Writer and Artyness columnist has an uplifting story to tell about someone who dreamed of writing, before life got in the way
Don’t you love primulas? Often the first to burst through the snow, they are the harbingers of spring. “Ha!” They seem to yell triumphantly. “You can’t keep us down, Winter!”
Like most of us, I am generally impressed by resilience, triumph over adversity and all of that.
But Denise Brown (pictured below) takes resilience to a whole new level.
I had long hovered on the edge of her circle and observed her highs and lows from afar.
A single mother of five children, a domestic violence survivor with some truly horrific experiences behind her, she cuts a defiantly upbeat figure when we speak. Having spent most of her life in Essex, she took the opportunity to move to Scotland with the construction company she worked for and describes the move as ‘a dream come true’.
Her dream of writing, however, took its sweet time: “I had always loved books, and I had always wanted to write,” she explains. “My parents took me to the library every three weeks without fail. I had an adult reading age when I went to school. But life got messy – as it does.”
She married, had three children, got divorced, had another two children, and found herself divorced once more, in immediate physical danger, and homeless.
Defiantly, she got a full-time job and focused on putting food on the table and a roof over their heads.
“It was when I hit 50 that I realised: the kids are okay. It’s time for me now, so I did an English degree with the Open University and started to write. In 2014, during a writing retreat, I simply woke up with the character of Summer in my head.”
Soon, an agent was interested in the burgeoning manuscript, a spooky YA crossover mystery. Unsure of the vision for the book, the agent walked away. Similarly, a publisher considered the book, but after redirecting their business priorities, didn’t pursue the project.
Disappointed, Denise set the manuscript aside and focused on new projects. But the character of Summer refused to be silenced.
“I realised the story just had to be out there – when I had time during Covid, I found the document and completely rewrote it. The result was that I was longlisted for the prestigious Bath Novel Award, out of 3500 entries!”
Denise’s story of adversity has got a happy ending – the book, now titled I Am Winter, was picked up by Hashtag Press. Reportedly, the first reader of Denise’s submission sought out her business partner and declared: “We have to publish this!”
After all those years, I Am Winter can be found on a bookshop shelf near you.
Denise smiles. “It’s never just going to land in your lap, is it?”
I think of the primulas and smile too.
