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Authors N We Are Wolves ➝ The Sound of Everything ➝ The Cat Who Saved Books ➝ Fablehouse ➝ Close Your Pretty Eyes (11-13 years) ➝ Runaways ➝ Back to Top

Authors A Marina Abramović ➝ Al's Art ➝ Maria Amidu ➝ Louise Allen (artist) ➝ Frank Auerbach - artist ➝ Back to Top

Children's Fiction Tales of the Weird, the Wild and the Wonderful Sophie Willan 2017 Tales of the Weird, the Wild and the Wonderful is the first of its kind: a dazzling collection of short stories, jam-packed with rambunctious characters on daring adventures written exclusively by Care Leavers for children. Discover why Franny Georgette Tinkleboom has been travelling around the world in a van that has giant mouse ears... And why Spike, the most mischievous hedgehog in Rivington Pike, keeps wandering off into the dark night... And what happens when you drink a wicked orange potion like Alicia Moonfall... Includes a foreword by Lemn Sissay External Website

Autobiography/Memoir A Lonely Little Girl Goes to University Pam Petrilli 2015 Pam Petrilli was in foster care as a child. In this chapter she talks of going to university as a mature age student, encouraged by her daughter. External Website

Writers Jenny Diski Jenny Diski (1947-2016) was born Jenny Simmonds, the only child of Jewish immigrants. Jenny’s first foray into foster care was as a 6-year-old; her mother, Rene, had a breakdown when her father deserted the family. James, who had done time for fraud, came back but left again, permanently, 5 years later. Jenny’s involvement with the local council included them arranging boarding school for her. It was at St Christopher’s, a boarding school in Hertfordshire noted for being progressive, that Jenny met Doris Lessing’s son, Peter, who, although not a close friend, asked if his mother could help Jenny when she was expelled from the school. At 15, Jenny moved in with Doris Lessing who had recently published The Golden Notebook (1962) to critical and feminist acclaim. At the beginning of her stay with Doris, Jenny continued doing paid work—as her father had insisted—but Doris soon persuaded James that Jenny should go back to school. However, Doris couldn’t persuade St Christopher’s to take her back, so Jenny went to a local day school while Peter remained at boarding school. At 19, Jenny was in her final year of school and given her exit orders by Lessing, shortly before her father died. Doris then retracted and said Jenny could stay while she went to university, but Jenny left. After a stint working as a teacher, Jenny Diski went on to become a productive writer – of 11 novels, of reviews and essays for the London Review of Books (who published a selection of these in Don’t (1998)), and of 9 non-fiction works. Jenny Diski and Doris Lessing remained in contact with each other until Lessing's death in 2013. External Website

Television Shows Fred & Rose West: A British Horror Story 2025 Fred & Rose West: A British Horror Story (2025) tells the story of the investigation which led to the discovery that Fred & Rosemary West – between 1967 and 1987 – had murdered at least 12 young girls & women. Victims included their 2 daughters and several girls who had been in the care system: 15 year old Carole Ann Cooper who was living in a children’s home; 15 year old Shirley Hubbard who had grown up in foster care; and 16 year old Alison Jane Chamber who was living in a care home when she went missing. Fred West killed himself in prison on 1 January 1995. He had “verbally admitted” to 11 murders. Rosemary West was convicted of 10 murders & is serving time in HM Prison New Hall in West Yorkshire. External Website

Radio & Podcast How to Tell Your Life Story: Rob Henderson How I Write 2024 In 2024, Rob Henderson published his memoir, Troubled, in which he tells the story of growing up in the American foster care system, enlisting in the US Air Force, studying at Yale, and attaining a PhD from Cambridge University in England. In this interview with David Perell, Rob Henderson talks about his writing process, from making the decision to write a memoir despite being a young man to what stories should be included. External Website

Writers Jenni Fagan Dr. Jenni Fagan was born in 1977 in Scotland and spent time in the Scottish Local Authority care system. She was adopted twice and was moved 26 times. After leaving the care system Fagan was homeless for several years. She graduated from Greenwich University and won a scholarship to the Royal Holloway MFA programme. She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh. A published poet and novelist, she has won awards from Creative Scotland, Dewar Arts, Scottish Screen and Scottish Book Trust among others, and has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Jenni was selected as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists after the publication of her debut novel, The Panopticon, which was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize and the James Tait Black Prize. Her adaptation of The Panopticon was staged by the National Theatre of Scotland to great acclaim. The Sunlight Pilgrims, her second novel, was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Encore Award and the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award, and saw her win Scottish Author of the Year at the Herald Culture Awards. She lives in Edinburgh with her son. External Website

