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Fiction by Care Experienced authors His dark materials / Philip Pullman. Philip Pullman 2001 Set against the dreaming spires of Jordan College and the dangerous wilderness of the frozen north, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy offers an intoxicating blend of imagination, science, theology and adventure. Northern Lights: Lyra Belacqua lives half-wild and carefree among the scholars of Jordan College, with her daemon familiar always by her side. But the arrival of her fearsome uncle, Lord Asriel, draws her to the heart of a terrible struggle – a struggle born of Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armoured bears. The Subtle Knife: Lyra finds herself in a shimmering, haunted otherworld – Cittàgazze, where soul-eating Spectres stalk the streets and wingbeats of distant angels sound against the sky. But she is not without allies: twelve-year-old Will Parry, fleeing for his life after taking another's, has also stumbled into this strange new realm. On a perilous journey from world to world, Lyra and Will uncover a deadly secret: an object of extraordinary and devastating power. And with every step, they move closer to an even greater threat – and the shattering truth of their own destiny. The Amber Spyglass: Will and Lyra, whose fates are bound together by powers beyond their own worlds, have been violently separated. But they must find each other, for ahead of them lies the greatest war that has ever been – and a journey to a dark place from which no one has ever returned . . . External Website

Autobiography/Memoir The Forgotten Children: Fairbridge Farm School and its Betrayal of Britain's Child Migrants to Australia David Hill 2010 In 1959 David Hill’s mother – a poor single parent living in England – reluctantly decided to send her sons to Fairbridge Farm School in New South Wales where, she was led to believe, they would have a good education and a better life. David was lucky – his mother was able to follow him out to Australia – but for most children, the reality was shockingly different. Here is the story of the lives of the Fairbridge children, from the bizarre luxury of the voyage out to Australia to the harsh reality of the first days there; from the crushing daily routine to stolen moments of freedom and the struggle that defined life after leaving the school. External Website

Films/Videos Inside 2024 Inside (2024) is an Australian prison drama film created by Charles Williams. Vincent Miller stars as Mel Blight, a young offender who has just been transferred from juvenile detention to an adult prison. He begins the process of being paroled but is wondering whether he should be. In the adult prison, Mel is mentored by Mark Shepard (Cosmo Jarvis) who is regarded as Australia’s most notorious criminal, and long-term prisoner Warren Murfett (Guy Pearce) who is also applying for parole. During one of the flashbacks we find out that Mel Bright’s father was also in prison and we suspect that his behaviour while on parole is the reason for Mel questioning the wisdom of parole. We also find out that Mel was in juvenile detention as a teenager because he killed a boy. External Website

Artists Robi Walters Robi Walters is a London-based artist. He takes unwanted, discarded objects and turns them beautiful and ‘wanted’ works of art reflecting the spirit of transformation with which he has turned his own life around. At 5 years old, Robi found himself firstly in kinship care with his grandparents and then foster care after the tragic death of his brother in a house fire. He lost his mother, his brother and his life as he carried around a heavy burden for the next 35 years. Art transformed him and his life as well as EDMR therapy which finally set him free. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Wide, Wide World Susan Warner 1850 Often thought of as America's first bestselling book, The Wide, Wide World (1850) by Susan Warner features a child in kinship care. Ellen Montgomery is taken to Europe to live with an aunt because her mother is ill. The aunt, Fortune Emerson, is unkind. After a time Ellen is invited to stay with relatives in Scotland where she is treated more benevolently, but the relatives become possessive, wanting Ellen to renounce her American heritage and her religion. Ellen returns to American after she marries John Humphreys, the brother of a friend she met when living with Fortune Emerson. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience They Do it with Mirrors (novel) Agatha Christie 1985 Miss Marple senses danger when she visits a friend living in a Victorian mansion which doubles as a rehabilitiation centre for 'delinquents'. Her fears are confirmed when a youth fires a revolver at the administrator, Lewis Serrocold. Neither is injured. But a mysterious visitor, Mr Gilbrandsen, is less fortunate – shot dead simultaneously in another part of the building. Also features an illegitimate child. The novel's first proper film adaptation was the 1985 television film Murder with Mirrors with Sir John Mills as Lewis Serrocold, Bette Davis as Carrie Louise, Tim Roth as Edgar Lawson and Helen Hayes as Miss Marple. A second adaptation was aired on 29 December 1991 in the BBC series Miss Marple starring Joan Hickson as Miss Marple, Jean Simmons as Carrie-Louise Serrocold, Joss Ackland as Lewis Serrocold and Faith Brook as Ruth van Rydock. The film was basically faithful to the novel, with the exception that Alexis survives the attack on his life. Also, Ruth van Rydock is present at the house when the first murder takes place and Lawson attempts to swim across the lake, and does not use a rotted boat. A third adaptation was aired on 1 January 2010 for the fourth season of the ITV series Agatha Christie's Marple, starring Julia McKenzie as Miss Marple, Penelope Wilton as Carrie Louise, Brian Cox as Lewis Serrocold, and Joan Collins as Ruth Van Rydock. This adaptation had several changes and additions. External Website

