Finchley in Fiction Part III

Last May, around about the time of the Finchley Literary Festival, I gathered some literary mentions of Finchley. Finchley in Fiction Part I and Finchley in Fiction Part II. These posts received a lot of interest including some new references. 

David Goldstein who has lived in Finchley all his life sent in the following anecdotes.

"Having just read your blog posts about Finchley in Fiction, I would like to contribute a few more:

A Doctor Who episode from 2009, The Waters of Mars, reveals via a screen readout that one of the characters was born in Finchley. This can be seen here

In the 1990s there was a short-lived BBC TV series called The Ghostbusters of East Finchley. Though not that many of the Finchley scenes were actually filmed here. There are some clips online and synopses of the episodes here

When I went to see the 2005 Narnia film at the cinema and heard Susan's line "We're not heroes. We're from Finchley", I was delighted. I would have cheered but I was in Basingstoke at the time.

Having checked the text of The War of the Worlds, I found references to Hampstead and Highgate but sadly none to Finchley.

One of my favourite references to Finchley in fiction is a musical one. In 1967, The New Vaudeville Band got to Number 11 with Finchley Central, a song about the Tube station. 

Having used East Finchley station throughout my life, I have more than a passing acquaintance with Archie. I was once told that the arrow he is firing into the tunnel was at one point represented by an arrow sculpture at the other end i.e. Morden, until thieves took the arrow. I don't know if this is true.

© Mark Moxon 1995-2016 All Rights Reserved

I've also found a book about Archie: Ned's Big Day, written and illustrated by Pam Coiley, published by the Northern Line in 1990. Ned is a Northern Line train who thinks everyone has forgotten his birthday - including his friend Archie - while all along they have been planning a surprise party for him at Morden Depot (which Archie somehow manages to attend!). Ned visits East Finchley station twice during the story."

What a lovely story, thank you to David, for sending these very interesting references.

Peeping Tom by Man Booker prize winner, Howard Jacobson sees Barney Fugleman's two major preoccupations in life: sex and literature. He is obsessed by the life and work of a man hailed by many as a genius of the nineteenth century - and by Barney as a 'prurient little Victorian ratbag'. This curious propulsion drives him out of Finchley, and out of the life he shares with Sharon and her 'rampant marvellings', to Cornwall. There he offends serious ramblers with his slip-on snakeskin shoes, fur coat and antagonism to all things green and growing as he stomps the wild Atlantic cliffs on long, morbid walks, tampering with the truth, tangling with the imperious Camilla - and telling a riotous tale.

Finchley is not just a place that is mentioned in literature, it is also sometimes a character. In Criss Cross, by Don Tracy, written in 1948. "Johnny Thompson" has a job as guard on an armoured truck. His broken nose, scar on left jaw, and a broken knuckle do not enhance his charms for the fair sex, but this does not keep him from courting Anna, a blonde with lascivious eyes and seductive curves. However, Johnny is not "in the dough" and Anna passes him up for Slim. It is the character, Finchley who has to work out how to pull off a seemingly impossible crime, the successful robbery of an armoured truck. His reward will be a week of credit at the liquor store. There will be fake hold ups, double crosses, murders but in the end it is fate that sorts things out.

Finchley is also a character in 'Protected Species', by H.B. Fyfe. A Science Fiction short story that was first published in Astounding Fiction, March 1951. Since then it has also been published in A Science Fiction Omnibus (2007) by Brian Wilson Aldiss. Humans have arrived on a new world to colonize. A world with ancient ruins of some intelligent species no longer around. A world humans are in a hurry to civilize. Finchley is the coordinator of the colonisers. He and comes up against Jeff Otis, the main character who has come to the planet to check the progress of its colonization. Everything is on schedule but he is perturbed by the worker’s attempts to hunt and kill a primitive ape-like species. He encounters one for himself. There is a startling revelation. This short story is very relevant today re affluent man's greed for money over protection of the planet. 

