I Stopped Time [electronic resource]
Davis, Jane2013
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'Touching, exciting, romantic and tender, this novel shines in the deft hands of its author.' Compulsion Reads What if the villain of your childhood turned out to be someone really rather extraordinary? Edwardian Brighton. A wide-eyed girl enters Mr Parker's photographic studio and receives her first lesson about the new medium that will shape her life: "Can you think of a really good memory? Perhaps you can see it when you close your eyes. Now think how much better it would be if you could take it out and look at whenever you wanted to!" 2009: Disgraced politician Sir James Hastings is resigned to living out his retirement in a secluded Surrey village. He is unmoved when he learns his mother has died at the age of 108. In his mind, he buried her long ago after she abandoned him as a child. Brought up by his father, a charismatic war-hero turned racing-driver, the young James, torn between self-blame and longing, eventually dismissed her as the 'villain' of his childhood. His inheritance is her life's work – a photography collection spanning six decades. Young student Jenny Jones is curious, and together they explore the pictures, seeing the world through his mother's lens. The camera reveals an extraordinary tale of courage and sacrifice, and James confronts the realisation that his version of the past is not even half the story. A beautifully written journey across a century of change as one man reassembles his own family history. 'Jane Davis ... has taken an entire century and covered it with the richness of her characterisation, presenting a family that is beautifully flawed, brimming with affection, and inimitably human.' J Metcalf, book blogger 'An emotional and expertly crafted book that beautifully details how the sometimes misunderstood decisions of the past can both haunt and illuminate us in the present, I Stopped Time is a powerful read I highly recommend.' Lorraine Wilke, Goodreads
Main title:
I Stopped Time [electronic resource] / Jane Davis
Author:
Davis, Jane, Author
Imprint:
[Place of publication not identified] : Jane Davis, 2013
Collation:
1 online resource (1 text file)
System details:
Mode of access: Internet
Biography/History:
Hailed by The Bookseller as 'One to Watch', Jane Davis writes thought-provoking literary fiction with razor sharp dialogue and a strong commercial edge.She spent her twenties and the first half of her thirties chasing promotions in the business world but, frustrated by the lack of a creative outlet, she turned to writing.Her first novel, 'Half-Truths and White Lies', won a national award which was established with the aim of finding 'the next Joanne Harris'. Further recognition followed in 2016 with 'An Unknown Woman' being named Self-Published Book of the Year by Writing Magazine/the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards, and in 2019 with 'Smash all the Windows' winning the inaugural Selfies Book Award for Adult Fiction.Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they are in highly volatile and then, in her words, she throws them to the lions. The themes she explores are diverse, ranging from pioneering female photographers, to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster.A common thread that runs through her writing is the impact of missing persons on our lives, how the hole they leave behind can be so great that it dwarfs the people actually left behind. In 'I Stopped Time', it was an estranged mother. She addressed the theme head-on in 'A Funeral for an Owl', with teenage runaways. And in 'These Fragile Things' mother Elaine is obsessed by the child she lost to a miscarriage, almost to the exclusion of the child she has.Her latest novel, 'At the Stroke of Nine O'Clock', was published in July 2020. Set in post-war London, and featuring three very different women whose worlds collide, it has been featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s, selected as a Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice, and shortlisted for the Selfies Book Awards 2021.Jane Davis lives in Carshalton, Surrey, in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure gardens, known locally as 'the gingerbread house'. Her house frequently features in her fiction. In fact, she burnt it to the ground in the opening chapter of 'An Unknown Woman'. It continues to provide a rich source of inspiration. Her work in progress asks the question why one man would choose to open a pleasure gardens at a time when so many others were facing bankruptcy.When she isn't writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand.Get a FREE copy of her time-slip, photography-themed eBook, I Stopped Time, when you sign up to her mailing list at https://jane-davis.co.uk/newsletter
ISBN:
9781301853465
Language:
English
Subject:
BRN:
2796881
Electronic access:
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