What we take for granted was just a shapeless pipedream for her, but with due diligence, and a blatant disregard for decency, she set about her task of trying to light the pathway to darkness, to entice others in on her shadowy obsessions, to revel in the heady realms of atmospheric adventure.
Real life would rudely interrupt the theatrical costumier, as she became, and the Second World War most of all, but here was an impish provocateur, a writer, a schemer, a therapist, a liar, and a con artist, a flirt, a wit, a physical threat.
She flourishes in the twenties and thirties, performs valiant deeds through the forties, and cosies up to the youth cults which germinate in the fifties and spread through the sixties and seventies, mocking all and sundry, wielding a contemptuous vocal scythe through any who did not appreciate what she knew was intrinsically preferable.
There is a Facebook page for anyone who wants more info and some pictures: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Old-Lady-Who-Invented-Goth/245511428799509
The book is £7.99 and only available through lulu.com – not shops, unless businesses buy in bulk from the url provided, as bulk purchases come at a discount, including combined postage.
You need to register with Lulu before you buy, which is easy, but if buying by airmail ignore their express option as that involves courier rates, and stick with the economy version which is normal airmail.
