Damon Runyon

Damon Runyon was born in Kansas in 1880… His father was a newspaper man, and he was attracted to that profession. In 1898, he enlisted in the US army to fight in the Spanish American war. He then became a sports writer and moved to New York in 1910. His first name was Alfred, and he dropped this when he started off in New York, and he was known by the racy and unusual Damon. He wrote about sports, for the Hearst Press, and this involvement in sports led him into gambling. He was also a heavy drinker but quit because of his first wife’s dislike of his drinking habit. He began to write short stories set in the underworld of New York, about the “guys and dolls” who are involved in show business, gambling and gangsterism. Like O Henry, many of his stories have a twist. His writing style usually involves only using the present tense, and never using contractions such as “can’t” or “wont”. Several of his stories were adapted into a musical, by Frank Loesser. There was a film version made in the 1950's - starring Marlon Brandon, who couldn't sing, and Frank Sinatra, who could.

Sylvia's Lovers Part I

Sylvia’s Lovers is one of the later novels of Elizabeth Gaskell. It was published 2 years before her death. She then started to write her masterpiece, "Wives and Daughters" which was not quite completed when she died. Sylvia's Lovers is a historical novel, set in the era of the Napoleonic Wars. Mrs Gaskell visited Yorkshire and researched the area of Whitby, where the novel is set. The plot involves the work of the Press Gangs which took men to serve in the Navy, during the Napoleonic wars… Gaskell described it as the “saddest story” she ever wrote. It is perhaps the most Bronte- like and tragically emotional of all her novels. Some literary critics have felt that it is melodramatic. It is also set among simpler working people, rather than either the upper classes or the Mancunian working class. Sylvia’s father is a farmer, a man of little education..and she herself is not very clever. Like her father, she is barely literate and her passionate emotions rule her, more than her brains. She is 17, when the novel starts, and her cousin, Philip Hepburn, a Quaker who works in a shop, is in love with her and wants to marry her. Sylvia finds him dull and prosy, a little like Edgar Linton. She herself enjoys being a farmer’s daughter, spinning, housework, and helping to tend the animals. She rarely dresses up or even wears shoes. She is irritated when Philip who is better educated and eager to set up his own business, persuades her mother that he should teach Sylvia. She falls in love with Charlie Kinraid, who works on a whaling ship. He is adventurous, passionate, wild and fond of women, and Philip is furiously jealous of his new rival.

Beds and Blue Jeans on Amazon By Nadine Sutton

A story of beds, music and learning to get along.... Sam and Pattie move in together have a baby and grow to love each other...
 http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton

Marie Louise, Part III

Marie Louise seemed attached to her husband and spoke well of him to her father… and he seemed very fond of her. It’s rumoured that he still had occasional mistresses... but he was getting older and he had over extended his Empire. His invasion of Russia was of course a great mistake, which resulted in military disaster. In Spain, Wellington was gradually winning the war with Napoleon’s marshals. Napoleon arranged for Josephine to “accidentally” meet his son when out walking with the child’s nurse, one day. She was delighted to see the baby. But by then, the end of the Empire was getting closer. Napoleon invaded Russia and was forced to retreat, losing a large part of his army. In his weakened position, he was attacked by Prussia, Russia and Great Britain and Austria joined in the war, against him. Marie Louise was appointed Regent but it was a nominal position. When the Allied army was on the verge of entering Paris, she wanted to stay there with her son but Napoleon wanted her to flee from his enemies. Napoleon abdicated in April, 1814, and Marie Louise was given several Italian Duchies, which were to be inherited by her son. Initially she wanted to re-join her husband, but was dissuaded by her Austrian advisers. She returned to Vienna, divided between wishing to support her husband who was the father of her child, and doing what the Austrians wanted. Napoleon, exiled to Elba, hoped for a visit from her, but by the summer of 1814, she had fallen in love with Adam Von Neipperg, a middle aged married soldier. It was hoped that he would distract Marie Louise from wanting to visit her husband. She was soon involved in an affair with Neipperg and asked for an amicable separation from Napoleon. In 1816, she went to Parma, to live in her Duchy there. Neipperg accompanied her, but she had to leave her son behind, and he was cut out from the succession to the Duchy. Neipperg was the virtual ruler of Parma. Marie Louise left public affairs to him. She was sorry to leave her son but seems to have accepted it. Soon she had children by Neipperg whose wife had died and was preoccupied with them. However she had to wait till Napoleon’s death in 1821 to be able to marry her lover, morganatically. She had 3 children with him, a daughter who died young, and another daughter and son who survived her. She was preoccupied with private life and left her husband to run the Duchy, under instructions from the Austrian chief minister. The King of Rome, now known by the German name of Franz and titled the Duke of Reichstadt grew up at the Austrian court. He felt alienated from his mother. He felt that she had abandoned him and his father…and he spoke well of Josephine, believing that she would have been a more loyal wife. Marie Louise has been criticised by Bonapartists for her leaving Napoleon and letting her son by him grow up in Austria... and the way she rapidly fell in love with a married man and became his mistress.However, she had not wished to marry Napoleon, and had tried to be loyal to him, up to a point... But while she had been fond of him, once he was banished from Europe, she regarded their relationship as at an end…It had been a political alliance... rather than any kind of love match. Neipperg died and she was devastated. She was grieved at the death of her eldest son, who died young of TB. In the early 1830s, another Austrian courtier was sent to Parma, Charles-René de Bombelles, and within 6 months, Louise married him morganatically. He proved a loyal husband and remained close to her until her death in 1847, when she died of pleurisy. She was later buried in Austria. Her children married into the Austrian nobility….Napoleon had been hurt by her indifference and even more so by the separation from his son and the fact that the boy was going to be brought up as an Austrian prince. He did however speak kindly of his second wife. He said that he had respected her much more than he did Josephine. Josephine had been unfaithful and insanely extravagant and their marriage had had its storms in the earlier days… whereas Marie Louise had been a loyal wife while they were together and had always been careful with money. However Josephine had grown to genuinely love him. After his downfall, she had tried to use her position and her personal charm to help him, as well as to help her son and daughter and their children. She had remained loyal to Napoleon. She received the Russian Tsar… who had protected Hortense. Marie Louise had grown fond of her husband and learned to get on with him, and had been grateful for his kindness. However it had been a political marriage and she is probably not to be blamed for not wanting to remain married to him in any real sense, when he was no longer Emperor…but she does come across as a rather shallow woman, who was very much led by others.

Marie Louise Part II

Marie Louise was sent to France in 1810, soon after Napoleon’s divorce and was escorted on the long journey by Caroline Murat, her new sister in law. Caroline did not like the idea of a Hapsburg princess taking precedence over her. As they neared Paris, Napoleon rode out to meet his bride, and intercepted the carriage. When they stopped for the night, Napoleon asked his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, if he and Louise were legally married. He then proceeded to spend the night with her. Marie Louise was completely naïve and inexperienced, but she seems to have been willing to accept her husband’s advances. Although she had not been happy at the idea of marrying the “monster” Napoleon, she found him much more agreeable in person, than she had expected. He claimed that after their first lovemaking, she asked him to “do it again”….He was very pleased with her, and she seems to have been quite happy with the marriage and the sexual side of it. She became pregnant and Napoleon was delighted. He had remained in touch with Josephine because he still cared for her.. He still insisted that she should leave Paris at the time of the wedding. He found that his new wife was rather jealous of hearing anything about his first wife... Josephine, although much older and never a beauty, had always been charming, elegant and attractive Marie Louise was considered dull, and stiff and formal, in her court manners. She lacked Josephine’s easy charming way with people. Marie Louise was not that popular with the troops or the public, because of her Austrian birth and her being the great niece of Marie Antoinette. In 1811, she gave birth to her son by Napoleon, who was given the title King of Rome. He finally had a legitimate son. He had been distressed by Louise’s pains at the birth and said that he wanted to save the mother, rather than the child.