Mark Billingham mentions Finchley in Bloodline (2010). The past is coming back to haunt the people of London: a murderer is targeting the children of victims of Raymond Garvey, an infamous serial killer from London's past. Emily Walker is found beaten and suffocated with a plastic bag in her Finchley home, she appears to be the victim of a domestic dispute.

And on that cheery note, I'll say adieu. Do contact me if you know of any other mentions of Finchley in Fiction. 

Email me: rosiecanning1@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter: @rosie_canning

Celebrating the Quick Reads 10th Anniversary

Last night I attended the inspiring Quick Reads 10th Anniversary celebration at Foyles in Charing Cross. I had two reasons for doing this; one, I am a huge fan of the Quick Reads initiative and always choose them as my World Book Night choice. And two, I attended in my role as Senior Library Assistant because I wanted to boost our Quick Reads collection in the medical library where I work.

There was only one problem. At a recent library meeting when I mentioned this was what I intended to do, I was asked why we should have fiction in a medical library. I'll come back to this later.

The evening was chaired by Cathy Rentzenbrink. When Quick Reads was founded in 2006 Cathy Rentzebrink was an assistant manager at Hatchards. “I can remember thinking that short books for less confident readers were a good idea. I can also remember wondering pessimistically how many people in that bracket would manage to get themselves into the corner of the basement of Hatchards and stumble upon the books made and meant for them.” Read more here.

The evening's writers—Fanny Blake, Rowan Coleman, Matt Haig, Elizabeth Buchan and Veronica Henry—took to the stage to read from their short stories collected in The Anniversary, edited by Veronica Henry, to celebrate this landmark year.

Veronica Henry spoke about not being able to read was for her like not being able to eat. She went on to say that we don’t always want a full meal, just as we don’t always want to read a novel. That the short story is like a starter. And there was something for everyone in The Anniversary, the book commissioned as a celebration of the tenth Quick Reads anniversay. 

Cathy Rentzenbrink will usually commission a book from a well known author but sometimes if something happens, like illness, the line-up has to be rethought. When this happened last year, Fanny Blake, agreed to step in at the last moment. Blake has written for Quick Reads before: Red for Revenge. Blake said she was shocked after asking for a deadline, and was told two months! She had no time to think about it and in some ways this suited her as she just likes to get on with the writing of it. Though, Blake was given some advice and told, don’t think about the rules, just write it. Go back and change it if you need to. Which is good advice for anyone who has a habit of procrastinating.

Elizabeth Buchan had an operation last year and was feeling a bit fragile, a bit sad. She found reading QR’s the right level for her mind at that particular time. This was echoed by many people in the audience. Her short story, 'Moment of Glory', included in The Anniversary anthology, left the audience on a cliffhanger.

Rowan Coleman has dyslexia and felt marginalized as a child when she was put into remedial groups or in corners with pens and told to colour-in. A teacher who saw 'that' something in her, encouraged her.

Rowan learnt to become friends with her dyslexia. She used to have a great fear of the density of the text and would miss out massive chunks when reading. She would even mime hymns at school which showed great ingenuity. She finished by saying: 'I began my journey of friendship with dyslexia, and the wardrobe opened to Narnia'

Matt Haig spoke about how before he became depressed, he’d been doing a Masters and reading a huge amount. When he got ill he couldn’t read anything because he couldn’t concentrate. He was living back home with his parents in a small town that didn’t have any bookshops. As a way to escape his own mind and do something that wasn’t bad for his liver, he began reading children’s books, his old favourites. He had little moments of losing himself: 'Books are very therapeutic for you'. In the past Haig had a tendency to think that a good book had to be difficult to understand, all tied up with academia. 'There is a lot of snobbery around books,' he said, 'and we have to watch that. Books are for everyone.'

After the last reading, Cathy Rentzenbrink passed the microphone to the audience. Sitting patiently, I asked the final question of the evening. I explained the fiction in medical libraries conundrum, and asked the panel to give me some ideas to take back to the next library meeting.

