. Over four years from 1999 she was Writer- in residence in a woman's prison. Now, as well as writing a novel each year she writes a popular writer's blog A Life Twice Tasted which ir at http: //www.lifetwicetasted.blogspot.co.uk/ She is a director of Damselfly Books https: //damselflybooks.com/

A psychological novel from bestselling author Wendy Robertson A psychological novel from bestselling author Wendy Robertson The Story We're all experts in childhood. After all weren't we all once children? But ... Twelve year old Dee - is a misfit in her family. Her parents see her stubborn willfulness as a source of chaos in the household. It's the last straw when she decides not to speak. As her life begins to unravel Dee tells us her own story - how she begins to rescue herself from her own life. But she's not alone on her journey. Travelling with her is a woman who throws pots and a dog called Rufus. Then there are Dee's drawing books and characters she's met in stories she has read... First Three Readers' Comments 1. Avril Joy, Novelist and Short Story Writer 'From the first page we have no choice but to take this fragile but resilient child into our hearts. We see the world through Dee's eyes, notice everything as she does, struggling with her 'to work out what all this means, ' from the beasts and cages that haunt her dreams to the uncomfortable, often destructive, politics of family life. The world of the novel is as richly textured as the 'markings, ' Dee makes in her precious books. It is a world in which the powerlessness of childhood is laid bare. It's triumph is to show us just how the spirit of the child survives. What makes this novel so touching is the way Wendy Robertson fast tracks us straight into Dee's world' 2. Clive Johnson, Editor and Author 'Most striking here is the careful handling of the mystery of Dee's state of mind and the growing undercurrent of menace.' Clive Johnson 3 Sharon Griffiths, Author and Journalist 'It's easy to label a child, much harder to see the real picture. In a tense and moving story, Wendy Robertson challenges us to find a new way of looking.'

The Adventures of Olivia Ozanne First Reader Review - Olivia Ozanne is the writer abroad, the stranger alone, a woman who can see the surface of things and beyond. Well rid of her ex Kendrick and his leather sofa fetish, she comes to stay with her daughter Caitlin. This is post-glasnost Moscow with its fallen statues, burgeoning mafia, newly restored churches, its phones tapped but no longer listened in to, a city that demands hard currency. Through Olivia's eyes we see into the heart of this city and its people. We peer inside their tiny flats into their constricted interior lives, where we meet the mysterious Aunties whose surprising histories, stretching back to the revolution, are slowly uncovered by Olivia. This is a richly painted canvas of an iconic city, in many ways relevant to our understanding of the Russia of today. It is a story about a woman in search of a new self and it's hard not to fall in love with Olivia with her enormous appetite for life or for that matter her lover Volodya whom she meets at the flower stall.

A young burglar shatters a glass roof and drops in on a vicars wife: a man who loves tin soldiers has a near miss with a knife killer; a young woman - more sinned against than sinning - is hell bent on self destruction; an old woman on the streets sees visions of giants; a woman breaks free from a long and confining marriage; boy learns his craft deep in the bowels of the earth. In these and other short stories in this collection Wendy Robertson combines her preoccupation with issues of identity, survival and the ironies of ordinary life with her ability to tell a good story. 'I think that more than violence, more than darkness, these stories reflect the knowingness and the sense of irony - even comedy - that is the human saving grace of people under stress and in either physical or psychological confinement.' Wendy Robertson. 'I admire the short story form. It sits neatly between the novel and the poem. It combines the broad narrative significance of the novel with the precision, economy and illumination of the poem. The novel the poem and the short story demand of the writer the precise and focused use of language and insight into the processing of unique human experience. The novella - fashionable nowadays - shares a mixture of all these qualities. I have always written and published short stories. As the years went on, while publishing long fiction, I continued to write short stories, mopping up the ideas that teamed in my head. Some of the stories here were commissions and some were published in national Sunday supplements. After a while I started to collect my short stories together more systematically. Some were collected in Knives and Other Stories (Iron Press).Many of these stories are included in this collection of twenty six short stories.. Often we don't realise quite what we are influenced by or what may be threaded there in layers below the surface narrative. Recently when reviewing my long and short fiction I realised how painting, painters, teachers and inspirers are threaded through my work. And confinement, whether it is within a relationship or behind high wall. So many of the stories, too - I realise now - are about individuals fleeing lives that have become untenable. My first job (when barely out of my own teens) was teaching art to disaffected teenagers . When I moved on I continued to admire contemporary painters and to paint a little myself. What also struck me as I re-read these stories was the degree to which I see painting, like writing, as a truly liberating process. Wendy R