Empress Marie Louise (Part I)

Marie Louise of Austria was the second wife of Napoleon I. She was never as popular or as well-known as his first wife Josephine. It is hard to get a clear idea of her character…Josephine was well known for being extremely extravagant... we’d now call her a shopaholic. She was terrible with money and always in debt. Marie Louise was much more sensible, in many ways, but never loved by the French public, as Josephine was. She was born Maria Ludovica and was the daughter of Francis II, the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Born in 1791, Marie Ludovica came from a very fertile family. Her father had married 3 times and had an enormous family. Her mother had borne 12. Francis II was considered reactionary, and his wars with the French ended in defeat. By 1809, Napoleon was considering divorcing Josephine, since he had had proof that he was capable of fathering a son. He made peace with Francis II. The price of peace was the Austrians having to cede territory to the French empire and providing a bride for Napoleon. He had been trying to find a new wife, and he was eager now to ally himself with one of the great dynasties of Europe, who would have to recognise him as a man who had made himself royal, by his military and other achievements. He was also keen to find a wife from a prolific family, as his main reason for marrying was to have a male heir. He tried to marry one of the Czar's sisters but was not successful. Francis agreed to give his daughter to the man who had defeated him, even though she had been brought up to regard Napoleon as a monster. She was reared to be obedient, and accepted the marriage. She had been brought up in a very narrow world; her reading was censored, her education limited. She had never even been permitted to own a male animal. She was renamed Marie Louise, in the French fashion

Winifred Gerin and John Locke

Winifred and John Locke settled in Haworth, in a house they called Gimmerton....and they both worked very hard, though they enjoyed the natural beauty of Haworth and took long walks around the countryside. They also joined the Bronte Society which was based there, and got involved in various controversies about how the Parsonage Museum was being run. Winifred was a kindly and generous woman but she had a sharp tongue and was opinionated! She worked on her biographies and branched out later into other biographies of women writers or literary figures. She got some criticism from more rigorous historians, that she was inclined to favour her own ideas and to allow her emotions to govern what she said in her writings. She also used literary evidence from the Bronte novels to colour the information in her biographies.This was why she had not liked studying history at University, as a girl. She tended to prefer the romantic stories and legends, rather than get involved in the more rigorous research that was necessary to study history. However, her books did spark off more critical and popular interest in the Brontes and while they are somewhat romanticised, they are not lightweight. She popularised the story that Branwell Bronte had been to London to apply for a place at Art School, but had not made the application. It was believed that he had spent his time and money drinking, because he lost his nerve. But this is taken from a story he wrote, rather than from any hard evidence. It is now believed by most Bronte experts that he never did make the trip to London but had just written to the Art school to make enquiries. However, her information was based on what was known or believed at the time… Her husband was absorbed in his work on the biography of Patrick Bronte. He had not had much experience of writing, so it was hard work for him.. but he and Winifred were both passionate about their subject. They loved Yorkshire and enjoyed living there. But about 10 years after their marriage, John confessed to Winifred that he had fallen in love with another woman, and she and he quietly separated. There was a large age difference between them and Winifred had been John’s first love.. but it faded. There was no serious estrangement, and Winifred did not publicise the separation. They announced that he was remaining in Yorkshire to work and she moved back to London to live with her sister Nell, who had been a close friend in her youth.

Winifred Gerin, working life

Winifred and Eugene were unhappy with being trapped in France, but they finally managed to get away and go back to England. Eugene was cut off from his family in Belgium. He and Winifred went to work for one of the secret service departments; he was preparing supportive pro Allied propaganda to broadcast to Belgium, using his local knowledge and linguistic skills. Winifred got a job as an assistant to one of the other staff, and both were very dedicated to their war work.
But in the later stages of the War, Eugene, who had been working very hard, died suddenly, he was quite a young man. Winifred was desperately saddened. He had been the great love of her life.< However, she was a strong woman and did her best to find something replace her dedication to Eugene. She found it in her work. She had been writing before and during her marriage, but had not found her medium as yet. When the war was over, she visited Belgium and kept in touch with Eugene’s family, especially her godson… but she became absorbed in writing plays. he wrote a play based on the life of Jane Austen, and also one (called Juniper Hall) on Fanny Burney. She may have felt some identification with Fanny, she was a writer, and had married a foreigner. Fanny Burney had married a French refugee, General D’Arblay.. and had spent many years as a widow. Winifred has some of the plays produced, though there was criticism that they were a bit too wordy… In the post War years, she was occupied with her work, but in the early 50s, she took a holiday with her sister, in Yorkshire. She had always loved the Brontes and felt that one needed to see Haworth, to understand them.. the moors and the natural beauty and isolation in which they lived. During the trip, she met John Locke, a young man with literary ambitions who was about 20 years her junior. She was in her early 50s and he was in his thirties. John was a shy man who wanted to write, but had been occupied with the War and with a routine job. Meeting Winifred, he fell in love and they decided that their mutual passion for the Brontes and Yorkshire would be the basis for their marriage. They bought a house in Haworth and both decided to settle into a writing project. John collaborated with the local clergyman on a biography of Patrick Bronte.. who had been the curate at Haworth.. Winifred started to write a biography of Anne Bronte.  She also wrote an in depth biography of Charlotte, and a play about Charlotte’s love for her “master”, the Belgian teacher, M Heger.

