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Spur of Light by Tonie Scott Ritchie

Synopsis:

When her world is turned upside down by devastating loss, young Barbara Morris has to deal with tragedy, and learn to face a life very different from the one she’d once hoped would be hers. But she has the strength of character and resolve to take her through, as well as the guiding hand of her beloved Great Aunt Harriet.

Yet not everyone is as they seem. And a young woman with a fortune can be fair game to an unscrupulous suitor. In the face of betrayal difficult choices have to be made. Can Barbara make them?

From the innocence of youth and the first flush of love, Barbara’s story moves through adult life with all the wonder, passion and challenges that brings.

A spellbinding tale of courage in the face of adversity.

About the author:

Tonie was born in Aberdeen in 1923 and grew up in Huntly, attending Gordon School until she was 16. She worked for the Clydesdale Bank before joining the WRNS in 1943. She has travelled to Hong Kong, Malta and Gibraltar with her husband Jimmy, a Naval Surgeon, and while in Hong Kong she worked for BFBS Hong Kong as a radio announcer. They had five children – at one point she was left looking after them all plus two aged parents while her husband was away at sea.

She now lives in Plymouth, where she had formerly volunteered for the WRVS and SSAFA and to where she returned in 1990 after Jimmy died. She then studied English at GCSE and A Level, before taking up creative writing and having several short stories and poems published. She was a volunteer steward at Saltram House, a National Trust property, for 15 years.

Begun after attending a creative writing course on the Scottish island of Iona in 2002, this first novel lay unfinished for many years until Tonie’s eldest daughter encouraged her to finish it and now, at the age of 97, she has finally completed the task.

Across Atlantic Airwaves.

“I feel I may have come into this world with a whimper, but it looks as if I may be going out with a bang!!”

So said my 98 year-old great-aunt after being interviewed for an American podcast. Not that this was her first interview, nor, hopefully, the last. But there’s no doubt that the past year has been quite a roller-coaster ride for this remarkable debut novelist.

Born in 1923, Tonie has had a long and adventurous life. Married to a Naval Surgeon, she and her five children lived all over the globe. And without doubt it’s been a life lived to the full. A life, as with so many of us, filled with a never-ending mix of joy, tragedy, challenge, bad times and good times. All ingredients that can fire imagination and creativity. As they have with Tonie Ritchie.

And that’s a great example and inspiration to everyone. No matter the circumstances, it’s never too late!

17th September 2021