Authors D The Aboriginal Mother and other poems ➝ Back to Top

Actors Brian Cox Brian Denis Cox (born 1 June 1946) is a Scottish actor who works in film, television and theatre. Brian's father died when Brian was eight and his mother was institutionalised. Brian was cared for by his older sisters until his mother came home. Brian has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he gained recognition for his portrayal of King Lear. He currently stars as media magnate Logan Roy on HBO's Succession. Cox is also known for appearing in Super Troopers, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, X2, Braveheart, Rushmore, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Troy. He was the first actor to portray Hannibal Lecter on film, in 1986's Manhunter. An Olivier Award, Emmy Award and Golden Globe winner, Cox has also been nominated for a BAFTA and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2006, Empire readers voted him the recipient of the Empire Icon Award. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Just A Child Sammy Woodhouse 2018 Sammy Woodhouse was 14 when she became the victim of grooming. Her relationship with her parents and siblings broke down and she ended up in foster care. After escaping, Sammy had the courage to blow the whistle on child sexual exploitation in Rotherham, prompting the Jay Report that identified at least 1400 victims, and culminating in a high-profile court case that saw her abuser jailed for 35 years. External Website

Academic Books & Book Chapters Orphan texts: Victorian orphans, culture and empire Laura Peters 2013 In one of the first studies of its kind, Orphan texts seeks to insert the orphan, and the problems its existence poses, in the larger critical areas of the family and childhood in Victorian culture. In doing so, Laura Peters considers certain canonical texts alongside lesser known works from popular culture in order to establish the context in which discourses of orphanhood operated. The study argues that the prevalence of the orphan figure can be explained by considering the family. The family and all it came to represent - legitimacy, race and national belonging - was in crisis. In order to reaffirm itself the family needed a scapegoat: it found one in the orphan figure. As one who embodied the loss of the family, the orphan figure came to represent a dangerous threat to the family; and the family reaffirmed itself through the expulsion of this threatening difference. The vulnerable and miserable condition of the orphan, as one without rights, enabled it to be conceived of, and treated as such, by the very institutions responsible for its care. Orphan texts will be of interest to final year undergraduates, postgraduates, academics and those interested in the areas of Victorian literature, Victorian studies, postcolonial studies, history and popular culture. External Website

Films/Videos Matilda The Musical 2022 Matilda the Musical (2022) is an adaption of the 2011 stage musical (which was an adaptation of the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl). During the film, Matilda (Alisha Weir) tells a story (to librarian Mrs Phelps) of a escapologist and acrobat who have a child. When the acrobat dies, the child is left with the acrobat's stepsister who treats her cruelly. Matilda later learns that the escapologist and acrobat were Miss Honey's (Lashana Lynch) parents, and the stepsister is the brutal Miss Trunchbull (Emma Thompson). After Trunchbull is banished from Crunchem Hall, Matilda moves in with Miss Honey and the school is renamed The Big Friendly School External Website

Authors M Marilyn Monroe ➝ Olive Morris ➝ Back to Top

Authors C Voices of the Lost Children of Greece: Oral Histories of Cold War International Adoption ➝ Goodna Girls ➝ Weaving a Web of Belonging: Developing a Trauma-Informed Culture for All Children ➝ Back to Top

Fiction featuring Care Experience 1989 Val McDermid 2022 Val McDermid's 1989 (2022) has Allie Burns investigate mischief by Big Pharma in the context of the AIDS crisis. Tucked into the background is the WWII story of a Jewish baby being given away to a Polish couple to save the child's life. In 1989, that baby's son wants to find out more about his Jewish heritage and in the process a media moghul's 'dark secret' is exposed. External Website

Authors R Roy Dwight ➝ Rale Rasic ➝ Leon Reid ➝ Back to Top

Non Fiction Lost Children of the Empire (Routledge Library Editions: The British Empire) Philip Bean & Joy Melville 1989 This is the story of an inhuman chapter in Britain's history. Between 1860 and 1930 some 130,000 children were shipped off to parts of the British Empire and forgotten. It was a cheap way of emptying homes and populating the colonies. Many were subjected to cruelty, with names changed, records withheld and brought up to believe that they were orphans. But the shocking part of the story is that it did not end in the 1930s. After World War II, some 10,000 children were transported to Australia with the last batch going as late as 1967. The book looks at the remarkable story of the Child Migrants Trust set up in 1987 to trace relations and help both sides of the family come to terms with what happened. External Website

Television Shows Baptiste 2021 British crime drama, Baptiste (2020-2021), has a boy in state care in the 2nd series. The series is set in Budapest, Hungary where Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo) has gone to help the British ambassador, Emma Chambers (Fiona Shaw), find the missing members of her family. The series is about the rise of nationalism and anti-immigration in Europe, and Balazs Dobos (Atanaz Babinchak) - in foster care and then a group home - has gotten caught up in a thuggish gang who beat up, and eventually kill, Turkish immigrant shopkeeper Mehmet (Kevork Malikyan). While Balazs is complicit in the crimes against Mehmet, at least 2 of dangerous young men in the show come from privilege, respectability and a nuclear family. External Website

Films/Videos We Have a Ghost 2023 We have a Ghost (2023, Netflix) is an American comedy supernatural film with a kinship care story in the background. The film tells the story of a family of 4 who discover a ghost, Ernest (David Harbour), in the attic of their new home. Father Frank Presley (Anthony Mackie) wants to cash in on the phenomenon and starts posting video to YouTube. The family becomes famous. Youngest son Kevin Presley (Jahi Winston) befriends Ernest and discovers that the ghost has a daughter who was raised by Ernest’s in-laws. In the meantime, the CIA get involved … External Website