Mickey Gilley, cousin to Jerry Lee

Mickey Gilley is a country singer, and the cousin of both Jerry Lee Lewis and the evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. Born in Mississippi in 1936, Mickey, like his cousins loved music. Jerry Lee used to sneak into black clubs, as a kid, to hear what was then called “race music” i.e. African American styles of music like R&B. He played piano, with a wild style, and great technical ability. Mickey also learned to play piano from his cousin. When Jerry Lee began to have massive success, Mickey started his country music career. He had some hits and opened a club in Pasadena Texas, where country music was played and there was a mechanical bull to give his customers something of the rodeo experience. He was doing well and during the 70s, began to sing crossover and pop country songs. One of his best known hits was “The Girls all get prettier at Closing Time”, a song he performs in Dukes of Hazzard…other hits included a cover of the Song “Stand by Me” and “A room full of Roses.”

Ernest Tubbs 1914-84 and Lucky Tubbs

Ernest Tubbs was born in Texas in 1914. Hs father was the manager of a cotton farm and the family moved around. His parents divorced when he was about 12. He stayed with his very religious Mother who loved music. He worked on farms. As a teenager he was influenced by Jimmie Rodgers and began to sing. In the late 1930s, he took several jobs, such as driving trucks, to support himself while trying to get a start in the singing business. He had a tonsillectomy in 1939 that affected his singing style – he lost the ability to yodel. He turned to song writing. His voice was twangy and often flat, and sounded “western” –the sound of a cowboy out on the trail… However he had excellent musicians in his band, the Texas Troubadours. In the 1940s, he returned to singing and then had a hit with the song “Walking the Floor over you”… He had his own radio show and sang at the Opry… and had a very loyal following. He also had the Ernest Tubbs record shop, on the Broadway in Nashville which is still there… He married twice and had children and one of his sons, Justin became a successful song writer as well. Ernest’s great nephew, Lucky Tubbs is a successful country singer and has worked with Hank Williams III... he has a good voice, also. He has a ‘twangy” western sounding voice and he has performed some of his great uncle’s hits. In later years, Ernest’s hits dried up but he continued to perform at the Opry. He went on touring, but his health was giving problems. He had developed emphysema in the 1960s and by the 70’s he had to carry oxygen around with him. Like Jimmy Rodgers, he had to rest between shows… He died in 1984 and is buried in Nashville….

Rough Music a Novella by Nadine Sutton

A “band” story set in the US, in the late 1970s. This isn’t a romantic love story and does not have a happy ending. It’s more of a work story, about music and the life of an up and coming band. I’ve based it on what I’ve read about country singers in the days when touring was a constant part of their lives. It was hard work and took its toll on the marriages of many singers.  But I love the music of the 1960s and 70’s. I love country pop, people like Glen Campbell... and I also love the Williamses… especially Hank Junior. I enjoy Lynrd Skynrd. So my story is all about that sort of life… 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Music-Nadine-Sutton-ebook/dp/B01AEQS0G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452977780&sr=8-1&keywords=nadine+sutton

