Author Jo Jackson combines real places and events with a rich imagination in her acclaimed novels. Neil Thomas went along to meet her.
The unknown fate of twin baby girls, abandoned on a rubbish tip in Cairo, has haunted Shropshire author Jo Jackson for more than 40 years.
Maha and Mavette became part of her life when she lived in Egypt in the early 1980s. They were in an orphanage which Jo and her young family visited regularly to play with the children and give them outings.
“They were small babies when I first took them out of the orphanage. They had been left on a rubbish dump, very hungry, in soaking nappies. It was always the girls who were abandoned, not valued as much as boys.
“It sounds utterly shocking to us but it was perhaps not nearly as heartless as it seems. This dump was combed over by lots of people every day, scavenging, and the mother – who must have been desperate – knew the girls would be found quickly.”
In the 18 months that followed, the caring Jacksons brought joy and a sense of family normality to the little girls.
“Our children, Matthew, Olivia and Thomas, who were aged 9, 7 and 3, loved playing with them, they became a big part of our lives.”
Then, without warning or explanation, the orphanage was closed to outsiders.
“The twins were nearly two, though not yet walking, when suddenly we weren’t allowed to see them anymore. As you can imagine, we were all pretty upset. Maha and Mavette were part of our lives and suddenly they weren’t.
“Despite extensive efforts, we never got to learn of their fate. They would be in their 40s now. If they had remained in the orphanage, they would have gone to school until the age of 12, then have been found jobs as maids or something similar. I often think of them and hope they found happiness.”
On a sunlit summer’s afternoon near Much Wenlock, we could hardly be more removed from rubbish tips in teeming Cairo. We are chatting in the conservatory of Jo’s rural smallholding offering a panoramic view of majestic Wenlock Edge.
We’re meeting to discuss the recent publication of her fourth novel Them Hills Be Holy, and the long journey that led her to become an author.
The novel opens in the Black Country before moving to Clee Hill. Set in the early 20th century, it captures the life of the 2,000 miners and their families who mined quarry stone, lime and coal in the south Shropshire village. They worked under the harshest of weather conditions – Clee Hill is up to 1,250ft above sea level, has Shropshire’s highest school and pub, and when mists suddenly roll in feels bleak and remote.
“My previous novels were all set in very contrasting locations and when someone asked where I would set this one, I said that I had no idea but as I was born in Smethwick and brought up in the Black Country, perhaps I’d set it there. So, an idea was born, and, combined with my fascination with the unique community of Clee Hill, took shape.
Set in 1909, the story follows 12 – year-old Thomas, given to a band of Romanies by his desperate mother, who will do anything to keep him from a life down the Black Country mines. They promise to take him to his uncle on Clee Hill.
Grieving a father killed in a pit accident and losing the only home he has known, Thomas must navigate the strangeness of the travelling life and the harsh Clee Hill quarries. To survive, he must decide who he is and what matters most.
When war breaks out and Thomas enlists, the loyalties, friendships and fragile identity he has forged are tested on the fields of France in ways he could never have imagined. It is a story of resilience and loss, of family, love and the bonds that endure.
It was at Hurst Green Junior School, at Halesowen in the West Midlands, that Jo first discovered how much she enjoyed writing.
“I was about 10 when I wrote my first book. It was called Island of Adventure, filched from the Famous Five. It impressed my teacher who illustrated it, bound it and put it on show in the school library,” Jo recalls. “You can imagine what a thrill that was for someone of my age.”
Her husband of 55 years Andy pops in to say hello. He is a few months older and they met as pupils of Oldbury School, on the outskirts of Birmingham, when they were 16.
Indeed, Jo’s love of the written word continued at Oldbury. “Our English teacher was just brilliant. We didn’t overconcentrate on grammar, which might have been quite dry, but instead held debates and wrote newspapers. The teacher really encouraged me and tried to persuade me to go to university to read English.”
Jo, however, had always cherished the dream of being a nurse.
“I was a volunteer in the St John’s Ambulance service and was quite stubborn that nursing was the career I wanted. I never regretted it.”
Her parents were strongly supportive, with the single stipulation that she train at one of the bigger hospitals. She duly got a place at Guy’s, the world-renowned hospital in central London.
Three months of the year was spent at nursing college with the rest of the time on the wards, learning on the job.
