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WORK TITLE: Improbable Choices
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://shirleydavies-owens.com
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY: British
Lives in the Pacific Northwest; married.
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 85180964 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n85180964 |
| HEADING: | Davies-Owens, Shirley |
| 000 | 00402cz a2200145n 450 |
| 001 | 1073401 |
| 005 | 20080624071442.0 |
| 008 | 850925n| acannaabn |a aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 85180964 |
| 035 | __ |a (OCoLC)oca01481278 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |d OCoLC |
| 100 | 1_ |a Davies-Owens, Shirley |
| 400 | 1_ |a Owens, Shirley Davies- |
| 670 | __ |a Her Silver linings, 1986: |b CIP t.p. (Shirley Davies-Owens) |
| 953 | __ |a be27 |
PERSONAL
Married; children: two.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
AVOCATIONS:Acting.
MEMBER:Pacific Northwest Writers Association; The Authors’ Guild.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Shirley Davies-Owens grew up in England and moved to Canada after her marriage. She and her husband later settled in the Pacific Northwest area of the United States, where Davies-Owens eventually embarked on a writing career, producing three published novels since the late 1980s. In addition to writing, she enjoys performing in plays and giving dramatic readings of her works.
Silver Linings
Davies-Owens’s first novel, Silver Linings, draws on the author’s interest in the Victorian era. Set in 1870s England, the book tells the story of Emma Cadman as she moves from childhood toward adulthood following the death of her father, George. As a very young girl, Emma had adored her affectionate and sometimes boisterous Papa, who doted on her and loved to surprise her with delightful presents. But when Emma is ten, her father sexually assaults her, leaving her deeply traumatized, confused, and plagued by disturbing dreams.
George’s sudden death from a drunken fall down the stairs leaves Emma and her mother, Beth, penniless. They are forced out of their comfortable home in London and seek shelter with Beth’s sister Kate, who lives with an ineffectual husband and spoiled daughter in the grim industrial north of England. To make matters worse, Emma must leave school to earn money for her family. She gets a job in the local soap factory, toiling for long hours under unpleasant conditions. Even so, Emma tries to keep her spirits up, befriending another girl with an abusive father and trying to make the best of her circumstances.
Emma’s dreary fate changes when she is offered a position as a laundress at the estate of the local earl, a kind man who treats his servants well. She begins to blossom there, and even enters a tentative romantic relationship with Thomas, a young theology student. But events soon conspire to threaten Emma’s happiness. Ewan McKenzie, the epitome of brusque masculine physicality, arrives at the estate, and his presence sparks a recurrence of Emma’s nightmares while also awakening her sexual interest. She must come to understand her fears and her past before she can find happiness with the man she truly wants.
A writer for Kirkus Reviews described the novel as a “slick skim of the complex psychological effects of child abuse” in which the “Victorian female-survival saga is a comfortably familiar frame.” First published in 1986, Silver Linings was reissued in 2016 with the new title Bitter the Bud, Sweet the Flower.
Paths Unknown
In Paths Unknown, three orphan siblings are left to their own devices in late 1800s England. Lydia Fullerton, the oldest at age twenty, has promised her dying mother that she will care for the two younger children and keep the family together. But without money, shelter, or guidance, Lydia must use all her resources just to survive.
Lydia is sent to western Canada to work there as an indentured servant, while her younger brother and sister remain in England and suffer mistreatment as impoverished orphans. But Lydia never loses sight of her goal to reunite the family and secure their happy future. Though it takes years of struggle and hardship, she finally brings the family together again, and finds her own soulmate in the process.
Improbable Choices
Inspired by the author’s childhood in World War II-era England, Improbable Choices features an enjoyable mix of historical detail, engaging characters, geopolitical intrigue, and romance. Eleanor Kingsley, widowed at age thirty-seven when her husband, a Royal Air Force pilot, is shot down over Dresden, Germany, is evacuated from her London home at the beginning of the Blitz in 1940. With her fourteen-year-old daughter Chavalle as well as her niece Audrey, of whom she is legal guardian, Eleanor is sent to Winfield, where Hugh and Pauline Beresford provide shelter for them at their comfortable estate, Grentham Hall.