Somerville and Ross Part i

Edith Somerville was an Anglo Irish writer, who wrote several novels and stories, in collaboration with her cousin and friend, Violet Martin. After Violet’s death, Edith continued to write, using her partner’s name, because she believed that her cousin was still influencing her writing. She believed in spiritualism and tried to contact her by séances. They wrote as “Somerville and Ross”. Edith was born in 1858, in Corfu, where her father, a member of the Anglo Irish gentry was stationed on military service. They moved back to Cork, in Ireland, and settled there, in one of the “big Houses.” She was highly intelligent and her family allowed her to have a good education and to go abroad to study art. She loved the country and riding and outdoor life. While by today’s standards she was “snobbish”, she did love the Irish people and felt that she understood them… She had a warm relationship with her work people and the tenants... She was very interested in the way that the Irish spoke English - and the amusing expressions and ability to talk well that most Irish people possessed. She met Violet Martin, whom she had not known before, in 1886... and they became close friends. Violet was more conservative than her cousin, and was a strong Unionist, whereas Edith was increasingly sympathetic to the Irish Nationalist cause. Both women were suffragists and believed that women should have the vote and that they were capable of leading independent lives. Both were keen horsewomen and loved hunting. In later life, Edith managed the family property as well as writing and being involved in women’s politics. Violet’s family came from Galway, from a landed estate, but they lost it due to various financial problems. The Great Famine bankrupted many landlords and the Martins were caring landlords, who tried to help their tenants. They moved to Dublin. Living in genteel poverty in Dublin gave her a certain knowledge and breadth of experience which helped her with her writing. Francie, one of the leading characters in their best novel, the Real Charlotte, comes from an impoverished but Protestant background... who lived in genteel poverty in Dublin and nearby Bray… Violet was probably the better writer of the two, and she could not have created Francie, and given a picture of middle class not so well off Protestants, without her having lived in Dublin. One of their most popular works was the Experiences of an Irish RM. They are comic stories, set in the countryside, about an English Resident Magistrate who takes up a post in Ireland, and gets married. He mingles with the upper classes and also with the Catholic poor and middle class. His landlord is Mr Florence (Flurry) Knox, a Protestant who has a small estate and who is "always ready to sell a horse". Flurry gets into scrapes, loves hunting and shooting and breeding hounds, and has a running battle with his elderly Grandmother Old Mrs Knox, who owns a bigger estate. Major Yeates the RM, ends up in embarrassing and ridiculous situations, usually owing to Flurry or his Irish servants trying to put one over on him.

Beds and Blue Jeans Story on Amazon

Beds and Blue Jeans –is a fun story.. a realistic romance about a contemporary couple in America, a young man and woman who find they have to get to know each other, after they have got together and produced a baby.     Sam and Pattie come to learn that love is about learning to compromise, working out the best way to do things and growing to love each other.

http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton

Roger Miller, King of The Road

Roger Miller (1936-92) was a singer and song writer from Texas. Hs family were very poor and after his father’s death, his mother sent him to relatives in Oklahoma…As a boy he liked to listen to the Grand Old Opry, on the radio… He enlisted in the US Army at the age of 17 or so, and spent a few years in the service. He played in a band, towards the end of his time, when serving in Georgia After his army time, he decided to try his luck in Nashville, in the music business, but it took him some time to get work. He worked in a hotel, and met George Jones and Minnie Pearl, who hired him to play in her band. However he gave up the music business when he became a father, and worked in Texas in the fire service. He spent his time putting out chip fires. He returned to Nashville after a time and tried to get work as a writer, ending up working for Tree Publishing. He was very talented but not very disciplined...He had some success as a performer and writer, but then ended up getting a divorce and living a partying lifestyle. He toyed with the idea of becoming an actor, but in 1964 he penned King of the Road, his greatest hit. It was a number 1 hit and netted him a lot of money and was a succesful crossover in the Pop charts. Roger recorded songs by other artists as well, including Little Green Apples. In the 1970s, he wrote less, though he had some success writing songs for a Robin Hood film for children and a musical version of Huckleberry Finn... In which he himself played “Pap”, Huck’s drunken father. He married three times and had several children, including two who were adopted. Like many country singers, he had bouts of depression and drug abuse. He was so very talented it might be said that he transcended country, but he was undoubtedly a country singer… He was a heavy smoker, and died tragically young at the age of 56, of lung cancer…

