Books with author Jill Laidlaw

Set in Pakistan, this is the story of a teen girl living with her mother and siblings in a diplomatic compound. As if getting used to another new country and set of customs and friends isn't enough, she must cope with an increasingly tense political situation that becomes dangerous with alarming speed. Her life and those of her sister and brother depend on her resourcefulness and the unexpected help of an enigmatic Muslim classmate.

DO VIKINGS WEAR GLASSES ? This is a light hearted story that follows the author’s somewhat intricate life. The journey begins with his idyllic childhood. Comfortably nestled in the bosom of a happy family, he is surrounded by normality and the suburban life that most post war families seemed to strive for. The sleepy village of Shepperton was a good place to flourish during the fifties, and these halcyon days were made easier by sharing his adventures with an identical twin brother. All is well until his universe is shattered by the illness of his father. The privation wasn’t total but empty tummies and days without water or electricity were becoming common place. The sudden death of his Mother when he is sixteen forces the issue and he has to leave his sanctuary of childhood and fend for himself. Whilst trying to survive in bed-sit land (albeit in the stockbroker belt of Surrey) the cash strapped contrasts of his late youth spur him on to try as hard as he can to climb from the depths and change his fortune. The story traverses his totally unprepared working life that starts when he leaves school unable to read or write. He perseveres and manages to keep himself employed, fed and clothed, but only just. He survives by living off ‘London Grills’ and baked beans on toast. After his Father’s death he moves on, and somehow manages to find a wife and subsequently provide for her and their two children. The odyssey carries the reader through some bazaar exploits. Some successful, some unsuccessful, as he searches in dogged determination to find his idyll. His maladroit life bumbles from one scenario to another in pursuit of his destiny. He re-invents himself seemingly on a daily basis whilst trying to live the dream before realizing that most of his future is behind him. As he marches on he slowly begins to understand that the love of his family, the fun and the friendships that he has cultivated along the way are all the necessary tools that he needs to reach his Shangri la. Whether you laugh with him, laugh for him or laugh at him you’ll have to admire his tenacious will to succeed in spite of himself. Regardless of how you might feel about this idealistic hero, he represents the majority of us, and the majority are dreamers who have no real idea of what life is really all about. About the Author Jon Laidlaw is fifty four. Born, raised and educated in the village of Shepperton. The younger of identical twins. He is married to Carolyn and has two children James and Victoria. He now commutes between his homes in Marbella and Hampshire