This move seems to promise Eleanor and the girls safety and security. Chavalle and Audrey make friends with their hosts’ daughter, Judith, while Eleanor joins the Women’s Volunteer Service and meets an attractive American officer, Matt Dalman. But though circumstances suggest the possibility of happiness for these characters, complications soon thwart any such hopes. Judith begins to have unpredictable violent outbursts that become increasingly dangerous for both families. At the same time, Hugh harbors secret feelings for Eleanor. It will take all of her intelligence and resolve for Eleanor to provide for her daughter and niece while also securing her own happiness with Matt.
The novel received praise for its detailed evocation of wartime London, as city residents dealt with the trauma of nightly bombing raids as well as food rationing and other hardships. Reviewers also admired the novel’s intriguing and well-paced plot, and its complex and sympathetic characters. A writer for Kirkus Reviews particularly enjoyed the subplot involving the romance between Eleanor and Matt, noting that it develops “slowly but poignantly as Eleanor gains the confidence to love again.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2017, review of Improbable Choices.
ONLINE
Authors’ Guild Website, https://www.authorsguild.net/ (May 27, 2018).
Kirkus Reviews Online, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (May 27, 2018), review of Silver Linings.
Shirley Davies-Owens Website, http://www.shirleydavies-owens.com (May 27, 2018).
Growing up in an English village in an area steeped in history, Shirley Davies-Owens developed an affinity for the Victorian era. And in true Victorian style, when she married her husband, he was cut off without a penny. Undeterred and with one trunk holding all their possessions, the young couple emigrated to Canada’s west coast. Several years and two children later, they moved to the Pacific Northwest region of the USA.
Eventually, Shirley was able to pursue her dream of writing a book. SILVER LININGS was her first. Set in Victorian England and published by St Martin’s Press, Harper Collins and ECI Holland, 1980's-1990's, it garnered Shirley critical acclaim internationally. It was reissued at the end of 2016 with a new interior design, cover, and the title BITTER THE BUD, SWEET THE FLOWER.
Shirley's second novel, PATHS UNKNOWN, also set in Victorian Engand and the Canadian frontier was published by IngramSpark in 2014 and received excellent reader response.
IMPROBABLE CHOICES, set in World War II England, is Shirley's third book; it was published in 2016 by IngramSpark.
When Shirley isn’t writing, she loves acting; she has performed in several plays over the past years. She loves to do dramatic readings of her written works and has appeared on her local radio station and at several book clubs. She is a past president and lifetime member of Pacific Northwest Writers Association and a longtime member of The Authors’ Guild.
Shirley continues to live in the Pacific Northwest with the same fellow who was denied his fortune many moons ago. She has four grandchildren and only one pet—the aforementioned husband.
SHIRLEY DAVIES-OWENS
Shirley Davies-Owens
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Growing up in an English village in an area steeped in history, Shirley Davies-Owens developed an affinity for the Victorian era. And in true Victorian style, when she married her husband, he was cut off without a penny. Undeterred and with one trunk holding all their possessions, the young couple emigrated to Canada’s west coast. Several years and two children later, they moved to the Pacific Northwest region of the USA.
Eventually, Shirley was able to pursue her dream of writing a book. SILVER LININGS was her first. Set in Victorian England and published by St Martin’s Press, Harper Collins and ECI Holland, 1980's-1990's, it garnered Shirley critical acclaim internationally. It was reissued at the end of 2016 with a new interior design, cover, and the title BITTER THE BUD, SWEET THE FLOWER.
Shirley's second novel, PATHS UNKNOWN, also set in Victorian Engand and the Canadian frontier was published by IngramSpark in 2014 and received excellent reader response.
IMPROBABLE CHOICES, set in World War II England, is Shirley's third book; it was published in 2016 by IngramSpark.
When Shirley isn’t writing, she loves acting; she has performed in several plays over the past years. She loves to do dramatic readings of her written works and has appeared on her local radio station and at several book clubs. She is a past president and lifetime member of Pacific Northwest Writers Association and a longtime member of The Authors’ Guild.
Shirley continues to live in the Pacific Northwest with the same fellow who was denied his fortune many moons ago. She has four grandchildren and only one pet—the aforementioned husband.
Works
Bitterbookcover
BITTER the BUD, SWEET the FLOWER
Within the respectable confines of young Emma Cadman’s home on a quiet street in Victorian London, there exists a dark secret—a secret which eventually shatters her seemingly idyllic childhood and precipitates a string of nightmarish events.
