Why Charlie is my Darling

I count myself fortunate to have had a mother who loved telling stories, some from books, others from her own imagination. Because of her, I couldn’t wait to learn to read for myself. It wasn’t all that long before reading led to an interest in writing stories of my own. One more ingredient was required – imagination.

Fortunately my parents owned a complete set of books by the one and only Charles Dickens. I launched into them, skipping what I thought of as ‘the dull bits’ and very soon came to feel that rather than reading the books, I was living within them.

As well as teaching me to stretch my imagination to the limit and then keep on stretching it, Dickens made me understand the importance of creating strong characters and then allowing them to shape the story rather than treating them as puppets jerking around on strings.

The ability to write makes me feel as though the whole world is my playground, and Charlie (Dickens) is and always will be my darling!

Evelyn Hood