Kid Rock an eclectic Musician

Kid Rock was born as Robert Ritchie in Michigan, in 1971. His father owned several car dealerships. In the 1980s, he got into rap and began to teach himself to play various instruments… He became a DJ and a rapper and had a following of “white kids” who enjoyed listening to rap… He moved more into rock, and gradually, towards country music….He had a reputation as a partier, who used drugs and alcohol, but he was also a hardworking, hard-nosed businessman who was determined to be a success. In 2001, he was supported by David Allan Coe, a country singer and song writer... and began to identify with Southern music and lifestyle and with country music. His type of music has shifted over the years, including rap, hip hop, rock and outlaw country...but it’s easy to see that his heart is drawn towards country. He displayed a Confederate flag at his concerts. He defended the use of the flag by saying it was a symbol to him of southern rock and rebellion, not of racism or hatred. He claimed that he loved America and was not a racist and had never flown the flag with hatred in his heart. He also played with Lynyrd Skynyrd performing the band’s hit Sweet Home Alabama, at a benefit for Hurricane Katrina. He has performed with Jerry Lee Lewis and formed a close working relationship and friendship with Hank Williams Junior. The 2 of them performed in the Memorial concert after the death of Johnny Cash... He and Hank have a great chemistry as singers and performers, and Hank has called him his “rebel son”… Kid has a son by one of his girlfriends, whom he has raised as a single dad... and he was married for a short time to Pamela Anderson. He is now a grandfather and he is engaged to his long term girlfriend Audrey. He is also a philanthropist and has a charitable foundation. One of the causes he particularly supports is helping the military and veterans.

Jim Reeves

Jim Reeves, nicknamed “Gentleman Jim” was one of the singers I loved as a kid. Like many country singers, he hailed from Texas, and was born there in 1923. His life was short. He died in a plane crash in 1964 at the age of 40. He was renowned for his gentle, charming manner and his sweet mellifluous voice. He considered a career in baseball but then got a job as a radio announcer in a Louisiana radio station. He got work on the Louisiana Hayride, a rival to the Grand Old Opry. In the 50s’ he began to have hits with singles Like “I love you because” and “Bimbo”. He adopted a soft gentle low singing style, which went well with the lush background arrangements of the new Nashville Sound. Later that sound began to lose favour with some artists. There was a reaction to it, from the Outlaw movement... because they felt that it was too soft, too overly commercial, and too close to pop… or crooning. But it suited Jim’s voice and personality. In the late 50s and early 60’s he became popular abroad, including countries like South Africa, and also Britain and Ireland. One of his most popular songs in Ireland was the famous “He’ll have to go…”. He had other hits with Distant Drums and “I can’t stop loving you.” In 1964, he was piloting a small private plane from Arkansas to Nashville, when he hit bad weather close to Nashville’s airport. There was a storm with heavy rain. He became disorientated and lost control of the plane. The plane crashed. He was killed. After his death, Mary, his widow released various recordings of his… and future generations were able to hear his sweet voice and songs.

Rough Music a story available on Amazon

  This is a “band” story set in the US, in the late 1970s.  I wanted to write about this era as I remember it as a kid and I love the music from it.  My favourite country singers date from that era.  I like country pop, to an extent and the Southern Rock movement, which had the wonderful Charlie Daniels and also Hank Williams II. (Bocephus).  So I wrote a novella, about a country rock band and its 2 lead singers and how they cope with life on the road.  It’s is a story about life in the music business, about trying to get on in that world, without compromising one’s ideals about music, and about friendship, as much as about marriage.  

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Music-Nadine-Sutton-ebook/dp/B01AEQS0G0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452977780&sr=8-1&keywords=nadine+sutton

Winifred Gerin Part III

Winfred’s father died in his sixties... and then her mother went to France, to have a holiday and recover from her grief, taking her daughter with her…  It was during a holiday there that she met Eugene Gerin, a Belgian cellist. They fell in love. 

Her mother was worried about her marrying a foreigner with a somewhat uncertain profession such as a musician.  But Winifred was in love and determined to marry him.  They wed and moved to France to live, and for several years, she was a devoted and happy wife, following her husband to engagements.  Eugene was devoted to her, as well.  Their one sadness was that they had no children but they often visited Eugene’s family in Belgium… and his brother Maurice had a son, Paul.  Winifred was the boy’s godmother and was very fond of him.  His parents had to work, so he was cared for mostly by his grandmother, Eugene’s widowed mother.  Winifred also helped with her godson… and he was something of a consolation for the children she had not had, herself.  She and Eugene also adored animals and usually had pets.  As the 1930s progressed, however, there was the fear that War would come, and when it did, and France fell and Belgum, the Gerins made their way to the South of France, to try and get back to England. 