A sudden death in the family and the unexpected penury that follows, force Emma and her mother to move to the home of poor relations in the industrial north. Haunted by the past they left behind, the duo must now face years of hard labour and dwindling expectations.
Eventually, fortune smiles on the mother and daughter and an opportunity arises for them to start over in the countryside with a cottage of their own. Here, they find a measure of contentment. And as Emma grows into womanhood she meets a kind Scotsman whose love will perhaps help her erase the ravages of her troubled past.
Davies-Owens, Shirley: IMPROBABLE CHOICES
Kirkus Reviews.
(Aug. 1, 2017): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Davies-Owens, Shirley IMPROBABLE CHOICES Parkgate Antiques (Indie Fiction) $18.99 4, 8 ISBN: 978-0-692-65663-1
A widow and her family fleeing war-ravaged London find shelter with a wealthy family and become entangled in a web of secrets and forbidden passions. In September 1940, the start of the Blitz marks the escalation of the fighting between the British and Germans. It's an anxious time for Londoner Eleanor Kingsley. The previous year, her husband joined the Royal Air Force and was killed when his plane was shot down near Dresden. A widow at 37, Eleanor resolves to stay strong for the sake of their 14-year-old daughter, Chavalle. That fall, Eleanor also becomes the guardian of her niece Audrey after her father joins the service. With danger mounting in London, the family is ordered to evacuate the city. They end up in Winfield, where Hugh and Pauline Beresford take them in. The Beresfords' estate, Grentham Hall, offers a world of luxury and safety. The girls befriend Hugh and Pauline's daughter, Judith. Eleanor becomes involved with the Women's Volunteer Service and develops an attraction to Matt Dalman, an American lieutenant. Grentham Hall's security may prove illusory, however, as Hugh's secret passion for Eleanor and Judith's increasingly strange and volatile behavior threaten to destroy both families. Davies-Owens' (Silver Linings, 1986, etc.) latest offers strong character development and historical detail with just the right amount of intrigue and romance. Eleanor is a compelling, sympathetic hero whose love for her daughter and niece is as unwavering as her determination to provide a secure home for them. The supporting characters are similarly well-drawn. Davies- Owens ably portrays the passions and compulsions that drive the Beresfords' marriage while providing insight into Judith's troubled behavior. Eleanor's relationship with Matt is an especially strong subplot, unfolding slowly but poignantly as Eleanor gains the confidence to love again. Life in wartime London is sharply rendered, from the dangers of overnight bombings to the effects of rationing. An entertaining, engaging historical novel that may appeal to Kate Morton
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Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Davies-Owens, Shirley: IMPROBABLE CHOICES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2017. Book
Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A499572430/GPS?u=schlager& sid=GPS&xid=bf46efad. Accessed 21 Apr. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A499572430
2 of 2 4/21/18, 7:55 PM
KIRKUS REVIEW
This run-of-the-millstream first novel, in which a Victorian child and her gallant mother struggle on from bad times to good, carries some heavy baggage, dealing as it does with the heroine's growing-up and adulthood struggles to overcome memories of her father's sexual abuse. In 1877, when Emma, only child of Beth and George Cadman, was 10, her adoration of her father turned to fear and horror, as Papa--hitherto fun-loving and a bearer of presents--begins to pay his daughter some confusing and painful attention. Then one night the drunken George dies from a fall down the stairs. In the years that follow, Emma's secret night-mare is tamped down by the real challenges of getting on. Beth and Emma, left penniless, must leave their comfortable home for the Midlands and move in with Beth's grim sister Kate, her pallid husband and whiny daughter. Ladylike Emma's schooling (in a ramshackle one-room building) is ended early, and she is sent to work in the local soap factory. Still, there are friends (including another victim of a dangerous father) and the love of Beth. The break comes, though, when Beth is offered a job as laundress at a cottage on the estate of a kind and elderly Earl. Happy days follow, with peace and relative plenty and even a beau--earnest theological student Thomas. But then Emma's old nightmares resurface, mixed with disturbing, lascivious dreams, when gypsy-like and huge Ewan McKenzie appears at the cottage door. There'll be setbacks and good news before Emma's past drives off one man, brings another close. And before there's a new understanding of self--and Papa. A slick skim of the complex psychological effects of child abuse, but the Victorian female-survival saga is a comfortably familiar frame here.