Sheila is a retired teacher of Modern Languages and English as a foreign language. Until lockdown, she had only written a few articles for magazines and Christian poetry. Inspired by attempting a memoir on her spiritual journey, she decided to use her experiences in education. Sheila travels in England, Europe, Canada and Australia to create family stories dealing with anthropology, racism, spirituality, mental health, indigenous art and belief systems, relationships, sexuality and counselling. In her retirement, she has studied Romanian, spiritual direction, indigenous spirituality, post-colonial theology and writing.
Felicity and Armand met in France in their teenage years. They bonded in friendship and fell in love after their first few years as students. Ark, as he was known, came from a complicated family background but had the courage to make his own decisions to change his university studies. They began their married life in London but soon moved to Surrey where Ark could follow his career in Art. Fliss enjoyed teaching French. They had to face some real sadness but they worked at making a life together and travelled to both Germany and Romania making lifelong relationships, before settling in Surrey to work through their spiritual life and their loving contacts with their extended family.
The aftermath of leading a double life; Dorothea was for many years an undercover agent for M16 infiltrating a commune of revolutionary activists linked with the Baader-Meinhof Group in the 1970s. After leaving that work which caused her great distress, she tried to lead a normal life with her family who never knew what she had done. She discovered decades later that the past events and her own actions during those years would return to haunt her. She and her fellow agents learn to find healing, recovery and hope for the future. Dorothea has a second chance at love and happiness.
The White Bookshelf is in the study of an Oxford Professor of Anthropology. It plays a significant role in the life of the whole family, but especially for his daughter Alice. The family is loving and supportive through all the trials of life. Alice moves with her husband, another anthropologist, to Australia. They enjoy great happiness as their family grows, and they learn to adjust to living in both Oxford and Queensland. They meet many interesting people and form close and lifelong friendships with their foreign colleagues. They travel to Canada, Australia, and England together and suffer illnesses and tragedies. Her friendships offer support throughout all the difficulties. The children of the three families are dubbed the ‘anthropological cousins’. They intermarry and live on three different continents. The final part of the book deals with Alice as a widow and tells how, unexpectedly, she meets a man through her university colleagues who offers her another chance of happiness and a new life following her father’s example of running charities.
On a long car journey to Norfolk, Little Jo’s repetitive chant, ‘We’re going to the wide, flat land, the wide, flat land, the wide, flat land,’ resonates through the car, much to her older brother’s annoyance. Hailing from Surrey, the siblings have always been enchanted by the charm of East Anglia’s countryside, their anticipation heightened by the nostalgic tales of their mother’s own childhood holidays on the north-east coast.
Upon arrival at their quaint holiday cottage, a chance encounter with a neighbour sets them on a path that will change their lives forever. The Pritchards are soon faced with the unsettling shadows of their mother’s past. Through this unexpected journey, they learn the essence of overcoming, the grace of empathy, and the power of loving support in encouraging others. Amidst the expansive tranquillity of the wide, flat land, they discover a healing peace, a calming beauty, a secure haven, and a renewed hope for the future of their extended family.
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