12/05/2025
Berkshire teacher used life experience to create book....
Berkshire teacher Lesley Hawkins used the experience of caring for her own mother during nine long years of dementia to write her debut novel.
Her gripping book, Three Voices, has been met with a string of five-star ratings and reviews since its recent publication. Lesley’s powerful and thought-provoking novel has been described as ‘sensitive’, ‘heart-felt’ and ‘I could not put it down’.
While not directly telling her own story, Three Voices gets beneath the skin of three generations of the same family affected by dementia.
Lesley explains: “None of the characters are based on me, my mum or either of my daughters, but I think some of what happens to them is based on my darkest fears during the time I was looking after mum.
The start of the book is inspired by a real event. My mum locked herself out and wandered into a school for help, although what happens next in the book is entirely fictional.
After that the rest came out of years of spending time with dementia sufferers and their carers and imagining what could happen.”
Three Voices follows the fortunes of grandmother Joan, who is slowly losing her fight with dementia, as well as her daughter, Katie, and granddaughter, Lucy.
Perfectly paced with captivating characterisation and engaging dialogue, Lesley’s novel is a deeply emotional and thought-provoking study of dementia and its effects on loved ones.
Lesley added: “Dementia is currently the biggest killer in the UK. Its tentacles strike deep into the heart of families, its destruction far greater than just the life that is lost.
“I started writing it when I was looking after my own mother. At the time it was more a distraction for me than a plan to publish a book. Then a year after mum died, I realised I had written something that could contribute to the debate of how we care for the weak and vulnerable among us, so I decided to tidy it up and put it out there.”
As well as being a married mum of three children, Lesley looks after her three dogs and a pony.
Paperback and Kindle formats of Three Voices are both available :
In UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Three-Voices-Lesley-Hawkins-ebook/dp/B0DPTF6VMX
or in USA:
https://www.amazon.com/Three-Voices-Lesley-Hawkins-ebook/dp/B0DPTF6VMX
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