Where There is Light, There is Understanding, Page 2
Stephanie Fletcher
For sure, Time certainly has some Tales to Tell.
* * * * *
Theresa’s Tale
Forbidden Love
Theresa's Tale is the third tale of this novel and tells of forbidden love. She is the illegitimate daughter of Catherine and Alfred, raised by catholic nuns in an orphanage in County Kerry where she was born, cruelly taken from her mother before she had chance to even glimpse her bastard child.
Theresa is a troubled child who is bullied and beaten by the Nuns who see her as a child that is no good, scarred and useless. The local priest who is attached to the church and the orphanage plays a big part in keeping this child from knowing her heritage and her parents as it is only him, Joseph Bennett, who has all the answers to all the secrets and lies.
We follow Theresa as she is moved from home to home coping with abuse, lack of love or any true affection and generally having miserable existence. Theresa runs away to England, to London, looking for her best friend from her last ‘home’ David, and she is dragged into the world of prostitution and drugs, her only way to survive on the streets.
A familiar face, her childhood abuser, rescues her! Theresa is pulled into another world of paedophilia and child slavery. She slowly plans to exact her revenge on the devil incarnate while helping as many of the kids that he rescues in the name of God, to escape their horrible fate. Theresa does this with the help of Brian and Mary, a brother and sister who befriend her. It is with Brian she has her first glimpse of what true love could be, but she worries that Brian will not be able to love her, an abused physiologically damaged middle-aged woman with no experience of a real loving relationship.
In November 1999, just before the millennium, Theresa’s plans come to a violent conclusion but with an unexpected twist. This Tale presents us with many more questions and few answers to the ever more complicated lives of these characters in Time Tells Tales.
Will Theresa ever find out who her real parents are? Why was she left in the hands of those cruel nuns? What is true love and why would anyone want to love her? Will Theresa ever escape the hands of her abuser and save her mortal soul? Will Brian get passed her damaged persona and love her truly? Will she live to find answers to these questions? These and many more questions will be answered in this first novel by this new author, Stephanie Fletcher. For sure, Time certainly has some Tales to Tell.
* * * * *
Jim’s Tale
Out of the Mouth of Babe’s
Set in 1994 in England, this Tale is about Jim Middleton and his wife Serena, nee Rooney, and younger sister to Alfred. Serena and Jim have one child, Paul, born in 1958, who meets June Bennett, legitimate daughter of Catherine Bennett, whilst at university and they marry in 1982.
They have a gifted child, Angela, born 1989, Jim’s only grandchild who Serena got to hold, cruelly for a brief moment before her passing. Serena dies prematurely from bowel cancer at the age of 58. Jim comes to terms with his wife's sudden death by helping to care for five year old Angela whilst June is pregnant with their second child as it is a difficult pregnancy.
Angela opens her Granddads eyes to possibilities he had never given much credence to, his scepticism about all things supernatural and spiritual. But his lack of belief or faith in an everlasting life after death is challenged by events and Angela helps him to cope with his grief, changing his whole outlook on life and death.
This Tale introduces a new family to this saga and opens us to new concepts, pushing the boundary of belief systems, sharing the struggle of a five year old girl and the trials and tribulations she has had to face in her short life.
Will people begin to believe in her gift? Will she grow up bullied, tormented and hide her gift, never to help those who seek her help? These and many more questions will be answered in this first novel by this new author, Stephanie Fletcher.
For sure, Time certainly has some Tales to Tell.
* * * * *
Angela’s Tale
A Gift For All.
This is the final Tale, set in 2008, in both England and Ireland. This Tale is about Angela's special gift, and how she learns to use it. How it helps to brings to a conclusion to all the secrets, scandals and lies which intricately wove the lives of these three family histories together.
Angela finally un-wraps the mystery that she had begun with her Granddad Jim, who sadly passed away, but Angela with her special insight and empathy made his passing memorable and peaceful as he returns to the arms of his loving wife.
Alfred's letter and journal’s came too late for Serena and Jim but with Angela's gift, she helps her family in ways no-one else can and they set out to solve the mystery of Catherine and Alfred's forbidden love and hopefully to find the lost child they never got to see.
As Angela is now a fully qualified a nurse as she feels her gift and her intuition is best used in the healing profession. Her most recent patient is a middle aged woman who was involved in a shooting and she was hit by a bullet which lodged near her temple in her brain. The woman had undergone surgery which was successful, but she was left in a coma for over ten years.
Angela gets messages and visions from her Grandparents, Jim and Serena, who help her find Catherine, her mother’s mother who she has never spoken about and finally revels to her family her past family life in Ireland. The evidence contained in Alfred’s journals and Catherine’s diary highlight the possibility that this woman in a coma might be related. Will they piece together who this woman is? Will she ever gain consciousness? Will Brian stand by her? Will Catherine survive the ravages of old age to finally hold her long lost daughter?
These and many more questions will be answered in this first novel by this new author, Stephanie Fletcher. This is the final tale of a family reunited on both sides of the veil. Time has truly told a Tale.
* * * * *
Time Tells Tales - The Lost Children
Sequel Book to Time Tells Tales
The Rooney Lads
The Voyage To Hell And Outback
Taken away at a young age and put into care in an Irish foster home, ran by the Catholic Church, these three brother’s experience the kind of adventure children should not have to face.