Some of the suggestions I had already investigated, such as Books on Prescription, Mind Boosting Books, but I hadn't heard of the Wellcome Book Prize. An annual award, it is open to new works of fiction or nonfiction. To be eligible for entry, a book should have a central theme that engages with some aspect of medicine, health or illness. 'The Wellcome Trust is an independent global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health, because good health makes life better.' And that should be the basis of everything we do in the NHS.

A medical library enables NHS staff to boost the health of its patients and heal them. If we inform staff of the therapeutic and mind boosting qualities of fiction, then they in turn can inform patients. However, just as important in my opinion, is the health of the staff. Without them, patients will not get better. And, as most people are aware, the austerity that is being forced on the NHS is having an effect on the health of staff who are being overworked by the shear number of patients they have to look after. I feel it is my job to support the staff in my hospital, and that is what I intend to do.

Matt Haig said that the line between non fiction and fiction was grey, blurred. 'Non fiction is fiction in waiting.' He also said that when he was ill fiction helped him more than non fiction. Stories are all about change and this helped Haig believe change was possible.

The Reading Agency has just published a report with such gems such as:
- A fifth of the nation has been motivated to take better care of their health by reading a book

- 27% of the population have been inspired to make a positive change in their life from reading such as look for a new job or end a bad relationship)

- 41% of adults even find reading to be a better cure for their everyday worries than a night out with friends

I'll be using the report in a new exhibition about health and wellbeing, which will be my response as to why we need fiction in a medical library. If all else fails, I'll have to try some bribery with Galaxy® chocolate that I collected at last nights celebration. GALAXY® Chocolate and Charity Quick Reads revealed research showing 30 minutes reading and [eating chocolate] a week can improve lives. Read more here.

Here are the 2016 Galaxy Quick Reads:

The Anniversary: Ten Tempting Stories From Ten Bestselling Authors (edited by Veronica Henry)

The Double Clue: Poirot Short Stories by Agatha Christie (edited by Sophie Hannah and John Curran)

Too Good to be True by Ann Cleeves

A Baby at the Beach Café by Lucy Diamond

On the Rock by Andy McNab

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban (An Abridged Edition) by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

QR titles have now been loaned by libraries nearly 4.3 million times, according to new data from Public Lending Right (PLR). The latest figures for public library loans of all Quick Reads titles up to June 2015 show that total loans since the scheme began are now nearly 4.3 million (4,280,157) - an increase from 3.9 million in 2014.

'Quick Reads are the bridge between literacy and literature. They’re the next step after learning the basics, they’re a crucial tool in the journey from being a non-reader to being someone who has the world of books and words at their disposal.' Cathy Rentzenbrink

To find out more about Quick Reads, visit their website.

Follow Quick Reads on Twitter: @Quick_Reads
Follow the Reading Agency here: @readingagency
Follow Cathy Rentzenbrink here: @CathyReadsBooks
Follow Matt Haig here: @matthaig1
Follow Rowan Coleman here: @rowancoleman
Follow Elizabeth Buchan here: @elizabethbuchan
Follow Fanny Blake here: @FannyBlake1
Follow Veronica Henry here: @veronica_henry

Reading for Happiness

January is a dismal month. With the recent storms, it’s becoming almost impossible to step outside the door without either being drenched, swept away or frozen to death. It’s a much more sensible idea to batten down the hatches, stay home, stay well, and read a book.

Painting by Marie Fox

As far back as Plato, storytelling has been a powerful way in which to mould the human mind. Think moral tales - told for the purpose of conditioning little brains, to warn us of the perils in life, the piggy house made from straw or the wolf hiding in grandma's bed.

If a story can influence a mind, create a set of moral rules for life, a list of rights and wrong, do's and don'ts. Can a story also take a mind that is broken or damaged and re-wire the brain, rewrite life and fix or heal something that was broken or at least provide understanding and relief?

This then is the one of the premises behind bibliotherapy, the therapeutic use of literature to help an individual understand and cope with an illness, or another problem.

This is not a new idea, bibliotherapy was first used in 1916 by Rev. Samuel McChord Crothers in Atlantic Monthly where he talked about a bibliotherapeutic process, literature, both fiction and non-fiction was prescribed as medicine for a variety of ailments.

