Meet the Author - interview

http://raymondnickford-psychologicalsuspense.weebly.com

I'm fascinated by studies into troubled or dysfunctional characters who may nevertheless find that every cloud can ultimately have a silver lining; if life is a struggle, however depressing, it really is still better to try and fail than not to try at all, so that if the end to a novel is not 'happy' in the sentimental sense, the work, judged as a whole, should be affirmative of life or uplifting.

Perhaps this is what first led me to my degree in Psychology and Philosophy from the University College of North Wales.

Souls – particularly troubled ones; the outsider, the lonely, any driven to extremity – have been indispensable for my books including: “Aristo’s Family”, “Mister Kreasey’s Demon”, “Twists in the Tale”, "A Child from the Wishing Well", "Cupboard of Skeletons" and "Family Tree.

Excerpts, samples and where to buy can be found on my website:

http://raymondnickford-psychologicalsuspense.weebly.com

My favourite producer is Alfred Hitchcock and, amongst others, some living some dead, I admire the authors Patricia Highsmith, Ian McEwan, Vikram Seth, Ruth Rendell and, particularly, D H Lawrence - for he was sorely troubled in his own right and yet his work can be so tender.

Perhaps, to some extent, my teaching of English in colleges and as a private tutor, has informed my new book "A Child from the Wishing Well."

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Child-Wishing-Well-Raymond-Nickford-ebook/dp/B005NWRKCQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1385059127&sr=1-1&keywords=a+child+from+the+wishing+well

This features an eerie music tutor, her young pupil Rosie and Rosie's paranoid and inept father, Gerard, who nevertheless struggles against mental illness to reach out to his lonely daughter.

The book was selected for the Harper Collins Gold Star Award, May 2010.

Apart from my dear wife and daughter, my passion is for plump, docile tabbies and - on a 'slightly' different level – I'm most moved by the music and life of the composer Edward Elgar; my interest leading me each year to a cottage in the Malvern Hills and to the Three Choirs Festival.