Actors Lee Majors Lee Majors (born Harvey Lee Yeary; April 23, 1939) is an American film, television and voice actor. Majors was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. His parents, Carl and Alice Yeary, were both killed in separate accidents (his father in a work accident 5 months prior to his birth and his mother in a car accident when he was almost 17 months old). At age two, Majors was adopted by his uncle and aunt, Harvey and Mildred Yeary and moved with them to Middlesboro, Kentucky. Majors is best known for portraying the characters of Heath Barkley in the American television Western series The Big Valley (1965–1969), Colonel Steve Austin in the American television science fiction action series The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–1978), and Colt Seavers in American television action series The Fall Guy (1981–1986). External Website

Films/Videos The Harder They Fall 2021 The Harder They Fall (2021) is a Western with a vigilante orphan character. Nat Love (Jonathan Majors) is 11 when his parents are murdered. 20 years later, Nat Love has his own gang and he seeks out and kills one of the culprits. The Harder They Fall is billed as revisionist history and features an ensemble cast of Black actors. It is based on the historical characters of Nat Love and Rufus Buck (Idris Elba). External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Down and Out: Surviving the Homelessness Crisis Daniel Lavelle 2022 Daniel Lavelle is a UK based freelance writer, who has written for The Guardian on social problems including homelessness and mental illness. He left care at 19, and experienced homelessness for the first time not long after. So began a life spent navigating social services that were not fit for purpose, leaving Daniel and many like him slipping through the cracks. In Down and Out, Daniel draws on his own experiences - as well as those of the witty, complex, hopeful individuals he has encountered who have been shunned or forgotten by the state that is supposed to provide for them - in order to shine a powerful light on this dire situation. Down and Out is a true state-of-the-nation examination of modern homelessness: assessing its significance, its precursors and causes, as well as the role played by government, austerity, charities, and other systems in perpetuating this crisis. Ultimately, it seeks to ask how we as a society might change our practices and attitudes so that, one day, we can bring this injustice to an end. External Website

Artists Ivan Durrant Australian painter, Ivan Durrant (b. 1947) was born in Melbourne, Victoria, one of 7 children. He was 7 when his mother – influenced by the father’s alcoholism- put her children into state care. Ivan lived in an orphanage from 1954 to 1962, but often went into foster care on farms during summer holidays. It was there he developed his passion for birds and animals. After Ivan was reunited with his family in 1962, he developed his interest in painting and held his first exhibition in St Kilda during 1970. Ivan Durrant is now known as an artist who uses art to create “great schock value”. His work is held in many public collections, including in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. External Website

Blogs/Web Pages/Articles Packing Like a Fury Tessa Hadley 2025 On 26 March 1965 Canadian writer Mavis Gallant’s short story “Orphans’ Progress” was published in The New Yorker. “Orphans’ Progress” in only 6 pages tells the story of the Collier sisters who, when they are six & ten and living in Montreal, are removed from their widowed mother and sent to live with their grandmother in Ontario. One of the well-meaning social workers who removed the girls says “I won’t forget the screams of Mildred when she was dragged out that pigsty.” The girls don’t recall the dirt; they do remember their mother’s art and that their own drawings were on the wall too. Cathie & Mildred learn that French is inferior – their mother is French-Canadian. Their grandmother speaks English. Mildred is adopted and by the time the girls are grown up they hardly know each other. “Orphans’ Progress” was published in “The Uncollected Stories of Mavis Gallant” in January 2025. The book is reviewed by Tessa Hadley for the London Review of Books, https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n06/tessa-hadley/packing-like-a-fury External Website

Films/Videos The Windermere Children 2020 The Windermere Children is a movie starring Thomas Kretschmann, Romola Garai, and Iain Glen. This is the story of children repatriated at the end of WWII from Poland and taken to live in a camp in the Lakes District in England. Here, the children are helped to rebuild their lives and integrate into British society. External Website

