He thought he must have been drunk after all as the deer crumpled up the bonnet to glance off the windscreen. It was a fairytale animal, springing from the trees on the roundabout. It had no business there,it must be a magical trick, an illusion.
The dead deer is just the perfect horrible ending to a terrible day for Lainey Bannister. As she sits in her van in the gridlock she sifts through her problems, trying to find her way in the world. Just beyond her, Stella clutches her steering wheel, tired after another day finding ways to fight against the aftermath of a family tragedy. In another lane, in another van sit Scott and Smith, the best of frienemies. On another sliproad Delia ponders the battle of wills that is raging between her and her mother. From this moment their lives will wind and weave together bringing love and redemption, comfort and confrontation as around them the town goes about its dwindling business unaware that everyone in every street, is looking for their own small miracles.
Helen Slavin was born in Heywood in Lancashire in 1966. She was raised by eccentric parents on a diet of Laurel and Hardy, William Shakespeare and the Blackpool Illuminations. Educated at her local comp her favourite subjects at school were English and Going Home.
After The University of Warwick she worked in many jobs including, plant and access hire, a local government Education department typing pool, and a vasectomy clinic. A job as a television scriptwriter gave her the opportunity to spend all day drinking tea, living in a made-up fantasy world and getting paid for it (sometimes).
Helen has been a professional writer for fifteen years. Her first novel The Extra Large Medium was chosen as the winner in the Long Barn Books competition run by Susan Hill.
A paragliding Welsh husband and two children distract her and give her ample opportunity to spend all day drinking tea, nagging about homework and washing pants for England. In the wee small hours she still keeps a bijou flat in that fantasy world of writing.When not working with animals and striving for world peace, Helen enjoys the music of Elbow and baking bread. Her favourite colour is purple and if she had to be stranded on a desert island with someone it would be Ray Mears ( alright, George Clooney is very good looking but can he make fire with a stick? No. See?)
She now lives, with her family, in Trowbridge, Wiltshire where, when she’s not writing, she’s asleep. Or in Tescos.