They lived for 2 years in Nice, unable to get away to do something for the War Effort, and living on short rations.  Winifred still mostly gave her meat ration to her beloved cat.  Jewish people moved to the South of France, also trying to escape from Europe and the Gerins were among those who made heroic efforts to help them get away.

Winifred Gerin Part II

Winifred was intelligent and loved literature and history,and she became a student at Cambridge…Her brother Roger was considered more academic minded. She was keen to have a university education, which was still very rare for girls of any class. However when she started to study history at Cambridge, she found it more difficult than she had anticipated. She was romantic minded and loved history for its thrilling stories. When she found herself expected to study dull aspects of constitutional history, it was a struggle for her. She was not able to put aside personal likes and dislikes, and achieve an impartial viewpoint. She persuaded her father to let her change from history, to studying French. Mr Bourne was concerned about his finances and he wanted his children all to be able to earn a living. Though he was comfortably off, he worried particularly about the care of Roger, who would need a trust fund to maintain him in a good and well run mental hospital. Winifred talked about getting a job as a teacher... However, when her college career was over, she stayed home and did not look for a paid job. The job she really cared about was writing, and she was determined if possible to achieve a career was a writer. She was never interested in writing novels, saying that she could not think of plots. So she concentrated on poetry and plays, and spent a few years, going on with her reading of literature, and starting to write…She wrote a play about Fanny Burney, who was a contemporary of Jane Austen- and a novelist.

Winifred Gerin Part I

Winifred Gerin was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1901, but she was English and her family moved back to England when she was a child. They grew up in a London suburb which was virtually the country. Her father was Frederick Bourne... When she became a writer, Winifred wrote under the name of her first husband Eugene Gerin, a Belgian. Frederick Bourne was from a “good” family, with connections to the gentry. He had been working in Germany as a manager for a chemical business. Winifred is best known for her historical biographies, and particularly her biographies of the Bronte family. I love the Bronte legend. So I was interested to find that there was now a biography of Gerin herself. She and her second husband, John Lock moved to Haworth in the 1950s and immersed themselves in Bronte history. They were very active in the Bronte Society, and Gerin wrote biographies of all four Brontes, Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell.She also wrote a biography of Horatia, Nelson’s daughter, another of Mrs Gaskell, and one of Anne, Thackeray’s daughter. I have just started reading Gerin’s life, and will blog more about her later, but I was intrigued to find that she had tragedies in her early life which may have drawn her towards an interest in the Brontes. One of her brothers died when she was young...just as 2 of the Bronte daughters died… In addition, her brother Roger’s life was tragic. He was a highly intelligent young man, and was expected to do well at college. However, he was also both shy and arrogant, and did not fit in well, though he was academically capable. He began to act erratically, falling in love with a girl whom he hardly knew and claiming that he was going to marry her. Certainly there were some echoes here of Branwell Bronte... who was also intelligent but awkward in his social relations, especially with women. Roger had a severe breakdown and was unable to continue with his education. He was taken to a mental hospital where he spent the rest of his long life, never speaking after the first year or so. He was suicidal, had delusions and believed that he had done something terrible. So these are issues that may have made Winifred feel kinship to the Bronte sisters. It is well known that the Bronte children created imaginary worlds, writing down and acting out fiction, which was their chief leisure activity as children. The Bourne children also had a vivid imaginary life, making up plays which they acted out, based on Dickens and historical events.

Beds and Blue Jeans

Beds and Blue Jeans is set in present day America. It is about a love affair between a young couple - Sam.. a singer and Patti, his girlfriend....who drift into living together and having a baby, and how they make things work. "http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton">http://www.amazon.com/Beds-Blue-Jeans-everyday-mayhem-ebook/dp/B01370SMFO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1443265304&sr=8-2&keywords=nadine+sutton