During World War One, Sadie Peterson-Delaney, a librarian, established one of the earliest recorded formal programmes of bibliotherapy when she prescribed literature to WW1 veterans to boost their self-esteem and "relieve the mind from malady and worry" [1]

In 1946 it was applied for the first time with children. Sister Mary Agnes, published a study on bibliotherapy for 'socially maladjusted children', stressing its use to help children overcome their problems. [2]

There are also Creative bibliotherapy schemes, the library based model, whereby readers self-refer or are referred by health workers to library based bibliotherapists, usually on a 1:1 basis. And the Reading Group model usually linked to the library though not exclusively, like The Reader Organisation who use novels, short stories as well as poetry as their tools for expression.

And there is Poetry Therapy. The focus being on poetry for healing as self-expression and growth of the individual rather than on poetry as art.

Read at the right moment in your life and a novel can—quite literally—change it, save it, and most definitely improve it. Recent neurological studies show that readers of fiction quite literally become the characters they are reading about. (I have always known this.) And this enables a more empathic connection with others.

Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin use books to heal. In 2008 they set up the bibliotherapy service at The School of Life in London, and since then have been prescribing books either virtually or in person to patients all over the world. Their prescribing resulted in The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness: 751 Books to Cure What Ails You. It is a reminder of the power books can have on the human mind. ‘Whether you have a stubbed toe or a stubborn case of the blues, within these pages you’ll find a cure in the form of a novel or a combination of novels to help ease your pain.’ 

The Yellow Wallpaper, first published in 1892 in the New England Magazine, explores what happens when a young woman is not allowed to read or write. The story is a first-person account of a young mother’s mental deterioration and is based on Gilman’s own experiences of postnatal depression. The unnamed protagonist of the story is advised to abstain from any and all physical activity and not to use her imagination. The woman’s husband takes her to a country house where she is kept in a former nursery decorated with yellow wallpaper.

After reading The Yellow Wallpaper, you might just need a lift. The Reading Agency’s Mind Boosting Books scheme is a national promotion of uplifting titles, including novels, poetry and non-fiction. The books are recommended by readers and reading groups around the country. Classics such as The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim; A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr; Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro; and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce are just four of twenty titles listed.

'There they hang in the wardrobe of our minds, the shapes of books we have read like clothes we have taken off and hung up to wait their season.' [Virginia Woolf]

We wore that jacket, that book cover for a while, it went everywhere with us, on bus and train journeys, to the doctor's surgery, and back home. One day we came to the last page and in many instances there was joy, sometimes sadness and yearning for more. The story had reached its final destination, it was time to say farewell, to close the chapter and with a deep sigh, caress the book and place it back on its shelf or return to the library or friend.


[1] Jack and Ronan, 2008
[2] Agnes, 1946

Reads for 2016

This year I'm keeping it very simple. Over on my PhD blog, Care Leavers in Fiction, I have a tab 'Orphan Lit' where I have begun to review just that. I will begin 2016, by reading books about orphans, foundlings and abandoned children. Starting with:

My January read for #ReadDiverse2016

Butterfly Fish by Irenosen Okojie

I first heard an extract from Butterfly Fish at last year's Finchley Literary Festival. I knew immediately that Irenosen had the gift for storytelling. It's been on my #TBR list since then. The narrative travels back and forth from 21st century London to the 19th century kingdom of Benin with a splash of magical realism. As photographer Joy, now an orphan, tries to make sense of her dead mother's past.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. The title grabbed my attention some time ago, Christmas book tokens meant it crossed off my #TBB list.

My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal

My Name is Leon, features a child in foster care. Leon is nine, and has a perfect baby brother called Jake. They have gone to live with Maureen, who has fuzzy red hair like a halo, and a belly like Father Christmas. But the adults are speaking in low voices, and wearing Pretend faces. They are threatening to give Jake to strangers. Since Jake is white and Leon is not. This book has had a huge amount of interest and it isn't even due to be published until June! I'm very lucky to have received a copy from Penguin so will get to reading that immediately.

