Elizabeth Wallace

Guest:Elizabeth Wallace. Author of 'Extraordinary Places...Close to London', 'Kansas City in Vintage Postcards', 'Colorado Springs, Colorado, Douglas County' and 'Colorado: A Photographic Journey'. And most recently, 'Christmas past in Essex'. Having emigrated to the US nearly 30 years ago and she is active in the local literary circles and also one of the founding members of ‘Castle Rock Writers’. Check out Elizabeth's website-  extraordinaryplaces.net
Date: 23 November 2007

My Summer of Love- Helen Cross                                                                                                                              It's 1984 and one of the hottest summers Yorkshire's seen. It's the kind of woozy heat to lose your mind in...
Mona is fifteen years old. She's a drinker, a thief and a fruit machine addict. Things are already going badly in the pub where she lives with her obese step-brother PorkChop. But when Mona meets posh Tamsin Fakenham, a sassy girl with beautiful breasts,an actress mother and a sister who's died of starvation,things very quickly get much worse...

(Helen Cross was born and brought up in the village of Newbald in East Yorkshire. Her ?rst novel My Summer of Love won a Betty Trask Award and was made into a feature ?lm released October 2004 in the UK.)

Case Histories- Kate Atkinson                                                                                                                                      Case Histories revolve around three family tragedies:a disappearance of a young girl,a man sees his daughter murdered, and a wife takes an axe to her husband. More than a decade later, private detective, Jackson Brodie gets involved investigating some aspect of all three cases. As he delves further into each one, he uncovers family secrets perhaps left behind unopened doors. Brodie must deal with his own family troubles while discovering the actions and violence that tears others asunder. Kate Atkinson's novel has received mostly positive reviews. The New Zealand Herald says, "Although Case Histories feels almost like a detective novel, it's more than that. Not every case is solved neatly by the end, but Atkinson does present an entertaining tale - sometimes shocking, sometimes laughable - of how our
lives intertwine and actions reverberate."

Extraordinary Places Close To London (by Elizabeth Wallace) offers a personal and unique view into the life and history of the counties around London, known as the Home Counties. The book is targeted at the more adventurous, sophisticated traveler who wants to explore little-known villages and small towns in the English countryside. The places covered are lesser-known, yet interesting and beautiful places to visit, steeped in mystery and legend -- including stories of kings and queens, Norsemen and witches. These tales are lovingly retold to enhance your visit and put it in context. The book includes directions on how to find the villages and what the visitor will find there today as well as some choice restaurants and pubs and, should you wish to stay the night, some very attractive inns and guest houses.

Douglas County Colorado: A Photographic Journey was a collaborative effort with the Castle Rock Writers, a group Elizabeth Wallace founded in 1999. The concept for the book came after Jamie LaRue, Director of the Douglas County Libraries,saw two of Elizabeth’s books Colorado Springs, Colorado and Kansas City in Vintage Postcards both of which are photograph-driven with interesting anecdotal caption.

Eight members from the 30-plus Castle Rock Writers came forward to donate their time to the project. Members collected 300-plus photographs and interviewed scores of residents who recalled stories from their childhood, their parents and their grandparent’s. These stories and photographs, most of which have never before been published, give valuable insight into the life and times of the early pioneers.

Douglas County, Colorado: A Photographic Journey is comprised of 11 chapters, 183 pages and over 300 photographs, maps and letters. It was sponsored by the Douglas County Libraries Foundation and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Foundation. Over 2000 books have been sold to date with all proceeds going to the Foundation.

Christmas Past in Essex by Elizabeth Wallace
The ancient county of Essex has for centuries played an important part of England’s history. The North Sea to the east, with hundreds of navigable inlets provides easy access to the county, so the people of Essex were often the first the bear the brunt of foreign invasion.  Consequently Essex has a long and interesting history – including its own Christmas traditions and stories.

An Essex Christmas will contain between 30,000 to 40,000 words and approximately 60 to 80 images. Elizabeth will be collecting photographs and interviewing Essex people to get their reminiscences about this special time in their lives. The traditions, folklore and customs are often handed down from generation to generation in oral fashion so one of the goals of the book is to record these important traditions for all to share in the future.

Next week, I have joining me, Jim Reeve- Writer and ex-policeman.