A Child from the Wishing Well

Gerard's only wish is to escape the dark of chronic paranoia to be closer for his lonely daughter. He accompanies Rosie to violin lessons with eccentric but friendly tutor Miss Stein. But could the old spinster's often foul-smelling “wishing” well really be a place for his wish ?

Raymond Nickford has a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from University College of North Wales. Troubled souls, the lonely, his inspiration.

Music tutor Ruth, fascinating Rosie's father for her sensitivity, becomes his confidante and Gerard clings to the hope that the tutor can help bring him closer to Rosie, but soon he must wrestle with his suspicions again, for Ruth mothers Rosie, almost smothers...

Reaching out to a broken doll, propped in the darkness at the bottom of Ruth's garden wishing well, where Ruth plays with Rosie during the lesson intervals, Gerard wants to believe that what he touches and smells is just the decay of sacks enfolding a doll... the closest to a child that the lonely old spinster could cling. Investigating, Gerard's first doubts for Rosie's safety mount. Is he just being paranoid again?

Rosie draws closer to her father, notices his new concern but, if she is in danger, can her Dad save her ? Can Gerard, in turn, triumph over the emotional void of paranoia; feel, accept, he and Rosie could share the parent-and-daughter love of which others speak so easily?

**Winner of the Harper Collins Gold Star award May 2010 :

Sunday Times best-selling author, Barbara Erskine, comments:**

" Beautifully observed characters, atmospheric, intriguing. "

Editorial reviews :

'All the characters are built up so stealthily we fail to notice that odd behaviour could develop into obsession and dark foreboding secrets.'

Daniel Manning - author of No Compatibility

' Atmospheric, vibrant, spooky page-turner. '

Reay Tannahill - historian, novelist and author of The Seventh Son.

'Growing up in a suburb of Chicago, the first scary movie I remember seeing was the 1965 Bette Davis movie, The Nanny. To this day, that movie has always stuck with me as one of the great psychological thrillers of all time. For me, A Child from the Wishing Well, is reminiscent of that movie.'

Candace Bowen Early - author of A Knight of Silence

Other titles :

Family Tree : Stories of Love Beyond the Grave

The body of Eddy's mother was found entangled in fungus-laden roots of the rotting ancient yew on the cemetery side of the family's garden fence. At nights, Eddy stutters, imploring his father to believe that the tree – or is it his mother – seems to call him. Dad just keeps saying “Grief works in strange ways, boy. You'll heal !” But that tree... Mum... calls. Should he sneak out... to the cemetery side? Or had Mum gone to that cold place which Dad kept saying was “Just death by misadventure, Eddy, as the autopsy stated” ?

Loss of family and loved ones revealing how, for those left behind, hurt and longing can find resolution – where unexpected.

Twists in the Tale

Schizophrenic Sam Baldock says he 'hears' Beethoven calling him. For therapy, his doctor and daughter Joanne accompany Sam to the Beethoven Museum in Vienna, once the composer's apartment. Will lonely Joanne, at last, get closer - to her strange Dad ?

Mister Kreasey's Demon

Broken by his street-hardened London students, reduced to paranoia, can Amy's teacher stop himself from losing she, alone, he might have trusted, might have loved ?

Aristo's Family

Aristo, private museum curator in Paphos, Cyprus, living alone with his sole surviving son Pavlos, is obsessed with his belief that he still has surviving family, even though told they were all burned during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. In his preoccupation he comes to neglect Pavlos. Both Aristo's and his son's deepening need to belong, so long mutually exclusive, are at the core of this novel. Father and son... or strangers forever ?