Richard Pike
I was born in Mill Hill, North London and educated at University College School, Hampstead, and afterwards at Kings College, Cambridge where I read Classics.
I followed a career in education, largely devoted to comprehensive schools, finally going back to being Head of English in a comprehensive school in South Nottinghamshire. From there, I took early retirement in order to concentrate on writing.
I lived in the East Midlands most of my working life and have now settled with my partner, Ann, in South Lincolnshire, closer to my ancestral roots.
I have been writing most of my adult life: several early one-act plays which received performance in area drama festivals in London; some poetry and short stories, another two novels, and a variety of short stories for children, often humorous, which I used to effect in the classroom.
I regularly attend a daytime Writers Workshop in Leicester, and was a contributor to the Peterborough Writers 2010 NAWG winning anthology. I have also recently been a runner up, and short-listed, in competitions for childrens writers, organised by Louise Jordan at the Writers Advice Centre. I have attended many writing courses over the years, too numerous to mention here. I have been writing seriously for more than ten years and think of myself first as an author of literary fiction as well as a childrens writer.
Do Not Forget Me Quite is my third novel but the first I think ready to publish. As you might imagine with my background Im quite a stickler and have had to un-learn many of the things I used to teach. The advantage of writing as a second career is that you need never retire.
Author news
John Hemingby is a loving husband and father, a musician, teacher, and a man of peace. But when the Great War breaks out, trapping him and his family in France, John can no longer be at peace with himself. He feels strongly he must help his country and his fellow-man - but will not kill. This realistic and dramatic novel tells of the effects of war on one extended family at home in London and abroad after John decides to volunteer for service in the Medical Corps. His beloved artistic daughter, six-year old Dorothy, is deeply distressed at his departure. She recalls in old age her unsettled early life. In the hell of the trenches, John undergoes shattering experiences beyond his imagining: these include crucial encounters with the wounded poet and composer Ivor Gurney, whose brilliant, unstable isolation is to find a profound echo in John's future. While Dorothy grows to a troubled womanhood, the separation and trauma of the times act on the Hemingby family with results that mirror the tragic breaking of two generations in the war and its aftermath. Shocking events and images will linger in your mind long after the last page of this haunting and tragic story.
For further information about Ivor Gurney, his poetry and his music see www.ivorgurney.org.uk and for his friend, Will Harvey, www.fwharveysociety.co.uk
For further information about zeppelin raids and the first house hit in an air raid see http://londonist.com/2012/09/the-hackney-house-that-ended-a-millennium-of-peace.php
A compelling and moving novel of a family caught up in, and partly destroyed by, the First World War and its aftermath. Impeccably researched and sensitively written - and you will not forget it.
Jude Morgan author of Passion, A Taste of Sorrow and The Secret Life of William Shakespeare
Readers Comments:
I couldnt put it down. You created that fantastic thing which keeps readers glued anticipation. I cried at the end because of the wonderful storyline, characterisation , sentiment, description I could go on...
MM Boston
A triumph. I thought I was reading a script for a film it is so vivid. It isnt anything I will forget very easily. BC Stamford
A message from the author:
There is another dimension to this story the music. I actually wrote parts of the story while some of the pieces were playing. I wish there was an accompanying CD to this novel so that you too could experience the same effects. But all the pieces mentioned, including Gurneys songs and other music, are available on-line for you to explore.
