Hayden Gabriel

Advantages: Wonderful story, beutiful description.
Disadvantages: None.

...Introduction ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ A short while ago I reviewed "The Creative Writing Course book" a must for any aspiring author and taken from the vastly popular and successful MA course in Creative writing from the University of East Anglia. While browsing through a second-hand bookshop I came across "The Quickening Ground" a novel by Hayden Gabriel and a graduate of the same course. Naturally I wanted to find out for myself what kind of authors and their books that the course had guided on their way to a successful first novel. There is little to find out about the author except that she lives in the South-West of England and following on the success of this, her first novel, she has gone on to write a new novel "A Wonderful use for Fire". The book jacket gave some detail that suggested this was primarily a romantic novel... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: Addictive, tear jerker
Disadvantages: None

...Venus - A mute child who sat on a wall in the school playground and refused to move. Venus became a pupil of Haydens in her special needs class made up of 5 pupils - yet despite Haydens experience even Venus became a struggle and pushed Hayden to her professional limits. With family problems and the liklihood that her uneducated sister was actually her mother - the only person venus would attempt to communcate with was her sister. At home she was forced to sleep in a bathtub locked in a room cold and hungry - she was sent to school but rarely attended and her sister (or mother) is the only person who actually seemed to care. Until now. Hayden slowly but surely encourages Venus down from the wall and into the classroom and after a lengthy period of time manages to engage with the child evenutally resulting private... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: A fluid read that encaspulates the author's emotions vividly and sensitively
Disadvantages: hard to think of any!

...This is a gritty compelling novel that navigates the sensitive area of elective mutism beautifully and tactfully. Torey Hayden has a wonderful talent of transporting the reader to the very depths of her memories and allows the reader to explore the riveting classroom scenes as though one was there watching the unfolding events. The book is a must have and once read the reader is sure to actively search for other Torey Hayden books as I found myself doing once I had finished. One Child tells the story of six year old Sheila and the battles she faces as she is abandoned by her mother in favour of her younger brother. Sheila eventually finds her way into the classroom of Torey Hayden, a special ed teacher that slowly and tenderly brings Sheila out of her shell and helps her to flourish both in and out of school. Torey Hayden is truly... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful