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QueenSpark Books Archive - Free Full Text Books
A unique searchable archive of the books published by QueenSpark Books up until 2010. Free to view and full text this collection features voices that tell the story of Brighton and Hove, across the 20th Century, in their own words. The majority of these titles are now out-of-print.
You can buy those still in-print, and newer titles, with this link.
Those Lost Years
Author(s): Mary Adams
Published: 1995
This absorbing book tells the story of Mary Adam's life. Born in Birmingham in 1930, she describes a wartime childhood that was spent in convent schools and documents the abuse she suffered at a "farm school" for children with learning disabilities, along with the forty-seven years that she spent at St. Mary's residential unit for women, where, after a difficult start, her life steadily became more enjoyable. From such inauspicious beginnings, she subsequently extols the gradual development of a new life and independence, until, sadly, her life was ironically and tragically cut short by her death from cancer in March 1995 - just as her story was being prepared for publication. So, this is Mary"s legacy, ensuring that she will never be forgotten as long as her special memories live on.A Daughter of the State
Author(s): Kathleen Dalley
Published: 1998
In this poignant book, the author writes with candour about her experience of growing up in a workhouse children's home in London during the Twenties and Thirties. Kathleen Dalley's story is told with clarity and sensitivity, yet refrains from sentimentality. She describes an institutionalised childhood where strict members of staff upheld the rules and procedures that were in place, and the institution took the place of the family unit, having overall responsibility for the upbringing of the children in care. This is an important and compelling work that vividly describes both a personal and a social history of the times. It depicts the actual experiences and expectations of working-class girls, who at best, as adults went into service, or at worst were sent to the workhouse.ZAP - Twenty-five years of Innovation
Author(s): Jonathan M Woodham, Neil Butler, Roger Ely, Liz Agiss, Ian Smith, Simon Fanshawe, Sian Thomas, Richard Paul-Jones, Paul Kemp, Mark Waugh, Polly Marshall, Gavin Henderson, Paul Collard, Jane McMorrow, Dave Reeves, Rebecca Ball, Karen Poley
Published: 2007
Although not strictly speaking a QueenSpark book, this wild ride across the diverse cultural terrain of live entertainment in Brighton and Hove was produced in collaboration with QueenSpark. It tells the story of one of the UK's most cutting edge, creative producers. Over the last two and a half decades Zap Art has gone from establishing the iconic Zap nightclub, which transformed night life on the Brighton seafront to taking over the streets in most major cities and towns across the UK with large scale outdoor events.Our Small Corner
Author(s): Sid Manville
Published: 1994(reprinted 1994)
This autobiography is the sequel to Sid Manville's Everything Seems Smaller. It recalls memories of friends, neighbours and relatives who made up the 'small corner' of Sid's neighbourhood in Bear Road in Brighton in the Twenties and Thirties. Sid writes with much affection and humour, although he doesn't forget that this era was also a time of great hardship for working class people. His own mother and father struggled to bring up a large family at a time when it was considered fortunate to have any kind of job, no matter how poorly paid. Although times have changed, lack of employment is still a feature of many people's lives in the twenty-first century.Little Ethel Smith - Her story told by herself
Author(s): Ethel Howell
Published: 1992
This autobiography was published in 1992 and it tells the poignant tale of a young working class woman who grew up in the Old Kent Road in London and came to live with her family in the Sussex countryside, when still a young girl. An important feature of the book is the value placed on family loyalty. It tells the story of Ethel's life during the war years, her courtship and marriage and the sad tale of her first love, a doomed romance that was unable to overcome the class barriers that were prevalent at that time. It is a description of one woman's journey through an often impoverished life – describing the transition from girlhood to womanhood. Ethel finally came a long way from her humble beginnings in the Old Kent Road and this publication is testament to her resourcefulness and hard work.Stories from the Nights at the Round Table
Author(s): Dawn Bartram, Margaret Bearfield, Marion Devoy, Gill Donocick, Peggy Eaton, Julie Everton, Sarah Griffiths, Clare Halstead, Ruth Lonsdale, Eve Peel, Sheila Smith, Pauline Streeton, Margaret Ward
Published: 1998
This is an anthology taken from work that was produced by the Hangleton and Brighton Women Writers' groups. The Hangleton group started meeting in July 1988 as part of the Hangleton and Knoll Community Festival. The aim of the programme was to introduce new writers and audiences to the notion of creative writing, using a variety of methods, to explore the central concerns and themes that impact on women's lives and to draw on their life experiences. For many women, it was the first time that they were able to see their work in print, and this was a positive and uplifting experience for them.The Town Beehive - A young girls lot in Brighton 1910 - 1934
Author(s): Daisy Noakes
Published: 1975(reprinted 1980)
This was first published in 1975 and was so popular that it quickly sold out. Brightonian, Daisy Noakes, tells her story from the age of fourteen, when she went into service. She gives us an insight into the life of a woman born and brought up in Brighton. Daisy documents – with humour - her inevitable trials and tribulations in the often physically demanding world that she inhabited during her working life. The autobiography covers her childhood, as one of a family of ten, living in Prince's Road and Vere Road, and her working days in service in different parts of the town. This is a special insight into Daisy's world and is a shining example of true grit and fortitude!Write from the Beginning - Special childhood days
Author(s): Irene Andrew, Dorothy Fuller, Gilbert Grover, Dave Huggins, Wendy Jones, Kit Keay, Lee Lacy, Kathleen Malenczak, Saviour Pirotta, Kathleen Wilson, Michael Wilson
Published: 2002
This work is the culmination of an eight-month creative writing programme that ran at QueenSpark from August 2001 to March 2002 and included two ten-week creative writing courses and four introductory sessions on writing autobiographically. Its aim was to involve new and diverse audiences and writers in the joys of creative writing. It utilised a variety of techniques and methods to explore two central themes; one of which was writing for children and the other was looking at childhood memories. This anthology contains work from the Vallance Memories Group and the Brunswick Older People"s Project and as well as being an enjoyable read, it provides a stimulus for reminiscence work, particularly with older members of the community.One Camp Chair in the Living Room - A Woman’s Life in Rottingdean
Author(s): Margaret Ward
Published: 1988
Born in 1916, Margaret Ward describes her life as a 'winding lane' because of the many twists and turns it has taken. Her autobiography describes her childhood in Rottingdean, growing up amongst a loving family in the picturesque Sussex seaside village. For Margaret, 'nowhere in the world is there such a lovely place' to grow up. Her story moves from childhood, through adolescence and working life to her eventual retirement. She recounts the inevitable good and bad times that she experienced, in her story of family life in a close-knit community of a trusting bygone age, when villagers knew and trusted their neighbours, and could leave their doors open or let their children roam freely outdoors.Shops Book - Shopkeepers and Street Traders in East Brighton 1900-1930
Author(s): Neil Griffiths
Published: 1978
Shopping plays a major part in all our lives: we are all affected by rising prices and the changes that have taken place to shops in our local areas. This book is about shopkeepers and street traders – drawing together their various experiences in East Brighton. Shops have certainly changed greatly in the last hundred years - as large firms, supermarkets and superstores have replaced the small-scale local producers and craftsmen. The reader is better able to understand these changes through reading of first-hand experiences, in this comprehensive study of a bygone era.