Elaine Ramsay
In 1959 as a young suburban girl from a strict, conventional home, I left school to work in a grand London Mayfair hair salon and found myself immediately engulfed in a completely alien culture. At first this new world overwhelmed me. But the staffroom was alive with witty banter and funny anecdotes and I soon came to feel a part of it all. I grew to understand the underlying cynicism that some of my fellow workers had – the fact that Society as a whole despised them. And I learned to recognise the differences between those brave enough to present themselves overtly – ‘take me as you find me’ – and those who lived a secret life in fear.
In those days I was a writer in spirit only – never active. Nor later when I had children and family to care for. I started to write properly when I retired, and the growing media coverage of LGBT matters by then, prompted my early memories. Homosexual practices were made legal in 1967 but it has taken decades for Society to respect and accept it. Even now it remains a contentious issue for some.
I worked for a number of years in hairdressing before joining the Civil Service and getting a BA degree and teaching qualifications. My first novel The Pit (Matador 2013) is an environmentally themed story in the style of Watership Down. Violet Eyes is my second novel.
I was born and raised in Ruislip, worked in London and retired to Market Harborough Leicestershire. I have two wonderful children, four fabulous grandchildren, a soulmate husband, and Barney our cocker spaniel would probably win a Crufts medal for loving steadfast loyalty, if there was such a prize – which of course there should be.
