The Mummyfesto (51 page)

Authors: Linda Green

BOOK: The Mummyfesto

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The Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire supports children with life-limiting conditions and their families. It costs £2.5million a year to run and the vast majority of its funding comes from charitable
donations. For more information and to make a donation please go to
www.forgetmenotchild.co.uk
or call 01484 411 040.

Writing this book moved me immensely and I know the characters will stay with me always. Thank you for reading it and please do get in touch via my website
www.linda-green.com
or by Facebook
(Fans of Author Linda Green)
or Twitter
(@lindagreenisms)
.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Warmest thanks to the following people: my editor Jo Dickinson for believing in this book and being everything an author could want in an editor; the fantastic team at Quercus, especially Bethan, Margot, Caroline, Mark, Iain and Kathryn, for their hard work, energy and enthusiasm; my agent Anthony Goff for his expertise and support; Marigold and everyone at David Higham Associates, my Quercus stable-mate Dorothy Koomson, without whom this book might never have seen the light of day; Keris Stainton and her fellow We Should Be Writing group members and Emily Barr for their feedback and enthusiasm, Michael Tatterton for showing me around the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice in Huddersfield and providing invaluable research information and feedback; Tilly Griffiths, whose wonderful book
Tilly Smiles
showed me what children with Spinal Muscular Atrophy type 2 CAN do; The
Jennifer Trust for Spinal Muscular Atrophy, The SMA Trust, Smash SMA, Together for Short Lives and the Alzheimer’s Society, who all helped with my research; Lance Little for my great website; James for lending his story and for being, like all children, very, very important; my Facebook followers Anna Ruth Yates and Sammy Joe for lending their names; my Twitter friends for providing a welcome (sometimes too welcome!) distraction; my family and friends for their on-going support and encouragement; my wonderful son Rohan for his ideas, coming up with the best lines for the children in the book, caring so much about them and regularly saying ‘haven’t you finished it yet, Mummy?’; my husband Ian for pointing out that it would be easier to write a novel about women who start a political revolution than actually doing it myself, and who, really annoyingly, came up with the title in five seconds flat when I had been trying for weeks. And you, my readers, without whom it wouldn’t be half as much fun and whose comments and feedback on previous novels kept me going through the slog barrier of 30,000 words; Thank you all!

Q&A WITH AUTHOR LINDA GREEN

Do you have a favourite character in the book?

Anna, Sam and Jackie are all very different but I think I love them equally. I love Sam’s idealism and desire to make things better, Jackie’s straight-talking, no-nonsense attitude and sense of fun and Anna’s calmness under pressure and vulnerability. When I finished writing the book the thing I wanted to do most in the world was go out with my three main characters to celebrate – unfortunately not possible!

Which actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Juliette Binoche (with a middle-class North London accent) would play Anna, Nicole Kidman (if she’d agree to have a stud in her nose!) would play Sam and Reneée Zellweger (in a broad Yorkshire accent) would play Jackie. Now that would be worth watching!

Do you have a favourite scene in the book?

It has to be the skipping scene when Jackie leads Sam and Anna on a skipping trip around Hebden Bridge to prove how much fun it is. It seems to sum up the spirit of fun. I did actually try it out for myself – though admittedly I had my seven-year-old son with me to try to lessen the embarrassment factor!

Why did you set it in Hebden Bridge?

The book, like my last three novels, is set in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, where I live. I have the utmost respect for authors who can conjure up magical worlds or who are able to do lots of research and visit prospective locations but for me it makes sense to set my books in the place I know best. And fortunately Hebden Bridge has such enormous character, is so stunningly beautiful and its inhabitants so varied and interesting that it lent itself perfectly to this book. I truly think that if this did happen anywhere in real life, it would happen in Hebden Bridge.

Do you think the scenario in the book of ordinary women launching a new political party and running for government could ever actually happen?

I hope so. Unfortunately I think far too often in this country we are limited by a desire to conform and anybody who dares to be different or suggest huge change is shot down in flames. But it is true that across the UK there are thousands of incredibly strong women running campaigns and fighting for justice for their children or whatever it is they believe in. If they could all join together I think there really is no limit to what they could achieve. And I would love to see a government that had a desire to make things better for children and families at its heart. The Lollipop Party would certainly get my vote!

If you could pick one policy out of
The Mummyfesto
to be implemented, what would it be?

I think it would have to be the funding of children’s hospices. Having seen the incredible work they do, I can’t believe that it is only people doing sponsored head shaves and the like that keeps them open. I really can’t think of anything that is more worthy of government funding than supporting children with a life-limiting illness and their families. If I had to pick one of the more light-hearted policies it would be the colour-coded road signs. Being able to follow a purple line to get from my house to Manchester city centre would be fantastic!

Vote for what you would like to see in a manifesto for mums on The Mummyfesto website!
http://www.mummyfesto.co.uk