This week, the lovely Fay Cunningham shares her Inheritance Books.

Hi Fay, welcome to the blog. Please tell me a bit about yourself.

My name is Fay Cunningham and I am a writer. 

Even when I was doing multiple other jobs like PA to a CEO, secretary at the East Anglian Examinations Board and a sales rep for Empire Stores, I still considered myself a writer. It began at school, I think, when I was about 11years old and got an award for writing a short story about a dog. From then on I was hooked. I am an only child and my friends lived mostly in my head.

When I was very small I lived with my grandmother and my aunt. My grandfather was an invalid and bed-ridden, but I remember sitting on his bed while he read me a story. He died when I was about six years old and I wish I had been given time to know him better. My grandmother and my aunt were avid readers as well, so I think I get my love of books from them. The house was always full of books and my reading was never censored, even when I was very small. I read Pilgrim’s Progress when I was ten, and I know there was a copy of Lady Chatterley in the house because I remember flipping through it. I think I found it rather boring.

I had a long absence from writing while I was bringing up three daughters and looking after grandchildren. I am now retired so I have time to write. I love writing, but I like living too, particularly holidays abroad, so I make sure writing doesn’t take up all my time. I write crime and romantic suspense and I am a member of the RNA. All my books are available on Amazon.

Which book have you inherited from a generation above you? Why is it special?

I have inherited several old books from my grandmother: a 1909 copy of The Water-Babies (the original title has a hyphen) by Charles Kingsley with illustrations by Warwick Goble; and a 1916 copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-glass and What Alice Found There (again, the original title of the book). This has illustrations by John Tenniel and the pictures are just magical.

Which book would you like to leave to future generations? Why?

I loved Water Babies as a child, and I will definitely leave this to my great grandchildren – if it lasts that long. I was taught that books are for reading, so all the old ones are a bit the worse for wear, but very much loved. Not only for the wonderful stories, but for the memories that live within each page.

I remember reading The Water Babies and finding it slightly scary. I can’t remember why it scared me though. It was probably the chimneys.

Thanks for sharing your Inheritance Books, Fay. Hope to see you again soon.

Fay’s latest novella ‘Love or Marriage‘ is available on Amazon.