Jenni Daiches – författare

Ruth has lived at Netherburn, her home in the remote moors of Scotland, ever since she was a small child. It’s a home with a history, and, having seen her own children grow up and move on, Ruth is trying to make sense of it all. From her Father’s death, to her ex-husband leaving and her lack of contact with her sons.But she’s not alone with her thoughts: her empty house has become lively once again as various people – with equally complicated pasts – come to lodge at Netherburn, and Ruth finds herself helping them through their pain; some of which won’t stay in the past.Forgive is the story of Ruth, and those living at Netherburn, as they live their lives and try to move on. But the question always looms for Ruth, what does it mean to forgive?

Rosa Roshkin is five years old when her family are murdered in a pogrom and she is forced to leave behind everything she knows with only a suitcase of clothes and her father’s violin.An epic generational novel about womanhood and Judaeo-Scottish experience across two World Wars, the creation of Israel and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Jenni Daiches’s Somewhere Else explores today’s most difficult and urgent questions, not least of which, how to find identity in displacement.

Set in 2041 when England is dried up by climate change, this novel is seen through the eyes of 16-year-old Ishbel Saddler. Her Scottish mother has died, and drought and crop failure force her family to abandon their Cambridgeshire farm. They embark on a journey by wagon with horses, dogs and friends, their destination Scotland’s northwest Highlands. But Scotland is now independent and those seeking its plentiful water are not welcome – crossing the patrolled Border is going to be challenging. On their journey through a decaying country the family face threats and hostility as well as kindness and support. It is a tale of determination and hope with echoes of the USA’s pioneering overlanders and John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.