{"title":"Jane Seaford","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"dead-is-dead-and-other-stories-book-jane-seaford-9780473371210","title":"Dead is Dead and Other Stories","description":"'Dead is Dead' is a collection of twenty compelling stories which focus on the complexity of being human. All of the stories have already met with success: broadcast, appearing in magazines or doing well in international competitions. The title story, Dead is Dead, is set in colonial Africa and is told from the point of view of a little girl. Her father's gun goes missing and so does one of the servants. Events unfold and end in tragedy, and in the little girl coming to a new understanding. In 'This is not Miranda's story' a woman observes her neighbour's wife becoming a mother and, at the same time, sliding into madness. Here's a small section from it: 'Tim came round the next Saturday. He brought the big pram with the baby at one end and Hayden at the other. When I asked how Miranda was, he said, She's convinced that this little one is a daughter, although it's obvious he's not. She calls him Eve.' 'The Sleeping Handsome' retells the story of 'The Sleeping Beauty' but with a male sleeper and set in modern times. 'My Beautiful Dad' is written from the point of view of the son of a man who is becoming a woman. Finally the boy meets the woman his father has become: 'I push open the door to the caf  and there is 'Rosalie; quite beautiful, long blonde hair, long slender legs elegantly crossed. She wears earrings that hang almost to her shoulders, silver bangles on each smooth arm, a short skirt, high-heeled shoes, a lacy blouse buttoned up to her cleavage, the hint of breasts. She holds her hand there, the long fingers fiddling with the top button, wanting to undo it .' Matilda is dealing with writing a philosophical essay on the subject of free will and determinism, it is also her birthday and her mother, with whom she does not get on, is coming to stay, next door there is building work going on and bones are discovered. These are the themes for 'Matilda, the Determined Woman'. 'Polly's Day' is about the awfulness of war for the families whose men have gone to fight. It is set during the Second World War with flashbacks to the first. Here's a section from one of those flashbacks: 'Mum was in the kitchen. She was crying like she had been on the way to school, only worse. Gran looked up as Polly came in; her eyes were red and her face all wobbly. But it was Uncle Artie who said it, 'Your dad's dead. Killed. In action.' 'When Mum came in from the bedroom, she had pink cream on her face but you could still see the other colours underneath, especially just below one eyebrow where there was a rim of black coming through. Her lips looked sore, too, swollen and bitten and when she yawned, it was almost as if she was trying not to cry. She walked through to the kitchen end of the living room.' This is the opening to 'One of Those Days' a horrific story about a dysfunctional family, a battered wife and mistreated children. In 'Dead Heading the Roses' the narrator is dealing with an unwanted pregnancy and the request from her neighbour's son, who has become a paraplegic, for her to help him die. It starts like this: 'Three years ago, Dylan, who lives next door, slid off the roof. The fall didn't kill him but now he is unable to walk or talk. He communicates by blinking. One for no, two for yes, several when the right questions aren't being asked.' And there are plenty more stories, all gripping, all beautifully written and insightful, all of which will leave readers wanting more.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49584012427537,"sku":"GOR013143508","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53451283693841,"sku":"NIN9780473371210","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0473371219.jpg?v=1751293190"},{"product_id":"insides-of-banana-skins-book-jane-seaford-9780473371197","title":"The Insides of Banana Skins","description":"Sukey is 17. It is 1967 and she moves into a crowded North London flat: her bed is cushions on the floor of the kitchen. Kitty, the official tenant of the flat who Sukey knows from when they were both at college, occupies the main bedroom. She works in a pub, steals money and other people's husbands. Currently Dennis, a creepy older man who is estranged from his wife, shares her bed. Also living in the flat is Jaz, Sukey's best friend. He is studying drama and is a virgin. He shares a room with Beaky, another student, Minnie who works in an alternative food shop, Ted, her boyfriend, and Malc a drug dealer. They drink, use dope and take LSD. When there's nothing else available, they smoke the insides of banana skins. The novel starts a few months earlier as Sukey is dumped by her first boyfriend. Jaz comes to find her and helps her move into the flat. Sukey is aimless, drifting, trying out drugs and men. She's unable and unwilling to give her life direction. Sukey makes friend with Bridie, an Irish woman who lives in the ground floor flat with two children. Separated from her husband, she works part time as a prostitute. Their landlord and his family occupy the top floor. He is an Indian man whose wife speaks no English. Relationships in the flat change. Malc meets the beautiful Jojo and goes to live with her. Ted leaves Minnie. Tessa, Sukey's friend from school, comes to stay and after she and Beaky sleep together they find a place of their own and move out. Sukey meets Joe, who works in a strip club. Joe introduces Sukey and Jaz to Vic, a pornographer and his wife, Jules, a stunning-looking woman and successful potter. They live in a beautiful house, have two young children and indulge in unusual sexual practices. Through Joe, Kitty and Tessa become strippers. Kitty also poses for Vic, who has a market for various types of obscene photos. Minnie and Sukey, who have barely tolerated each other, become friends. Jojo moves into the flat, and although she's still seeing Malc, has insisted that they live apart until he stops taking heroin. Malc now shares with Ted. The flat is rent-free but in return both men have to have sex with its elderly woman owner. One night Malc, drunk in Piccadilly Circus, is run over and killed. Soon after, Jules commits suicide. Tessa finds a new boyfriend, a fire-eater who up till now has been homosexual. Beaky leaves her. Kitty disappears. In the absence of Kitty, Sukey takes charge of the flat. Ted and Jojo get together and Jaz tells Sukey that there's a man he's kissed and how he thinks he wants to be with him. Weeks after she's disappeared. Kitty's body is found. She's been murdered. It is an unsettling time. Sukey begins to tire of her aimless drifting existence, but she can't imagine how else to live. Vic is arrested for Kitty's murder. Although stunned, the group living in the flat carry on. There is however a sense that the old life is over with new ones starting. Jaz begins an affair with Stevie, Tessa's homosexual boyfriend. Tessa, now pregnant, moves back into the flat and Jaz goes to live with Stevie. Minnie is negotiating a deal with the owner of the shop where she works, she has ambitions to be a businesswoman. The landlord decides to sell the house and the group makes plans to leave. Minnie offers Sukey a room in the flat that she is renting above her shop. Sukey accepts and her new life starts. Each chapter ends with a short piece written from the future. These give the reader a glimpse of what happens to the characters in thier later lives as well as providing additional insight into the events that have just taken place. Although parts of the story focus on one of the others who occupy the flat and we see a little bit of what that life looks like for Jaz, Minnie, Beaky, Tessa, Ted, Jojo and even Dennis, this is Sukey's story, told from her point of view. It's about a young girl in a strange world and how she gradually learns to live in it.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52735444746513,"sku":"NIN9780473371197","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780473371197.jpg?v=1763401654"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-jane-seaford.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}