LOOKING FOR JAMIE
This is my first novel available to buy from Bluewood Publishing or Amazon - see links above - plus various other sites, or directly from myself
Set in the late nineteenth century this is the story of a young boy who is found bedraggled and starving, having lost his memory. All he knows is his name, Jamie. He is taken in by the household of The Grange on the Brightmoor Estate who soon come to love him as one of their own, especially the master David Dalton whose own son had been killed in an accident 2 years before. Some months later, Tillie Raven is released from prison where she had been sent for stealing a loaf after holing up in a barn to escape a fire. Now she has to find her son, she does not even know if he is still alive. But where should she look first?
A Review by Patricia Laster
What a beautiful story! You had me with your beginning paragraph - I felt so sorry for the little boy! Wonderful imagery of a starving, lost child - enough to tear one's heart out. You have tremendous talent at writing imagery and developing characters. I loved all your characters in the Brightmoor Estate including Tom Briggs, gamekeeper; Nellie, housekeeper; Freda, cook; ruby, parlour maid; Sam, groom; and David and Jamie! They all make a lovely family once David takes in Jamie.You write such beautiful characters that your reader immediately feels she/he knows them and mourns not only for poor little Jaime but also for David who lost his beloved Elizabeth and son, Frederick, in a carriage accident. And you delight the reader by bringing David and Jamie together playing in the snow and then when David finally lets his emotions go while, once again, playing the piano, the reader knows that he is starting to heal. Nellie is also a wonderful mother-figure for Jamie.
What a despicable person David's sister, Annie, is: hypochondriac, critical, and she humiliates poor Jamie! You have drawn her in very vivid tones especially when she sides with her spoiled little liar of a son, George. One almost wonders how Annie could have raised a child as sweet and caring as Sarah. But thank goodness Sarah was there to see the truth of how Jaime tried to save George, not hurt him as George reported.
This is a marvellous book.