The story of three ordinary people in the extraordinary Decade that follows 1941. As the bombs fall around her Ruth Kelman gives birth to her daughter Alice in a Tyneside cellar. A thousand miles away, Louis Roxby, a young English soldier adjusts to the severe strictures and strange opportunities of prison camp life. Between 1941 and 1951 these three become who they will be. Alice Kelman becomes a northern grammar school girl; Ruth becomes a skilled photographer and Louis Roxby becomes, in turn, a forger, an artist, and a teacher, finally to enjoying the freedom of post-war bohemian London. Then in 1951, their paths cross as, like millions of others, they are drawn like iron filings to a magnet to the celebratory Festival of Britain in London's South Bank. Becoming Alice is the first of three short novels spanning the second part of the Twentieth Century. "Novelist Wendy Robertson at her consummate best. Once again - as in 'Long Journey Home' and 'Writing at the Maison Bleue' -she paints on a big canvas, brilliantly welding together the broad sweep of history and the fine detail of individual experience."

... my notebooks are full of small observations and comments that are complete in themselves. Each has a universe of meaning in my life - whether from childhood or family life or experience in schools in prison and in the places I have been.. Some people have called them poems. I call them 'pieces'. Whatever they are, they have contributed. to my novels in diverse and inspirational ways and are part of my fundamental writing method.

In 383 AD a truly great love story blossoms between Magnus Maximus, the Roman leader in Britain - afterwards for five years Roman Emperor - and Elen, daughter of a powerful British king in the place we now call Wales. Magnus is fascinated by Elen, a gifted Seer and healer and a 'pathfinder' whose talented ancestors made straight roads in Britain long before the Romans. As the Roman Empire begins to crumble the love between Elen and Magnus links the sophisticated Celtic culture, with its esoteric rites and rituals with the pragmatic military culture of Rome now imposing Christianity on the known world. Reviews of Wendy Robertson's novels 'A terrific read. A world on the cusp of change and we experience it intimately.' Historical Novels Review. 'A powerful writer.' Mail on Sunday. 'Wonderful...Robertson deftly intertwines two time periods, slowly absorbing one into the other through the remarkably likeable protagonist.' Booklist USA. 'A great storyteller... she weaves another tale with ideas that still resonate when the story's over.' Northern Echo. 'Wendy Robertson is a rare breed - a writer with an exquisite gift for creating vivid, relatable characters.' Scottish Daily Record. Note: ' In The Pathfinder I have taken the available material and archeological history of late fourth century Britain and addressed the powerful pre-Arthurian myths of Macsen Wledig and the British princess Elen. My intention is to weave a story that has hope, truth and justice at its heart.' Wendy Robertson

In this collection of prose poems novelist Wendy Robertson takes her reader through her own experience of the peaks and troughs of 'Low Mood'. She says 'Focusing and refining the language i my writing has brought me a valuable degree of control and recovery.'

'Dreamers, optimists, visionaries, enthusiasts, escapists.' Wendy Robertson declares that all writers are 'Romancers'. 'It gives a rare glimpse of what it's like to be inside the process of writing - the exact moment when the events of a writer's life become the fabric of fiction.' Kathleen Jones 'A moving and compelling exploration of the links between a writer's life and her work. The Romancer should appeal to readers and writers alike. Pat Barker More than just a memoir, this is a master-class on the writing process.' Sharon Griffiths. In this book Wendy Robertson explores the way memory and dreaming - alongside conscious and unconscious memory - have flourished at the roots of her fiction. Here aspiring and experienced writers will find writing processes and practical approaches - including Wendy's Forty Day Plan for writing a novel - to re-imagine their own lives, inspire their fiction and develop their writing to the point of success. Wendy Robertson has published more than twenty three novels - both historical and contemporary - and two short story collections. She lives in the north of England

Studs and his lifelong friend Tony have just left school and are up for adventure. Their strong friendship is tested when they go to the city and tangle up with dangerous people involved in drugs and Tony is badly injured. With Tony in a coma Studs teams up with a new friend, Nilva, to hunt down the lids responsible for his friend's condition, He thinks that if he finds them this will bring Tony out of his coma and restore their friendship.

A rich and moving novel, The Jagged Window shows Wendy Robertson as an author writing at the peak of her considerable abilities

Another compelling saga from a much-loved writer