We will be welcoming Nicola to our February 2nd, 2022 meeting. Nicola grew up in Devon, France and West Sussex. She studied English Literature at University and taught in secondary schools for 23 years, 15 of which were at an inner-city comprehensive. She has a passion for poetry and was runner up in the Poetry Book Society poetry competition, judged by Carol Ann Duffy.
29 Locks (2021) is her first novel and is the story of the troubled life of Donny, an East London boy of mixed race parentage who is fostered out and takes an unauthorised canal boat trip from Hertfordshire to London. Her book has been well received as an authentic portrait of urban teen life, marred by casual violence, drug abuse and family tragedy.
See more at her website : https://nicola-garrard.co.uk