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Children's Fiction Hetty Feather (novel) Jacqueline Wilson 2010 London, 1876. Hetty Feather is just a tiny baby when her mother leaves her at the Foundling Hospital. The Hospital cares for abandoned children - but Hetty must first live with a foster family until she is big enough to go to school. Hetty's happiness is threatened when she must return to the Foundling Hospital to begin her education. The new life of awful uniforms and terrible food is a struggle for her, and she desperately misses her beloved Jem. But now she has the chance to find her real mother. Could she really be the wonderful Madame Adeline? Or will Hetty find the truth is even more surprising? Featuring a brand-new feisty Victorian heroine in this historical novel, Hetty Feather, is compelling, moving and funny. External Website

Authors M Modesty Blaise ➝ Back to Top

Authors W Oprah: The Little Speaker ➝ Back to Top

Children's Fiction When Marnie was There Joan G Robinson 1967 When Marnie Was There is a novel by British author Joan G. Robinson, first published in 1967 by Collins. The story follows Anna, in foster care, a young girl who temporarily moves to Norfolk to heal after becoming ill. There she meets a mysterious and headstrong girl named Marnie who lives in a house overlooking the marshes External Website

Cartoons Not all Superheroes wear capes! ​ 2021 Linus has created these animations to help promote The Christmas Dinner Middlesbrough & Teesside. Linus Fossu! Linus is autistic, has learning disabilities and suffers from PTSD and he is also a care leaver! Linus taught himself to animate: https://www.facebook.com/350662655977969/videos/1083234089094701 External Website

Biography of Care Experienced People Eliza Hamilton Dunlop Anna Johnston et al 2021 In the year Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (1796-1880) was born in Ireland, her mother died and her father took his 2 sons and left for India. Eliza was therefore raised by her paternal grandmother. She migrated to Australia with her 2nd husband, David Dunlop, in 1838 and became an activist on behalf of Aboriginal people. Although she published poetry in colonial newspapers, including The Aboriginal Mother which made her famous, her work was neglected after her death. This collection of essays considers her work from a range of perspectives and includes some of her poetry. External Website

Actors Kathy Burke ​ ​ Katherine Lucy Bridget Burke (born 13 June 1964) is an English actress, comedian, writer, producer, and director. She was born in London; her mother died of cancer when she was just two and Kathy was fostered for four years by neighbours. At the age of six, Kathy returned to live with her father and 2 brothers. Kathy Burke achieved fame with her appearances on sketch shows such as French and Saunders (1988–1999) and her recurring role as Magda on the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992–1996), as well as her frequent collaborations with fellow comedian Harry Enfield. For her portrayal of Valerie in the 1997 film Nil by Mouth, she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Burke made her film debut in the 1982 drama Scrubbers, and played Queen Mary I in the award-winning biographical film Elizabeth (1998). Her other film appearances include Sid and Nancy (1986), Dancing at Lughnasa (1998), This Year's Love (1999), Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000), The Martins (2001), Anita and Me (2002), and Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002). From 1999 to 2001, she starred as Linda La Hughes on the BBC sitcom Gimme Gimme Gimme, for which she received a British Comedy Award and two BAFTA nominations. Having spent most of the 2000s concentrating on her work as a theatre director, she returned to film roles in the 2010s with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Pan (2015), and Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie (2016). External Website

Authors V Valda ➝ Back to Top

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles The life-changing power of a street dog named Lucy Ishbel Holmes 2018 Sick of a life facing cruelty and horror Ishbel Holmes - who was in foster care as a teenager - decided to take to her bike and cycle the world. On her trip she came across a lame, abandoned dog who changed everything. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Coram in literature Coram (Literature) 2020 This website includes examples of literature inspired by foundlings and Care Experienced People. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Boy Swallows Universe (Novel) Trent Dalton 2019 Brisbane, 1983: A lost father, a mute brother, a mum in jail, a heroin dealer for a stepfather and a notorious crim for a babysitter. It's not as if 13 year old Eli Bell's life isn't complicated enough already. The 'notorious crim' in the story, Slim Halliday, grew up in children's homes. He spent time in prison as an adult, including 27 years for murder. Slim babysits Eli and his brother every Saturday and becomes Eli's best friend. External Website

Fiction by Care Experienced authors Emily of New Moon Lucy Maud Montgomery 1923 Emily of New Moon is the first in a series of novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery about an orphan girl growing up on Prince Edward Island, Canada. First published in 1923, it is similar to the author's Anne of Green Gables series. External Website

