Red Couch in the Sky

Red Couch in the Sky is inspired by the author's reflections on her life and times. Born in the sixties and brought up amongst traditional views about a woman's place in the family and workplace, this quirky memoir takes us through the vegetable allotment that is her journey to date. The self-deprecating Northern wit she was raised on is never far away in this heart-warming celebration of the mundanity, randomness, and circularity of life, when sometimes the only plan we have is to put one foot in front of the other. Plagued by self-doubt, she navigates her way through university, then raging chauvinism in the workplace and personal tragedy. Having survived the chaos of raising a family whilst forging ahead in her career, the author comes to understand that she has unconsciously chosen to live in the shadow of others. With Alice, her grandmother's gobby ghost, and even various inanimate objects around her revelling in their new-found vocal spotlight, she realises that it is now also her time. Though belief systems and expectations change over time, the memoir celebrates the connectedness of generations and, above all, the power of nature and the human spirit to transcend the ebbs and flows of life.