ABOUT ME
My story began in the summer of 1980, when the doctors gave my parents the unexpected news that their newborn daughter was blind. My older brother asked why God had allowed this to happen, and my dad, who wasn’t a Christian at the time, simply said, “Because he knows we’ll love her.” His wise words set the scene for my growing up years.
At home I was surrounded by love and affirmation, with a family who refused to let my limitations define me. My father claimed I wouldn’t know what I could do unless I tried, so I learned to play the piano, to knit, to ride around my grandmother’s garden on my little red scooter, to climb gates, to push my doll and pram confidently up and down the back lane while keeping an ear open for traffic, and to play at the park with my friends. I was loved but disciplined. Bad behaviour wasn’t tolerated, blind or not.
Reading was one of my most enjoyable pastimes. I devoured as many Braille books as I could get, and I had a vivid imagination that constantly invented characters and stories. My mind went to all sorts of interesting places at night when I should have been sleeping, and during the daytime, if there was no one else to play with, I made up imaginary games playing all the parts myself.
The main threads of my life were my family, friends, books, and my love for Jesus. I went to Sunday school as far back as I can remember, and I never questioned whether Jesus was real, whether he loved me, whether I was his child. One day at school, our teacher dared to say some Bible stories were fictional, written to teach lessons or prove a point. Well, I wasn’t having any of that, so I piped up with, “They are real, Miss, because they’re in the Bible, and everything in the Bible is real.”
I didn’t question my faith, and I never asked why I had been born with a disability. It wasn’t a problem. I was managing just fine, thank you very much, so why should others see it as an issue?
Of course, as I grew to understand more of the world, I came to realise that many disabled people do not share my experiences. I attended school with children from broken homes. Some had been rejected by their parents because they weren’t the planned for perfect child , while other parents over-coddled, wanting to wrap their disabled darlings in cotton wool so nothing could harm them.
The adventure of my life continued. I got married, moved further away from my family to set up home with my husband in the beautiful Forest of Dean, and came to know Jesus more intimately as he helped me overcome life’s trials. Through it all, I kept reading, and I carried on making up stories, although for a while I quenched my creative gift because I didn’t understand that writing fiction could be a God-honouring ministry. I taught Bible studies and became involved with children’s work, but the pull towards writing kept reeling me in.
Finally, in 2021, I allowed the flood gates to open. It started as a secret project between me and my Saviour. If my writing was rubbish, and I was sure it would be, only Jesus would ever need to endure it. I re-visited a project I’d started many years earlier, slowly weaving it into a full-length novel about a young boy struggling with disability, tricky family dynamics, and an overwhelming lack of self-worth. And so the Benny series was born.
MY BOOKS
My current series focuses on the life of a boy named Benny who lives with severe epilepsy, and the effect of his disability on his family and friends.
Just Benny
To his mother, he’s her precious baby, for-ever in need of protection. To his sister, he’s “Pestie”, the kid who destroyed her happy childhood. To his classmates, he’s the quiet loner plagued by seizures. To his father, he’s barely visible; a constant disappointment.
Caught in a web of insecurity, Benny defines himself by his illness and the damage it’s wrought on his mind. But is he truly rubbish at everything? Or could he be worth loving?
Join Benny on a poignant journey of self-discovery as he seeks to understand his own worth. What will it take for him to break free from his labels and embrace the person he truly is?
Order the hardback or paperback version of Just Benny from my publisher’s website
Buy Just Benny on Kindle
Releasing Janet
Janet’s identity is drawn from her role as Benny’s mother. Her epileptic son has needed her all his life, to the detriment of Janet’s own needs. Yet, she lives in the shadow of a childhood secret that her family never speak about. Not her distant parents, nor her rarely seen older brothers. Her husband and children? They don’t even know she holds it.
When Benny’s blossoming independence creates a chasm in Janet’s heart, it’s time for the secret to come out. Will she find the reasons for her parents’ rejection so many years ago? Is there hope for healing and freedom – for her to be more than Benny’s mother?
Order the hardback or paperback version of Releasing Janet from my publisher’s website
Buy Releasing Janet on Kindle
GETTING IN TOUCH
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