Molly Cullen - Blessings on the Wild ChildDescriptionMolly Cullen is a naive seventeen year old on the brink of the London art scene in the 1960's. Fuelled by dreams of success and fame as an artist, she gains a place at a London art school and it is her dreams that sustain her through the pain and disappointments she faces in the ensuing years. Molly Cullen is a fast-paced tale of a young woman's struggle against tremendous odds. Molly is a survivor but more than that she is a girl who just will not give up. Her tenacity and inner strength help her overcome the loss of innocence and the trials she must face. As Molly comes to terms with, and learns to celebrate, her lesbian identity, the reader travels with her on the roller-coaster ride that is her young life. Molly's thoughts about her world impart a sense of wry humour that tempers the, often painful, experiences described in this semi-autobiographical novel. This book is a testament to the resourcefulness and resilience of the human spirit. About the AuthorBorn in 1947 in Catford, South-East London, Maureen Oliver studied art at Camberwell Art College where she trained as a painter. She has variously been a community artist working in hospitals and day centres; local art projects and with prisoners; a campaigner for lesbian and gay rights and an AIDS activist. She was a founder member of Croydon Women's Centre and became one of the Women's Work group of artists at Brixton Artists Collective in the mid-eighties; as a survivor herself, Maureen was later active in working for the rights of psychiatric survivors. Maureen Oliver has been writing poetry and short stories since childhood, and, in the late nineties, after a long period of being effectively silenced by powerful antipsychotic drugs, she began to write again with renewed passion. She has held a large number of exhibitions of her paintings including in New York in 2007. Maureen Oliver is a lesbian, a mother and grandmother to three small children. |
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Adrian and Molly Art School art students artist asked Molly Baby Belling basement Beatles become bedroom blue Bob Dylan Borough High Street boyfriend Brixton brother brushes Camberwell Green Camberwell Grove Caroline Catford cigarette council house couple Cullen Dawn decided door Dr Bloom dreams dressed drinking eyes face feeling flat girl grabbed hair Hang on Sloopy head Herne Hill hospital house in Camberwell huge kitchen landlady live London streets looked Maggie married mini-dress Molly and Adrian Molly felt Molly found Molly started Molly thought Molly's morning nervously night normal nurse Once paint pale parents Peckham Road Perhaps pills priest psychiatric rent seemed Sloopy smile soon South London St Ives staring strange talk told Molly took tutors Union Jack Club vodka and lime voices walked Waterloo Station woman yelled young