Strange Year of E.G. Rawlings

It is January 2017. E.G. Rawlings, a noted foreign correspondent forced into retirement after a serious injury in the field, arrives by boat at a vacant mooring on the Thames. To his surprise, he finds it is owned by an old friend from Afghanistan, Isobel Mallinson, the widow of a British diplomat. On learning that Rawlings is now writing an account of his war experiences, Isobel allows him to use her mooring for the year he needs to finish his memoir. During the months that follow, Rawlings, suffering from PTSD and in terrible emotional and physical pain, finds solace in the peaceful life of the river and the community he finds there. Although a loner by nature, he becomes particularly close to Marnie, a middle-aged art teacher with a fragile heart who lives near him in the boathouse. He begins to tell Marnie his story, explaining the unexpected events that have resulted in what he calls 'turning points' in his life, taking him in surprising and new directions. Little does the jaded reporter realise that another turning point is just around the corner that will not only profoundly affect his life, but also the lives of all those around him.

Jane McCulloch - Writer, dramatist, lyricist and director of theatre and opera. After leaving drama school, Jane specialised in writing biographical dramas of modern and historical characters, ranging from Byron to Buster Keaton - from Beethoven, to Roosevelt and Churchill. After a long association with the famous London Old Vic Theatre, Jane started her own company in l985, the English Chamber Theatre; Dame Judi Dench is the President. Jane wrote, devised and directed over thirty new works for ECT. These works divided into two categories, full scale plays and literary entertainments. ECT Productions were performed all over the world, including seasons at the Doolittle Theatre Los Angeles, and in the West End London and for these productions Jane worked with many of the great names in British Theatre, including Sir Derek Jacobi, Julian Glover, Timothy West and the late Fenella Fielding. Jane also worked with the late Margot Fonteyn and Anthony Quinn on various biographical dramas. Outside ECT Jane also worked as a freelance director for theatre, opera and music theatre. In 1999 Jane staged Jessye Norman's "THE SACRED ELLINGTON" at the Barbican and at the Epidaurus Theatre in Greece. In 2000 she staged it at the Chatelet in Paris. In 2006 and 2007 she was the first English director and first woman in 70 years to direct the longest running American outdoor drama, THE LOST COLONY in North Carolina. Jane became the Artistic Director of Opera UK in 2007 and for them directed many productions, including, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Merry Widow, The Barber of Seville and La Traviata. As a writer she has worked in theatre, radio, television and the recording studio. In 2014 she gave up most of her theatre work in order to concentrate on her writing - and most especially, fiction books. Jane has four children and ten grandchildren and lives in Putney, London.