Autobiography/Memoir An Orphan's Escape: Memories of a Lost Childhood Frank Golding 2005 This is a story about Frank's childhood in the Ballarat Orphan Asylum. Life there was funny, difficult, boring and fun. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience Death in Holy Orders (Novel) P.D.James 2001 Death in Holy Orders (2001) is a crime novel by noted British novelist PD James (1920-2014). The setting is a Church of England theological college, Saint Anselm’s, which trains Anglican priests. Saint Anselm’s is located on a cliff along the Suffolk coast. There are 3 Care Experienced characters in the story – Ronald Treves, an adoptee; Raphael Arbuthnot, who was abandoned at Saint Anselm’s as a baby; and Kate Miskin, who was raised by her grandmother. Ronald Treves and Raphael Arbuthnot are ordinands or trainee priests; Kate Miskin is a police office with the Metropolitan police. The police, let by Adam Dalgliesh (who features in 14 of James’ novels), is investigating the brutal murder of a visiting archdeacon. *Spoiler Alert* None of the Care Experienced characters are murderers. External Website

Television Shows Fearless 2017 Fearless is a six-part British crime thriller television drama series created by screenwriter Patrick Harbinson and broadcast on ITV in 2017. The series follows human-rights lawyer Emma Banville (Helen McCrory) as she tries to prove convicted murderer Kevin Russell innocent of the murder of schoolgirl Linda Simms 14 years earlier. Russell asserts that he is innocent of the crime, and Emma believes that his conviction was a miscarriage of justice. She goes to extreme lengths to discover the truth. Meanwhile Emma while taking care of a Syrian refugee and her baby, Emma prepares to adopt a child with her boyfriend, Steve, all while dealing with negative headlines and comforting her terminally ill father, Arthur. External Website

Fiction featuring Care Experience The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey (2) 2022 Another of the Josephine Tey books published by Penguin in 2022 is The Daughter in Time (1951). Inspector Alan Grant is in hospital and begins investigating the story of Richard III and the allegations he had ordered the murder of 2 nephews - 12 year old Edward, Prince of Wales (b. 1470) and briefly Edward V, King of England (although never crowned) and his younger brother, Richard, Duke of York (b. 1473). Grant concludes that the allegations against Richard III are unwarranted. However, it does seem to be the case that the 2 boys were living in the Tower of London and were away from their parents. External Website

Writers Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati 1858-1922 Indian writer and social reformer, Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati (1858-1922), was orphaned at the age of 16. Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati was born Ramabai Dongre. Her father was a Sanskrit scholar and home-schooled his daughter in Sanskrit. After she was orphaned, Ramabai and her brother travelled across India reciting Sanskrit scriptures. She went on to become the 1st woman in India to earn the title of pandita (meaning Sanskirt scholar) from the University of Calcutta at the age of 20. Ramabai married in 1880 then after her husband’s death in 1882, she founded the Arya Mahila Samaj, a society of Hindu women promoting the education of girls. She also published her 1st book, Morals for Women. Pandita Ramabai travelled to Britian in 1883 where she converted to Christianity. In 1886, she travelled to the US where she published The High Caste Hindu Woman, widely considered her most important book. In 1888 Pandita Ramabai returned to India and the following year opened an education centre in Chowpatty, an area of Mumbai (then Bombay). During the late 1880s, Pandita Ramabai became involved in housing thousands of child widows, orphans and destitute women at the Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission https://globalaid.net/2019/11/15/mukti-mission-a-place-to-love-and-be-loved/ External Website

Autobiography/Memoir Saying Goodbye to Violet David Jackson 2011 Recipes for Survival: Stories of Hope and Healing by Survivors of the State ‘Care’ System in Australia is a collection of stories by those who have grown up in care in Australia during the 20th century and is therefore contribution to a growing body of literature on the experiences of the Forgotten Australians. External Website

Television Shows The Last Tycoon 2016 The Last Tycoon (2016) is an American television series adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's last novel of the same name. The novel was unfinished and posthumously published in 1941. The series is about film industry based in Hollywood in the 1930's and raises many issues - about fascism, social class, war, race & ethnicity, bullying bosses, blackmail, greed. There is a kinship care family featured throughout. A young man, Max Miner (Mark O'Brien) and his school age sister and brother. They've walked from Olkahoma to Hollywood and Max eventually gets a job on the movie set run by Pat Grady (Kelsey Grammer). A side story is that of one of the cellists, Hannah Taub (Melia Kreiling) who arrives with the Austrian National Orchestra. An orphan and Jewish, she was raised by Catholic nuns. She elects to stay in the US given the rise of fascism in Europe. External Website

Children's Fiction The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain 1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1835-1910) is set in the 1840s in the small town of St. Petersburg, Missouri (based on Hannibal in Missouri where Mark Twain lived as a child). Tom Sawyer is an orphan who lives with his Aunt Polly and brother Sid. Tom is an entrepreneurial character, often persuading other boys to pay him for doing his work, eg, painting the front fence. Tom’s many adventures include running away from home with his friends Joe Harper & Huckleberry Finn and returning in time to attend his own funeral. There was controversy in 2011 when a new edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) removed offensive racist words. External Website