Authors R Eleanor, Quiet No More ➝ Back to Top

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles The Wizardry of Boz Literary Hub (3) 2023 In the wake of the 2023 television adaptation of Great Expectations (2023) being announced, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst wrote this piece for Literary Hub about the many versions of Charles Dickens’ stories for the screen. Douglas-Fairhurst goes so far as to say “that no other novelist has been adapted for the screen nearly as often—or as successfully—as Dickens. More than 400 films and TV series have been created so far…Dickens’s stories run through the history of popular entertainment like the lettering through a stick of seaside rock.” Douglas-Fairhurst then goes on to tell the story of some of these adaptations, and discusses how Dickens’ stories influenced early films even when there wasn’t an adaptation - such as The Kid (1921) starring Care Experienced Actor Charlie Chaplin. External Website

Authors L Pippi Longstocking ➝ Back to Top

Children's Fiction Coram Boy Jamila Gavin 2015 The Coram man takes babies and money from desperate mothers, promising to deliver them safely to a Foundling Hospital in London. Instead, he murders them and buries them by the roadside, to the helpless horror of his mentally ill son, Mish. Mish saves one, Aaron, who grows up happily unaware of his history, proving himself a promising musician. External Website

Children's Fiction Peter Pan in Kensington Garden J M Barrie 1977 The story of Peter Pan had its genesis in the 1902 novel "the Little White Bird", the central chapters of which tell of a child "who escaped from being a human when he was seven days old and flew back to Kensington Gardens". Barrie developed this story both into a play (first performed in 1904 but not published until 1928) and this book of 1906. External Website

Comics, Comic books & Graphic Novels Orphan Black Orphan Black 2015 Orphan Black is a limited series of comic books based on the television series Orphan Black, which airs on BBC America in the United States and Space in Canada. Sarah's life was changed dramatically after witnessing the suicide of a woman who looked just like her. Sarah learned that, not only were she and the woman clones, but there were others just like them, and dangerous factions at work set on capturing them all. External Website

Children's Fiction The Ruby In The Smoke: 1 (A Sally Lockhart Mystery) Philip Pullman 2015 The first in the Sally Lockhart Mysteries. Sally is sixteen and uncommonly pretty. Her knowledge of English literature, French, history, art and music is non-existent, but she has a thorough grounding in military tactics, can run a business, ride like a Cossack and shoot straight with a pistol. When her dear father is drowned in suspicious circumstances in the South China Sea, Sally is left to fend for herself, an orphan and alone in the smoky fog of Victorian London. Though she doesn't know it, Sally is already in terrible danger. Soon the mystery and the danger will deepen - and at the rotten heart of it all lies the deadly secret of the ruby in the smoke... 2:The Shadow in the North It is 1878. Following a fraudulent medium's ramblings, a Scottish magician's visions, and a transport ship's disappearance, Sally finds that she must seek help from old friends, and finds herself losing all she holds dear trying to uncover the truth behind the North Star, the Steam Gun, and the mysterious businessman Axel Bellmann. 3:The Tiger in the Well Main article: The Tiger in the Well It is 1881. A trap has been sprung, a trap which has been in preparation for years. The barely human Tzaddik is behind this, and his demons are far greater than anything Sally Lockhart can muster. With the law, the Tzaddik's henchmen, and luck against her, she is forced to go undercover, leaving behind her family and friends as she is sucked into the well... 4:The Tin Princess Main article: The Tin Princess It is 1882. Jim finds Adelaide, a girl who went missing as a poor urchin during Sally's first encounter with danger, and finds that she has married into the royal family of Razkavia, a small country near Germany. However, resentment is rife within the palace, and plots develop to dethrone the family and join Germany. Only the Eagle can stop them. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Letters to Gil Malik Al Nasir 2021 Letters to Gil tells the story of Gil Scott-Heron (who had been in kinship care as a child) mentoring a young Malik Al Nasir (or Mark T. Watson as he was known then). Malik Al Nasir was born to a Welsh mother and Guyanese father and taken into care when he was 9 after his father was paralysed. He later sued the government for the way he was treated when in care. An accidental meeting between Gil Scott-Hron and Malik Al Nasir contributed significantly to Malik's becoming a performance poet and social commentator. External Website