John  Needham

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John Needham

Goodreads Author


Born
in The United Kingdom
Website

Genre

Influences

Member Since
December 2012

URL


I was born in Rutland, the smallest (it's tiny) county in England. The first part of my childhood was spent idyllically (or so it seems in retrospect) in a village of limestone cottages; the second in the nearby Georgian town of Stamford. I began working life as a compositor, where I first became addicted to printer's ink, before going to art college and training for a graphic designer and occasional copywriter.
Later I discovered another addiction: renovating old houses (and it won't escape your notice that my novel Convergence is semi-autobiographical) and followed that noble calling for twenty years. The final chapter of my working life was spent landscape gardening.
Now blissfully retired in a village in Wales, I read a lot, write a lo
...more

Nature or nurture?

What happens when identical twins, born to a teenage mother who’s unable to cope and abandons them, are separately adopted after their less-than-ideal start in life and brought up in decidedly disparate family circumstances?

Yes, I know, it would be unlikely to happen nowadays, when every effort is made to keep adopted siblings together. But it did happen like that in days gone by for various reas Read more of this blog post »
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Published on October 09, 2014 15:45
Average rating: 4.53 · 47 ratings · 29 reviews · 8 distinct works
Convergence

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 14 ratings — published 2012 — 2 editions
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Forebears

4.60 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions
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The One of Us

4.75 avg rating — 8 ratings — published 2014 — 2 editions
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Secret Shame

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2015 — 2 editions
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Another Spring: Five heart-...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2014
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The Flautist

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 3 ratings2 editions
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Awakening

4.33 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 2015
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Wishing for the Better: The...

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating
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Quotes by John Needham  (?)
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“He extricated himself from her encircling arm and she moaned a little and curled away from him. He moved close again, foetally fitting himself to her shape, wrapping his arm around her waist. She awoke briefly and clasped his hand tightly to her belly, and murmured sleepily, 'I do love you Martin.'
Choked, he buried his face in the smooth nape of her neck, and summoned the courage to tell her what he hadn't dared say; that he loved her too, more than he could ever have imagined possible.”
John Needham

“Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again.”
C.S. Lewis

“I placed my face so close to his that his features became indistict, and I began to lose myself in them. I stroked his hair, his skin, his brow, with my fingertips, tears sliding unchecked down my cheeks, my nose against his, and all the time he watched me silently, studying me intently as if he were storing each molecule of me away. He was already retreating withdrawing to somewhere I couldn't reach him.
I kissed him, trying to bring him back. I kissed him and let my lips rest against his so that our breath mingled and the tears from my eyes became salt on his skin, and I told myself that, somewhere, tiny particles of him would become tiny particles of me, ingested, swallowed, alive perpetual. I wanted to press every bit of me against him. I wanted to will something into him. I wanted to give him every bit of life I felt and force him to life.
I held him, Will Traynor ex-City whiz kid, ex-stunt diver, sportsman, traveller, lover. I held him close and said nothing, all the while telling him silently that he was loved. Oh, but he was loved.”
Jojo Moyes, Me Before You

“He extricated himself from her encircling arm and she moaned a little and curled away from him. He moved close again, foetally fitting himself to her shape, wrapping his arm around her waist. She awoke briefly and clasped his hand tightly to her belly, and murmured sleepily, 'I do love you Martin.'
Choked, he buried his face in the smooth nape of her neck, and summoned the courage to tell her what he hadn't dared say; that he loved her too, more than he could ever have imagined possible.”
John Needham

“The smile came out like a newborn foal – its legs buckled immediately.”
Chris Cleave, Gold

“I turned in my seat. Will’s face was in shadow and I couldn’t quite make it out.
‘Just hold on. Just for a minute.’
‘Are you all right?’ I found my gaze dropping towards his chair, afraid some part of him was pinched, or trapped, that I had got something wrong.
‘I’m fine. I just . . . ’
I could see his pale collar, his dark suit jacket a contrast against it.
‘I don’t want to go in just yet. I just want to sit and not have to think about . . . ’ He swallowed.
Even in the half-dark it seemed effortful.
‘I just . . . want to be a man who has been to a concert with a girl in a red dress. Just for a few minutes more.’
I released the door handle.
‘Sure.’
I closed my eyes and lay my head against the headrest, and we sat there together for a while longer, two people lost in remembered music, half hidden in the shadow of a castle on a moonlit hill.”
Jojo Moyes, Me Before You

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message 2: by John

John Issitt Hi John. Hey I come from Leicester. I used to drink Ruddles county and spent many an hour in the lanes of Rutland discovering new watering holes.

Best of luck


message 1: by Gwen

Gwen Hi John!

Welcome to Goodreads! Thank you for the friend invite. I look forward to chatting with you about good books!

Merry Christmas!

Gwen :)


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