This book amazed Lilian’s friends. They found it hard to believe that at 86 years of age Lilian Middleton had not only written a novel but mighty speedily too. The first page was written on February 1st, the last on March 3rd 2020, just 31 days, and the motivation? To banish lockdown boredom! It certainly did this as Lilian became so involved in her heroine’s rise from housemaid to opera singer she sometimes only stopped writing at two in the morning. But I won’t go into the plot as you can read a synopsis if you go to Amazon Books and key in Arabella. This article will focus on the author herself.

Lilian describes herself as a fledgling author although she has written short stories for magazines in the past. For her novel she relied on her knowledge of the beautiful Audubon ‘Birds of America‘ book which she has actually seen in the library of a stately home, her memories of visiting National Trust properties and her interests in music and gardening. A gardener is an important character in the book through which Lilian introduces humour. As the book begins in the 1880s Romantic Historical Fiction is how a librarian would probably classify Arabella only there’s a difference. Yes, Arabella has a variety of men in her life but her overriding passion is for the beautiful old house she worked in as a maid, and later owns, once she has become a wealthy opera singer. This idea was inspired by Lilian’s late husband’s love of Bishop Beveridge House in Beveridge Street, which they bought long ago when the building was dilapidated. Restoring it to being a comfortable home without destroying its old character was a true labour of love.

Another surprising detail is that Lilian’s first draft was the final one. Some authors go through many, many drafts but not Lilian! If she needed to check a detail, such as the year fridges were first installed in wealthy homes, she’d ask friends to google the information and ring her back. She was very grateful to Isobel Cox, Val de Faye and Penny Smith for helping in this way. And as the manuscript was in longhand, she sends a huge thank you to Hilary Fryer for changing the manuscript to typed copy. David and Ben Spiller then helped with copy-checking and marketing so that now it is available through Amazon either as a printed copy or an e-book and to date (July 2022) 175 people have already bought their copy. And the ones who’ve left feedback have liked it a lot.

Arabella is done and dusted and at present Lilian is writing a second, very different kind of book. This one isn’t a novel but based on her life as a pharmacist. The title is ‘Tales from the Dispensing Bench’ and will be a must-read for Barrow residents as you may well recognise the characters in the anecdotes!

Lilian began her life in retail pharmacy in 1951 and left in 1996, a period in which health care advanced by leaps and bounds and Lilian experienced many changes. She qualified at the age of 21 from the Leicester School of Pharmacy and at 22 was managing pharmacies in Leicester. When Lilian began working, pharmacists had to make up their own medicines from scratch from a doctor’s prescription, and even when changes did occur, and tablets were handed out in boxes, the instructions to the pharmacist were still in Latin! Lilian was delighted to own and work in her own business in Barrow High Street and here she stayed for twenty-five years. It proudly proclaimed her name and qualifications, MR Pharm S, (Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society) above the door in gold leaf. Now it’s Boots. With 45 years of tales to tell, I’m sure this new book will be fascinating.

Gaynor Barton