Flaming Nora: 5 books that changed my life

Sunday, January 13, 2019

5 books that changed my life

Browsing in a charity bookshop yesterday, I came across an old copy of Erin Pizzey's The Watershed. I stopped what I was doing and took a long, deep breath.

That book, more than any other I've read since, has truly changed my life. I was in my early twenties when I read it first, finding my way in the world with life in general and fellas in particular. I think I must've bought it at the time because on the front of the book there's a quote from Cosmopolitan (my Bible back then) saying it was up there with Scruples, Princess Daisy and Lace - all of which I'd read and loved.

But The Watershed isn't anything like Scruples, Princess Daisy or Lace. It's a hard book to read, vital as you'd expect Erin Pizzey, outspoken fighter for women's rights, to write. Except I didn't know that back then. I'd never heard of Erin Pizzey. The Watershed is at times, a difficult book to read. You want to shake Rachel, the heroine. You want to tell her to leave her abusive husband, you're begging her to escape... and yet, she stays for a long time. The book's content, written as a saga, changed me, hardened me, made me aware of the evil that can go on behind closed doors. I still have it, of course, my copy is pictured above.

And I came out of the charity bookshop thinking of the other books that have had such a profound impact on my life.

Here then are another four books that have changed my life.

Naughty Amelia Jane by Enid Blyton

This book was given to me as a Christmas gift in 1971, when I was 7 years old. I cherish it to this day and this is a photo of my copy. It has long ago lost its jacket and I keep it wrapped in a very old British Home Stores bag. The reason I love it so much is that as a tall lass myself, I felt a kinship to Amelia Jane. She was the biggest doll in the toy box, the other toys never knew how much of an outsider she felt. And by her, I do of course, mean me.

366 Goodnight Stories

A poem or a story for every day of the year. I know them all off my heart. Not only that, but I keep the book close to me if I'm looking for inspiration for my own short stories. It could be a picture that'll inspire me to write something new, or a title for one of my own. The illustrations are gorgeous. As a child, it's a book I snuggled down under my brand new continental quilt with my torch to read in bed at nights.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

And the spine cracked over and over...

There are many books I have read more than once. Some even I've read twice. But The Handmaid's Tale I've read so many times I've forgotten the number. When I studied my MA in Gender, Society and Culture at Birkbeck College in London, the book was on the curriculum to read and critique. I couldn't do it. I couldn't look at a book I loved, knew inside and out, and attempt an academic reading of it. I didn't want to spoil the enjoyment of the book by looking at it from another angle or through another lens other than my own. I chose another media text to study instead. I know I will read it again.

Belle of the Back Streets by Glenda Young

My debut novel. All of my life, all I have - ever - wanted was to be a writer. How could I not have this in my list of the top five books that have changed my life? It is the first of three books set in the village of Ryhope on the northeast coast where I grew up. It is published by Headline after three publishers bid for it. Belle of the Back Streets will forever hold a special place in my heart, my life, my future and in everything I do.

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