Under the Visible Life by Kim Echlin

Fatherless Katherine carries the stigma of her mixed-race background through an era that is hostile to her and all she represents. It is only through music that she finds the freedom to temporarily escape and dream of a better life for herself. Orphaned Mahsa also grows up in the shadow of loss, sent to relatives in Pakistan after the death of her parents. She finds herself forced into an arranged marriage. For Mahsa, too, music becomes her solace and allows her to escape from her oppressive circumstances.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Aged thirteen, Theo Decker, son of a devoted mother and a reckless, largely absent father, survives an accident that otherwise tears his life apart. Orphaned and alone in New York, he is taken in by the family of a wealthy friend. He is tormented by an unbearable longing for his mother, and down the years clings to the thing that most reminds him of her: a small, strangely captivating painting that ultimately draws him into the criminal underworld.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

The story of a boy who is chronically, outrageously abused by a series of adults tasked with his care, and his struggles to forget the nightmare of his childhood. I usually steer clear of books about abuse, but as this was shortlisted for the Man Booker, and there has been a lot of discussion about it, I feel I will learn a lot from the writing.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The original title in Swedish is Men who hate Women. is a crime novel by the Swedish author and journalist Stieg Larsson (1954-2004) which, when published posthumously in 2005, became a best-seller. As a child, Salander was declared a danger to herself and others by the court at age thirteen, and sent for treatment at the St. Stefan's Psychiatric Clinic for Children. She was eventually allowed out she was sent to various foster homes. Larsson stated that he based the character of Lisbeth Salander on what he imagined Pippi Longstocking might have been like as an adult. I've seen the film and have been wanting to read this for some time.

Borderline's by Peter Hoeg

When I asked Twitter if anyone knew of any fiction with care leavers. Dr Yvon Guest, recommended Borderline's by Peter Hoeg. Yvon said: It was mind blowing. And that it changes one's perception of time.

The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata

Recommended by Murni, one of the Greenacre Writers, when we were discussing orphans in literature. This book is partly autobiographical, and tells the story of a group of ten children, all from impoverished backgrounds who attend a small local school. Corrupt officials want to close the school down, but the children and their dedicated teacher Bu Mas who is just fifteen years old when the novel opens, triumph on. I'm looking forward to reading about Lintang, orphan and maths genius.

The Fish Ladder by Katharine Norbury

Katharine Norbury was abandoned as a baby in a Liverpool convent. Raised by loving adoptive parents, she grew into a wanderer, drawn by the beauty of the British countryside. Combining travelogue, memoir, nature writing, fragments of poetry and tales from Celtic mythology, The Fish Ladder has a rare emotional resonance. A portrait of motherhood, of a literary marriage and a hymn to the adoptive family.

Happy Reading everyone!!!

David Bowie, My Hero.

There will be thousands of tributes to Mr Bowie. I want to add my voice because he was such a source of inspiration and support when I was growing up.

Growing up in care in the 1970s, was no mean feat. As well as what goes on in a children's home, the weird relationships with staff and social workers, and the other children - all vying for the 'favourite' spot, there was also the outside world.

In 1934, when Friern Barnet Urban District Council, wanted to turn a corner house in Sutton Road, Muswell Hill, into a children's home, there was a major outcry. Residents of the neighbourhood, petitioned the council urging them to 'take immediate steps to oppose the acquisition of these premises for such a purpose'. Even the local council estate residents got involved, pleased that they could join the affluents for a change, instead of fingers being pointed at them. The Minister of Health inspected the house and approved its use as a children's home and that was the end of the protestations.

So you can probably understand that I most definitely felt like a freak, when I was younger. Not only felt it all around me, but I had mad bushy hair and definitely stood out in a crowd. Kids at school called me 'birds nest'.

When I glimpsed a tweet yesterday, from Paris Lees*, which read: 'I don't usually cry when someone famous dies but misfits everywhere should weep out on the streets today. RIP Bowie.' I did indeed empathise with those words, having been crying most of the day myself. The only difference being that now my misfittingness is a blessing. Normality, and all that goes with it, is an anathema to me.

