I was educated at Lady Margaret High School, Cardiff. But from the age
of eleven until my marriage I acted as a full-time carer for my late
mother who had anorexia as a direct result of the Holocaust. (At the
age of twelve she came out of Germany under the auspices of the Kindertransport, with
a luggage label attached to her clothing,
and just before her sixteenth birthday
she heard that her father who was then the Chief Rabbi of
Hamburg, her mother and her three little sisters had been
shot in Riga. She never recovered) She fed me as she starved.
My weight ballooned to fourteen and a half stone as she became
a desperate four and a half stone. I ate to keep her happy.
The day of her death my father accused me of murdering her
and I lost a child the day of her funeral. Remembering Judith
describes these times and more. (A digital story made with
BBC Wales shows further details and new pictures of my mother.)
I was honoured when a copy of this book was been placed in
every library in Wales as it was voted ‘essential reading’.
Please also see link to ‘Meet the Author’ which
is a fantastic idea and means that you hear and see me talking
and discussing Remembering Judith.
It is not surprising that for a while I suffered from depression,
but by then I had a husband and two small children and I knew
I had to do something to relieve the pain.
I entered cookery competitions and won the Cook of the Realm
for Wales, and began my life catering for the local store
churning out thirty five dozen fancies, ten gateaux and a
change of dessert trolley every day from my little kitchen
in an ordinary semi with no help. (A digital story with BBC
Wales describes those times and was part of the Cardiff Centenary
Exhibition.) But that work was not sufficient for my needs
and I opened my own catering company single-handedly supplying
parties, cakes, christenings and even catered a funeral.
And because of my knowledge of food Windward books asked me
to write The Complete Dieter, slimming but not sacrificing
flavour or nutrition. After writing cookery features for The
South Wales Spectator I became its editor and when that folded
I edited Holiday Haunts for a year and then began to submit
features to IPC magazines.
After that I ran an antique shop, made jewellery, opened a
lingerie shop, sewing some of the silk lingerie myself, made
silk shirts, sewed dog beds and painted showed and exhibited
watercolours – anything to chase the nightmares away.
And, at the age of forty I studied nutrition with the Institute
of Optimum Nutrition to help people where I was unable to
cure my mother.
But after ten years of practice, an accident caused me to
rethink my life. A BBC Wales, programme ‘And Now Read
On’ asked listeners for novels that were hidden away
in drawers. I submitted my novel and they were very complimentary.
I applied to Glamorgan University, was accepted and three
years later qualified with a Master of Philosophy in Writing.
In order to support the Breast Cancer charity, I submitted
a story for a book called Sexy Shorts for Summer and on the
strength of that story, the publisher, Hazel Cushion approached
me to publish my collection. So Red Stilettos was published
by Accent Press which like life, is a amalgamation of themes,
love, hatred, jealously, a grandmother’s pride, a young
boys first dalliance with an older woman, and the title story
deals with revenge although fortunately I am not a vengeful
person.
I have written for the Guardian and Red magazine, have contributed
many stories to anthologies some of them prize-winners. My
first novel Chasing Amedeo is written and I am working on
my second.
And still the challenges present themselves. I am thrilled
to be asked to write a column for WM magazine, starting with
a feature on achieving happiness, which is a new and fun challenge
and I intend to give some writing master-classes in 2007.
Please ask Academi for details.
Now my life is so different from my childhood. I have found
friends through writing. I belong to a writers group –
‘The Water Babies’ and both Barrie Llewellyn and
Shelagh Middlehurst are my special friends. Catherine Merriman
was my tutor and my editor but is now a good friend and I
relish our good chats and special lunches. Janet Thomas has
been so supportive as well as Phil Trenfield and they plus
others provide the laughs and fun in my life.
I love my hubbie more every day. We take pleasure walking
in our local park and especially enjoy our moments walking
by the sea at Porthcawl or farther around the coast at Criccieth.
I have turned into a bit of a twitcher and one of my most
memorative moments was going to the Red Kyte feeding station
in mid Wales this year. I love the company of good people,
enjoy entertaining, love my music particularly opera and classical,
and have promised myself to return to my water-colour painting
passion one day. In the meantime I have lost that force-fed
weight, am slim and happy.
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