Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Cactus
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://sarahhaywoodauthor.co.uk/
CITY: Liverpool
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2018067314
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2018067314
HEADING: Haywood, Sarah
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035 __ |a (OCoLC)oca11353705
040 __ |a OCoLC |b eng |e rda |c OCoLC
100 1_ |a Haywood, Sarah
370 __ |a Birmingham (England) |c Great Britain |2 naf
374 __ |a Authors |2 lcsh
375 __ |a Females |2 lcdgt
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a OCLC 1029882668: The cactus, 2018 |b (access point: Haywood, Sarah; usage: Sarah Haywood)
670 __ |a Sarah Haywood, website, May 17, 2018 |b (Sarah Haywood; born in Birmingham; author of The cactus; studied Law at Kent University and Chester College of Law; completed an Open University Creative Writing Course, followed by an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University; lives in Liverpool)
PERSONAL
Born in Birmingham, England; married; children: two sons.
EDUCATION:Kent University, studied law; Chester College of Law, studied law; completed an Open University Creative Writing Course; Manchester Metropolitan University, M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer. Worked formerly as a trainee solicitor in London; as a solicitor and advice worker with Citizens Advice; and as an investigator of complaints about lawyers at the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman.
AVOCATIONS:Supporting Liverpool Football Club.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Sarah Haywood is a Liverpool-based writer. Born in Birmingham, Haywood studied Law at Kent University and Chester College of Law. Following graduation, she moved to Liverpool to work as a solicitor and then as an advice worker with Citizens Advice. She later worked at the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman, where she investigated complaints about lawyers.
Haywood took an Open University creative writing course and received her M.A. in creative writing from the Manchester Metropolitan University. She is married and has two sons.
The Cactus, Haywood’s first novel, tells the story of a woman’s life unraveling. The title of the book refers to Susan, a seemingly tough, prickly woman who surprises herself with her ability to survive, no matter what the circumstance. Susan is a 45-year-old attorney living in London. Everything in Susan’s life is structured, controlled, and free of emotion, and that is how she likes it. Her speciality within law, data analysis, allows her to stay away from people and their complicated emotions. Susan keeps little contact with her family, has few friends, and her only romantic encounters are with Richard, an equally structured and disciplined individual. For the past twelve years, the two have met every Wednesday to visit art exhibits and share emotionless intimacy.
Susan’s structured life takes a turn when her widowed mother dies and she learns that she is pregnant. Unwilling to be dependent on anyone, she swiftly ends her relationship with Richard, committing to raising the child on her own. The death is a trickier situation. Apparently Susan’s mother has left everything to her drunken and thoughtless brother, Edward, the same brother who taunted Susan throughout her adolescence and stole all of their mother’s attention. Susan is certain Edward unfairly influenced their mother’s will, and she sets out to prove it. Simultaneously, she begins to take a new sort of comfort in Edward’s friend, Rob, and finds a friend in her neighbor Kate. As Susan finds it is more difficult than she had anticipated to prove her brother’s guilt, she begins to let her walls down and open up to her new friends.
Melissa Norstedt in Booklist described Susan’s transformation as one of “solitary, orderly existence to a messy life full of love.” A contributor to Kirkus Reviews described the book as “a warm, witty portrait of a woman finally creating the family she deserves.” A contributor to Publishers Weekly described it as a “hilarious and endearing debut,” adding, “the novel is consistently enjoyable, anchored by the splendid character of Susan.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, March 1, 2018, Melissa Norstedt, review of The Cactus, p. 33.
Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 2018, review of The Cactus.
Publishers Weekly, March 26, 2018, review of The Cactus, p. 92.
Sarah Haywood was born in Birmingham. She studied Law at Kent University and Chester College of Law, then worked as a trainee solicitor in London.
After qualification, she moved to Liverpool, working first as a solicitor, then as an advice worker with Citizens Advice. She subsequently joined the Office of the Legal Services Ombudsman, where she investigated complaints about lawyers.
Sarah completed an Open University Creative Writing Course, followed by an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. She lives in Liverpool with her husband and two sons.
Sarah is currently working on her second novel.
10 Things I'd Like My Readers To Know About Me By Sarah Haywood
Sarah Haywood writes a piece for us upon the release of her new book The Cactus.
25 January 2018
When my sister and I were young, we ran an imaginary orphanage/child actor agency. Our dolls and teddies were under our care, whilst also being contractually obliged to give us 10% of their earnings. I can see that this was a serious conflict of interest. My sister is now an artist, so we’re both still making up stories, in our different ways.
Sarah Haywood by Rachel Ryan
Sarah Haywood by Rachel Ryan
The main character in The Cactus, Susan Green, came to me fully formed as soon as I started writing the novel. It was as though she was tapping on my shoulder demanding to have her voice heard (which is exactly the kind of thing she would do).
Although I loved English at school, I plumped for sciences at A’ level and had a place to study Physics at university. I changed to Law, but always hoped that, one day, I’d make a living as a writer.
If you visited my house, you might think I have a knack for decluttering, but in my attic, I have every toy and book that my sons have ever touched or even glanced at. I’m incurably sentimental where my children are concerned. Don’t get me started on Toy Story 3.
It’s at my desk that I work out the fine details of my stories, but the big plot and character ideas come when I’m either in the shower or walking home after taking my younger son to school.
I can’t write in total silence; it makes me feel self-conscious and interferes with the creative process. The low hum of a library is perfect, but when I’m writing at home, I use an app that plays muted coffee-shop sounds. I end up taking a lot of hot-drink and loo breaks.
I love cats of every size, shape and colour, but I’m particularly obsessed with ginger ones. Pippin would sit on my laptop keyboard as I was working on The Cactus. I now have Connie and Rudy, who check at regular intervals that I’m busy earning money for cat food.