Growing up in 1970s Muswell Hill with its own peculiar brand of North Londonish, was an amazing experience, though I didn't know it at the time. Hearing Space Oddity, when I was eleven, was like nothing I'd heard before. My musical knowledge at the time consisted of hits on the radio or musicals. We'd go to the local cinema or West End theatre and see the latest film or play being shown, like Oliver, or the Sound of Music. Somebody would buy the LP, and that would be that. I'd play the songs over and over until I knew all the words. People talk about the first record that they ever bought, but I really can't remember, because music was very much a part of being in the children's home. Trips out for the day or holidays, always involved singing songs, Oh, you'll never to get heaven or Michael rowed his boat ashore. I even pestered my local priest for hymns at the morning service like they had at the nearby Methodist church. We had a music room with a piano, a record player, and any other instrument that staff happened to play. Plus, I had piano and ballet lessons as well as being in the operatic society at school.

A poster from the 70s, still on my wall.

Soon after Hang on to Yourself, hit the charts, I became friends with a couple of boys in East Finchley, one of whom would go on to become writer. J.J. Donnelly, of Layer Cake, fame, and my first claim to fame. Though I just knew him as John, and that we were both crazy about Bowie.

My second claim to fame, would come fifteen years later when I was pregnant with my third child. The brother, of one of the staff in the children's home, who I was still in touch with, was involved with the video, Absolute Beginners, and they wanted a pregnant woman as an extra. I was so excited, I nearly gave birth on the spot. In the end I wasn't needed as they used a model. But hey, that was another nearly moment...

While Ray Davies was releasing Muswell Hillbillies in 1971, I was thirteen, and buying the Hunky Dory LP at Les Aldrich's record shop in Fortis Green Road. In 72, Changes, was released. The lyrics were perfect for young people who were going through turmoil and the changes in society. There was a huge shift from uniformity to an explosion of colour, music, clothes, and art.

And these children that you spit on

As they try to change their worlds

Are immune to your consultations

They're quite aware of what they're going through

[Changes, 1972]

As well as the music which had a deep rhythmic resonance for me, it was also the lyrics that made sense in a sort of nonsensical way. A kind of poetry in song:

He's so simple minded 

he can't drive his module

He bites on the neon and sleeps in the capsule

Loves to be loved, loves to be loved 

[The Jean Genie, 1972]

Meanwhile in real life, my mother had killed herself and I officially became an orphan. I was going to youth clubs, discos and learning to dance. In the rest of the UK, there were strikes and protests. Everyone was frightened to travel on public transport because the IRA were bombing us. The government raised the school leaving age to 16 which upset many of us. We even bunked off school and went into central London to protest.

In 1973, Life on Mars? was released as a single and like Bowie, I was experimenting with drugs and drink. A year to the day my mother died, I ended up in hospital with alcohol poisoning. 

At 15, the same age as Bowie's daughter, Alexandria Zahra Jones, is now, came Sorrow. I've thought a lot about David's family in the last 24 hours and their request for privacy at this very sad time. I hope they get their privacy. I also hope that eventually, they will at least get some relief, knowing over the last fifty years, he was such an amazing influence on millions of people all over the world. Not just that he was an influence, but that he helped weirdos, freaks and outsiders everywhere cope with their trauma, sadness and misfittingness.

I don't usually get upset when somebody famous dies so I was quite shocked at my reaction to the news of David Bowie's death. I quite literally sobbed. I can only guess that his voice; his words; his artistry; and his music became part of me, part of my growing up and when I heard the news, it was as if I had lost a part of myself.

In 1974, Rebel Rebel, was released. In effect it was Bowie's farewell to the glam rock movement that he had helped pioneer. Age sixteen, holding hands with my first boyfriend, I said my farewells to the children's home. I knew that even though I would never go back there, my relationship with David Bowie, would last a lifetime.

When I Live My Dream, 1966

*Paris Lees is a British journalist, presenter and transgender rights activist.