Well-meaning people govern their lives as it is seen to be the right thing to do. Instead they are ripped apart and scattered over the globe by circumstances that were then, beyond their control. Will these lads ever reunite? Will their shared history reveal their heritage? Who were their parents? Do they have other family back in Ireland? So many questions and the boy’s experiences make this novel trip over your heart and scream for a happy outcome, but as we all know fate likes nothing more than to throw a curve ball or two. These and many more questions will be answered in this second novel by this new author, Stephanie Fletcher. For sure, Time certainly has some Tales to Tell.
* * * * *
Short Stories
Season’s Anthology
These four short stories reveal to us the four stages of ‘LOVE’ throughout a year in the lives of four very different couples and their experience of love at a certain stage in life.
‘Spring’ tells us of a first love, of puppy love, of a crush, and the ending of such love, as a person grows with experience and they learn more about their relationships. (Not available yet.)
‘Summer’ is about a chance meeting which maybe the beginning of true adult love, or unconditional love. It is a story of hope, of not giving up on love, that it may, at any time, in any situation, leap out and touch us on the shoulder.
‘Autumn’ reveals to us what happens when things start to go wrong, when love leaves and divorce seems inevitable or is it? (Not available yet.)
Finally, ‘Winter’ takes us to a place that all couples fear - being the one left alive and alone, when their partner passes away. It is a sad but enlightening story which shows that true love never dies.
* * * * *
Summer
Sa
lly is twenty-four and disillusioned with her life and the daily grind on a road to nowhere with its many pitfalls. A chance meeting on a day that started out as grey as the rest, changes her life forever. Who does she meet? Can she really escape her tower block, warehouse city existence? Is it the summer sun that illuminates a different path to her soul? Can one day really make a difference?
* * * * *
Winter
Betty woke up and turned to the empty side of the bed she had shared with Percy for the last twenty-seven years of marriage. There was still an indent in the mattress where he should have been laying alongside her, but it was cold and empty. She reached for his pillow and snuggled into it, breathing in his smell, she couldn’t bear to wash the pillowslip as yet.
It had always been her fear, her nightmare that Percy would die in bed beside her, but instead he died three days after his seventieth birthday - in his beloved potting shed, his other home, his allotment. A quick final blast from his heart, bang! And over and out - Percy was no more.
‘Winter’ takes us to a place that all couples fear - being the one left alive and alone, when their partner passes away. It is a sad but enlightening story which shows that true love never dies.
* * * * *
Where There is Light, There is Understanding.
Holly is struggling to keep her life together, juggling with grief and a new sixteen-day-old baby. Will history repeat itself? Can she cope or will she opt out like her own mother? This is a short story with a big lesson for those who are open enough to understand.
* * * * *
My Poetry Collection
Family and Pets
Book One
This is book one in a series of three different collections of poetry, all on different topics. Book one poems is about family, children, and pets. All are easy to read and well written. I hope you enjoy them.
* * * * *
Inspirational Poetry
Book Two
This is an Inspirational collection of Poems that I have written over the years, during good times and bad. I found that the writing of them helped to keep me sane and hopeful.
There are two with the same title; ‘Love begins with me’, as they are poems entered to an Invitational competition with that theme.
In 2010, I came first, and in 2012 I had an honourable mention.
A few of the poems have been experimental in writing style, and the judgement of how successful I have been will lie with you, the reader- so enjoy!
* * * * *
This and That
Book Three
A collection of poems written over the years which are varied in theme and style, from a trip up a Volcano to the depths of Insomnia, there is something for everyone. I hope you enjoy my journey in rhyme.
* * * * *
About The Author.
Stephanie Fletcher.
Biography
I am a Mother and best friend to three girls. I truly love my life and every person who has ever touched it with unconditional love, and I am grateful for all their support in my endeavours. I am now a Grandmother and I am sure inspiration will come for some children's stories!
I have a website for publishing my writing and poetry. The web link is https://www.stephanie-fletcher.co.uk
I started writing seriously after having a traumatic event in my life resulting in a nervous breakdown to boot. My physical and mental health suffered greatly and now several years later, hand on heart, I can honestly say I am not the self-driven OCD perfectionist I was before.
I had a spiritual enlightenment, counselling, and time, lots of time on my hands. I could have quit, and sank deeper into depression but I didn't. I am lucky enough to have three wonderful caring and considerate daughters who witnessed my decent into hell and back, and a family who never left my side. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and hit life head on again like the Taurean bull I am.
I have always written a journal of sorts, spasmodically, and the days of staring into thin air became times of inspiration. At first I was scared to show others my work. The last thing I needed was criticism that cuts you to the soul. I needn't have worried, only but a few people gave me critique that knocked my confidence and I began to grow as a writer.
I am the first to admit I am not very well educated, only secondary school but I returned to college at forty, did a creative writing course and gained a certificate in counselling skills. I read a lot, anything and everything and I take notes everywhere, for use later in my work. I collect idioms and sayings, inspirational quotes etc and they all help. A voice recorder is handy for those nighttime ideas and I also read my work out loud, recording them and then playing back, as it is easier to see where something doesn't work. I have a programme called ‘dragon speak’ which types up my recordings and saves a lot of frustrating keyboard time, which does my arthritis no good! I like to do my original work long hand so I have a lot of A5 notebooks needing attention.
Connect With Me Online:
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://stephanie-fletcher.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/safletcher59
Facebook: https://facebook.com/angelstar59
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/978767.Stephanie_Fletcher
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/stephanie-fletcher/4b/937/a10/
