Writing for adults
Novels
FLAMES
(Virago Press ISBN 086068 739 2)
Images
of the seasons and blindness texture the tragic course of the relationship
between a tradesman and a school teacher who have very different natures
and needs. Spanning the second world war, it is set in a small village.
When a woman and her child seek shelter there from the blitz, she acts
as a destructive catalyst in Alice's and Hubert's frail marriage.
| June Oldham, whose previous books have been for children and young people, has produced a first adult novel that proves her to be a sensitive, subtle and fearless writer. Short and at first sight limited in scope, it reverberates with larger truths about the lot of women, about class and education, and about people near breaking point. |
|
British
Book News
|
| It is the ability to recall the mood, language and morals of the past together with the similar emotions of the present that make this a special novel. It is short, but in that space accomplishes more than several longer works. |
|
Liverpool
Daily Post
|
| Flames has wonderful moments of lyric beauty. June Oldham's lush, supple prose can evoke or drag us into the laden atmosphere of family tension, a word misconstrued, a gesture ignored. |
|
City
Limits
|
| This is not a new theme but the writing has a sureness and beauty that are riveting. |
|
Lincolnshire
& Humberside Arts magazine
|
| A tightly written and painful exploration of the breakdown of a marriage.....beautifully crafted. |
|
Bradford
Telegraph & Argus
|
| Author's
comments Flames received the Yorkshire Arts and Virago Press Fiction Award. A film producer took out an option on the book and we had some very interesting meetings. I wrote the story line and a synopsis of early scenes. As so often happens, however, no maker could be persuaded to finance the film and the frustrated producer had to return to Hollywood to earn a crust. This novel represents an important area of my work but it is now out of print. |
click here to order a signed copy from Greenroom Books
A
LITTLE RATTLE IN THE AIRThis book
is set in an undistinguished Midland town where an enterprising Arts Association
funds the writing and production of a community play. This is based on
the recollections of the townspeople who, though wary and reserved, are
stimulated to recall their stories. But not all of them are confided to
the tape recorder, though they cannot be censored from memory. Some who
participate are devastated by the experience; all are changed.
And at the centre of the project are two volunteers: Nora, well off, an
outsider hoping that this work will help her re-discover her roots, and
Dick, a local unemployed smith whose concern is to protect the memories
of them all.
| The real gift of June Oldham's story telling lies in her depiction of the local people whose memories Nora is harvesting. Oldham's ear for dialogue is especially accurate. |
|
Edgbaston/Harborne
Focus
|
| The mystery and suspense ring true and Oldham adroitly reveals her characters through their witty verbal exchanges and increasingly desperate actions. |
|
Publishers'
Weekly
|
| ...a
many layered story that rewards reading with care. |
|
Northern
Echo
|
| It does manage to convey quite strongly the unpalatable truth that boundaries of life style are impossible to recross and that the leaving of one class and joining another is considered unforgivable by most communities. The novel is quiet, small scale, thoughtful and surprising. |
|
City
Limits
|
Shorter Fiction
There are few outlets for short stories. A number of mine have appeared in the magazines
Panurge (19) and Stand (Vol 131 No 4, Autumn 1990; Vol 34 No 3, Summer 1993; Vol 36 No 1 Winter 1994-5)
Also in
anthologies,
Give Me Shelter (Bodley Head)
...And a Happy New Year! (The Women's Press)
Best Short Stories, 1991 (Heinemann)
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