I used to investigate complaints about lawyers. There’s always a human story behind every case, and it was those stories that interested me more than the legal niceties. My job involved writing dense, fact-heavy reports, but I longed for the freedom to use my imagination – and to slip in some humour from time to time.
I have a natural tendency to prevaricate, and if I don’t have a deadline looming I’ll engage in endless time-wasting activities. I signed up for an MA in Creative Writing almost solely to give me a fixed date for completing my novel. I’m lucky enough to have a two-book deal, so have another deadline to keep me in check.
I support Liverpool Football Club and try to get tickets to as many home matches as possible. For me, a football match is a gripping story being played out in real time, with all the same highs, lows and plot-twists.
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Print Marked Items
Haywood, Sarah: THE CACTUS
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 15, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Haywood, Sarah THE CACTUS Park Row Books (Adult Fiction) $26.99 5, 29 ISBN: 978-0-7783-1899-6
Unexpectedly pregnant at age 45, Susan Green finds her perfectly organized life turning upside down. And
then her mother dies, leaving the family house to Susan's ne'er-do-well brother, Edward, for as long as he
wants to live in it.
Susan has spent her life trying to keep messy feelings at bay. An attorney by training, she's chosen to avoid
the troublesome job of looking after actual people's problems and instead works as a data analyst in
London. Even her love life is carefully choreographed: Instead of dating, she sensibly answered a lonely
hearts ad from a well-groomed, well-employed gentleman looking for a companion, and for 12 years, she
and Richard spent each Wednesday visiting art exhibits and having no-strings-attached intimate encounters.
Once pregnant, Susan ends the relationship, not willing to risk her independence. Yet her mother's will
cracks open Susan's carefully controlled emotions. Outraged that her drunken brother--the same brother
who siphoned off all her mother's affection and humiliated Susan in grade school--can live in the house for
as long as he likes, Susan decides to take him to court to force him to sell it and split the proceeds with her.
But unearthing evidence that he inappropriately influenced their mother proves challenging. In this, her
debut novel, Haywood concocts a delightful collection of characters to lead Susan out of her emotionally
cloistered life. Boozy villain Edward pushes her while his friend Rob, a charmingly disheveled landscape
architect, finds himself falling for her as he tries to run interference. Susan also befriends her upstairs
neighbor, Kate, whose partner abandoned her with two small children. Haywood deftly twists and turns
Susan's investigation, so each conversation with her gregarious Aunt Sylvia and even her mother's vicar
reveals not only more about her mother's will, but also more of the secrets she kept from Susan. With new
friends Rob and Kate, Susan begins to let her defenses down, accepting real love for perhaps the first time.
A warm, witty portrait of a woman finally creating the family she deserves.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Haywood, Sarah: THE CACTUS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530650872/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e3a5daf6.
Accessed 23 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530650872
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The Cactus
Publishers Weekly.
265.13 (Mar. 26, 2018): p92.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Cactus
Sarah Haywood. Park Row, $26.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-7783-1899-6
A cactus is the perfect metaphor for Haywood's hilarious and endearing debut about a prickly woman who
thrives no matter her environment. Londoner Susan Green is a controlling single 45-year-old woman who is
successful in both her professional life as a civil service worker and in her personal life with formally
scheduled liaisons with Richard, a similarly organized and methodical businessman. Susan's disciplined life
is rocked when her widowed mother dies and the will specifies that Susan's undeserving, ne'er-do-well
younger brother, Edward, whom Susan despises and has little to do with for good reason, can inhabit the
family's suburban home until he wants to sell it, at which time the proceeds will be evenly split. To make
matters even more complicated, Susan discovers she is pregnant with Richard's child, whom she will raise
alone because she doesn't want to be beholden to anyone. She intends to prove that her brother, now living
in the house with his buddy, Rob, had undue influence on the content of their infirm mother's will. As Susan
builds a case against her brother, she forms a dubious connection with Rob, hoping that will help her garner
the truth about Edward's motives. What she eventually learns--not only about her mother but also about
herself--thoroughly alters her approach to life, which Haywood lovingly and humorously demonstrates is
actually a very good thing. The novel is consistently enjoyable, anchored by the splendid character of
Susan. (May)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Cactus." Publishers Weekly, 26 Mar. 2018, p. 92. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532997125/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=d2588741.
Accessed 23 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532997125
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The Cactus
Melissa Norstedt
Booklist.
114.13 (Mar. 1, 2018): p33.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Cactus. By Sarah Haywood. May 2018.368p. Park Row, $26.99 (9780778318996).
After a childhood filled with uncertainty and neglect, Susan Green now leads an uncomplicated, methodical
life. She appreciates logic and following the rules, always speaks the truth, and, at 45, isn't dependent on
anyone or anything. Detached from her family, with few friends and only an "interpersonal arrangement"
with a man she sees weekly, everything is exactly how Susan would like. This tightly wound plan starts to
unravel, however, with the death of her mother and the surprise news that Susan will soon become a mother
herself. Things continue to fall apart when Susan learns her mother's will favors her younger brother, and
she builds a legal case in a harried attempt to maintain control. But when it rains, it pours, and Susan's
troubles grow as she discovers a shocking secret about her past. The truth changes everything, and Susan
must realize that logic doesn't always prevail. Haywood's debut is a heartfelt and charming story of one
woman's transition from a solitary, orderly existence to a messy life full of love.--Melissa Norstedt
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Norstedt, Melissa. "The Cactus." Booklist, 1 Mar. 2018, p. 33. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532250890/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=be5ba739.
Accessed 23 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A532250890