Bøger af Jane McCulloch

Jane McCulloch was once dubbed a 'Renaissance woman' by the great American soprano Jessye Norman, and her long career as a playwright, theatre and opera director, producer, lyricist, poet and latterly novelist is certainly testament to this. Jane's has been 'a life not without incident' - to quote her husband, the theatre director Toby Robertson. Growing up with fiercely gifted but troubled parents, she found herself with a front-row seat during a golden age of British theatre before forging her own career, running theatre companies both in the UK and abroad and working with the likes of Derek Jacobi and Judi Dench. Inheriting her father's ability to 'collect' celebrities (to the occasional exasperation of her children), Jane proves a born raconteur, describing, amongst other things, how she met Jackie Kennedy Onassis in an accidental Valium haze or managed to charm both Noël Coward and John Betjeman while still a teenager. Beyond the clear-eyed, often moving stories, however, what emerges is an inspirational tale of a woman's fight for her survival in a very tough profession.

"Life was back on an even keel, summer was on the way and Natasha decided nothing was ever going to depress her again. It was then that she opened the letter..." It is 1994, seven years after Natasha's marriage to Gerry Masterson. Euan Mackay in self imposed exile in LA receives a telephone call from England with the news that Natasha has now left Gerry and for a year has been living a reclusive life in a large house in Norfolk. Euan immediately returns to England and after learning as much as he can about the break-up of the marriage, he travels up to Norfolk to see her. Their reunion is a difficult one. Gradually Euan learns the full horror of Natasha's marriage. She is bruised and broken and he realises it will take great patience and care if she is ever to resume her relationship with him. To add to his problems, Natasha now has Laura, her five year old daughter and Euan realises that her priorities are different now. However their passionate feelings for each other haven't changed and over the next few months Euan becomes increasingly confident they will be able to return to a life together. Then Natasha receives news that shatters everything and changes both their lives forever. The dramatic and tragic events that follow finally lead to the story of the three lives in the Trilogy coming 'full circle'.

In the 1970s, beautiful but unhappy Celia Roxby Smith reaches a crisis in her life and seeks help from a famous psychiatrist. During her intense sessions, she reveals a painful past that includes a bleak childhood in the postwar fifties, neglect from her parents at home in Oxford, and constant bullying received while at boarding school. Now Celia is in her thirties and finds herself in a tragic and loveless marriage that resembles the same one her parents had. She sees frightening parallels between the past and present events of her life and is desperate to break away from her abusive and controlling husband. With the help of her psychiatrist and her new lover, she takes the first steps toward freedom and independence. But a shocking turn of events changes everything and leaves more questions than answers. As intense as it is real, Parallel Lines is the first book in the Three Lives Trilogy. Author Jane McCulloch permeates this absorbing story with deeply relatable characters and situations that will appeal to fans of Daphne du Maurier, Elizabeth Jane Howard, and Nicholas Sparks, along with anyone struggling to find their way in life.

Trando is only thirteen years old, but he knows he is the one person who can save his best friend from the electric chair... It is 1919 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Trando Brini, a promising violinist and the child of Italian immigrants, lives quietly with his parents and their lodger Bart Vanzetti. This is not a good time for Italian-Americans. Assassinations and bombings committed by a handful of Italian Anarchists on US soil has resulted in a tense climate of suspicion and paranoia. When known Anarchists Bart and Nick Sacco are arrested for their alleged roles in a fatal holdup, Trando knows for certain his friend is innocent. Thus begins seven years of trials and appeals, during which Trando, his community, and a growing number of political activists and intellectuals challenge a biased American Justice System. It is a struggle between David and Goliath, in which the 'Brini Boy' must risk everything - his musical career, his first love and the life of his dearest friend. In this true story of courage, bravery and determination, we can more fully understand the America of the present by revisiting its turbulent past.

This is the second book in the Three Lives Trilogy and it is Euan's story. "To an outsider Garrick Square probably looked like any other London square, but it wasn't..." It is March 1989 and Lady Fay Stanhope, the undisputed monarch of Garrick Square, continues to organise it into an elite community of creative professionals and eccentrics. Euan, now a successful writer, is one of these. It is seven years since Celia's tragic death but he still mourns her and has not moved on, that is until Natasha, Celia's daughter, turns up in his life and proceeds to turn it upside down. She is no longer the gawky teenager of 'Parallel Lines' but now an attractive and independent young woman. She moves into Euan's basement and she is not the only newcomer to the Square. Lady Fay has organised the Reverend Gerald Masterson to move into Number 39. He is the darling of religious broadcasting at the BBC but may not be as angelic as he seems. Thus begins a summer of passion, intrigue and betrayal, with allegiances forming and falling away against the backdrop of the Square's social calendar, until Natash must make a choice that will change her life forever and which will lead us into the final book, 'Full Circle'.

This Anthology consists of poems - or 'verses' as I like to call them - taken from four slim volumes and written over a period of six difficult years in my life. One of the poets I have always found most readable is Byron - particularly in his epic poems. In these he airs his innermost feeling and opinions, almost as if he were having a conversation in a room full of people. My verses, although not in any way in his league and certainly not epic, are written in a similar way. The feelings and observations are written in order to connect, sometimes with anger, sometimes with humour, and, in the final poems, in a calmer and more optimistic frame of mind. I hope those of you who read them will find something to enjoy, maybe even recognise, and to occasionally raise a smile.

This anthology consists of poems - or 'verses' as I prefer to call them - and is a follow-up anthology to "Between Sanity and Madness" published in 2014. These verses are like conversations and the feelings and observations in them are written in order to connect, sometimes with anger and sometimes with humour. I hope when you read them you may find something in them to enjoy, or maybe recognise, or occasionally to raise a smile.

Rawlings reluctantly agrees to write his memoir of the Sarajevo Siege which he and Mia, a war photographer, endured for three years. Mia later died in an explosion in Afghanistan which badly injured Rawlings. Suffering acute PTSD, his return to Sarajevo brings back traumatic memories, whilst a visit to Mia's family reveals some shocking surprises.

Rawlings, a noted foreign correspondent, arrives by boat at a vacant peaceful Thames mooring. He finds it is owned by an old friend, Isobel Mallinson who, on learning that he is writing about his war experiences, allows him to stay to finish his memoir. But little does the jaded reporter know that his life will take a traumatic turn once again.