It Wasn't Always Late Summer

My novel, It wasn't Always Late Summer, is a powerful story of Mary, a single teenage mother living on a housing estate plagued with predatory abuse and prostitution, and Annie, an innocent girl whose ghostly presence links the central characters over two generations, bringing the events that led to her death, the loss of innocence and the unfolding story to a dramatic, thrilling conclusion.

It is a long held view that child abuse is rooted in the cultural heritage of denigrating children and that most abusers are repeating child rearing patterns they themselves experienced as children. It wasn't Always Late Summer, explores this thesis in the context of predatory sexual abuse. But it isn't intended to be an academic thesis.

It is a mystery-suspense thriller. It explores through the characters the psycho-social dynamics of the culture of sexual abuse and grooming. Some readers have said they find it compulsive and engaging but they do find it difficult. They put it aside several times. There is a vulnerability in all the characters that creates a sense of trepidation. It is a deeply disturbing story. I can understand the readers difficulty. I cried several times in writing it.

It is a ghost story too. But I didn't set out to write a ghost story as such. In many ways Annie represents the lost innocence that runs through the narrative. It is a story with an interesting twist.

Comments

Prioritising people in nursing care.

There has been in recent years concern that care in the NHS has not been sufficiently 'patient centred', or responsive to the needs of the patient on a case basis. It has been felt in care that it as been the patient who has had to adapt to the regime of care, rather than the other way around. Putting patients at the centre of care means being responsive to their needs and supporting them through the process of health care delivery. Patients should not become identikit sausages in a production line. The nurses body, the Nursing and Midwifery Council has responded to this challenge with a revised code of practice reflection get changes in health and social care since the previous code was published in 2008. The Code describes the professional standards of practice and behaviour for nurses and midwives. Four themes describe what nurses and midwives are expected to do: prioritise people practise effectively preserve safety, and promote professionalism and trust. The

Ian Duncan-Smith says he wants to make those on benefits 'better people'!

By any account, the government's austerity strategy is utilitarian. It justifies its approach by the presumed potential ends. It's objective is to cut the deficit, but it has also adopted another objective which is specifically targeted. It seeks to drive people off benefits and 'back to work'. The two together are toxic to the poorest in society. Those least able to cope are the most affected by the cuts in benefits and the loss of services. It is the coupling of these two strategic aims that make their policies ethically questionable. For, by combining the two, slashing the value of benefits to make budget savings while also changing the benefits system, the highest burden falls on a specific group, those dependent on benefits. For the greater good of the majority, a minority group, those on benefits, are being sacrificed; sacrificed on the altar of austerity. And they are being sacrificed in part so that others may be spared. Utilitarian ethics considers the ba

The Herring Song

For all the fish that are in the sea, the herring is the fish for me! These are the words of a song my mother used to sing, and the whole family would join in the chorus. But how many fish are in the sea? Estimates of the numbers of fish in the oceans vary, of course. How could it be an exact measure? One figure given by scientists places the number of fish in the ocean at 3,500,000,000,000. That is a lot of fish? So, what about 'the fish for me', the herring? Archaeologists counting herring bones along North America's west coast recently found evidence that herring that had been abundant for thousands of years. Like so many, they are in decline due to overfishing. Herring collapse has signifcant knock-on effects both for humans and for ecological balance. Over time, there have been serveral periodic collapses. Sometimes the recovery has been slow. Herring is the fish for me could be a standard for seabirds, With loss of fish such as herring, the seabird populat

The Thin End

Search This Blog