“That part was invaluable. You can’t teach an 18-year-old how to talk to relatives of very sick people from a textbook.”
After three years of intensive study – passing the SRN (State Registered Nurse) examinations is equivalent to obtaining a degree – Jo decided she would like to specialise in obstetrics. “I’d done some work with midwives and babies, so decided to train as a midwife.” This entailed spending six months at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham and six months in Leeds.
Andy meanwhile was studying geophysics, graduating at Reading before completing a two-year PHD course at Leeds.
The couple married when Jo was 22 and Andy had just turned 23. Ten months later Matthew was born in Leeds. The young family then moved to Croydon in south London, where Jo was part of a midwifery team specialising in home deliveries – her career interspersed with the arrival of Olivia.
After five years another move followed, this time to Riseley in Bedfordshire – and the arrival of Thomas, born in Bedford.
Andy, meantime, was building an impressive career in the oil industry, that included regular travel to the Middle East.
“One day he came home and asked how I’d feel about moving to Cairo,” Jo recalls with a smile. “It seemed a big move with three young children to a country I knew little about. We were undecided. Then, one dark, wet, cold evening in February, we said ‘let’s go to Cairo’.”
The family moved there in 1980 and two happy years followed that enriched all their lives.
“I loved the people; we weren’t remote in some English colony, we lived amongst them and they were really friendly. Matthew and Olivia loved school. I went horse riding – and camel riding. We went swimming and down to the beach in the afternoons because it was too hot for work and school.
“The cars were like dodgems – nobody stopped at traffic lights. It was quite an experience.”
As a woman in a male-dominated culture, there was inevitably the odd negative episode. “I do remember trying to book a badminton court and the man looked very uncomfortable and evasive. Eventually he said ‘I don’t do business with women’.” Jo was unfazed and took it in her stride. Such incidents of petty prejudice were thankfully few and far between.
Far more threatening was the assassination of Egypt’s President, Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat, on 6 October 1981. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader was gunned down by Islamic militants at a parade in Cairo – and tensions ran high for several days in the capital.
“Andy was out of the country at the time but he knew more of what was happening than us because of a news blackout. It was a worrying few days but thankfully things settled down.”
Jo’s experiences in Egypt – especially of the orphanage – influenced her decision to take a Masters in Systemic Psychotherapy when the family returned to England, ultimately becoming a Family Therapist in London. A thriving career over the next two decades saw her saw her go into private practice, which included being contracted as a school counsellor and GP counsellor for a group of four doctors. Writing, once again, was on the back burner.
When Andy took early retirement, however, the opportunity came for a radical change of direction. The couple were keen to move away from the south east and lighted on Shropshire as the ideal place for their new adventure.
“We knew something of the county; Andy’s parents had lived in Market Drayton and, growing up, my family used to come to Church Stretton for walks on the Long Mynd.”
So, the couple hunted around for a house in the countryside with a little land to set up a nursery – and their current home, adjoining fields and with the afore-mentioned stunning views of Wenlock Edge, was perfect.
“We didn’t know a great deal about horticulture,” Jo admits with a smile. “Andy had only ever really cut the lawn. But we did our research and we’ve managed to build it up into a thriving concern.”
Jo dropped down to a couple of days a week, working with autistic boys at Cruckton Hall School near Shrewsbury, and spent the rest of the time helping to develop the new venture. Andy threw himself fulltime into it. They were working flat out. No time for writing.
The couple have always enjoyed walking, often trekking several miles across hills and dales with their beloved rescue dog Mollie. There are five pet sheep in a paddock to look after too. All great physical exercise. However, when Jo took the decision to retire from her career in therapy, she looked around for a hobby that stretched the mind too.
Her retirement coincided with the start-up of a u3a branch in Much Wenlock. To her delight, there was a creative writing group, for which eight people had signed up.
“Now at last I had the time to concentrate on something I’d always wanted to try my hand at. It was a chance to exchange ideas with like-minded people, which was very stimulating. You get encouragement but also honest feedback about your ideas.”
And one of her ideas dazzled in her head in nine-foot-high neon lights. A story set in Egypt, a tale of young women, Maha and Mavette. Here at last, at least on the page through Jo’s powerful imagination, was the chance to shape out a life for the little foundlings.
Too Loud a Silence was published in 2016 to considerable acclaim. In 2011 with Egypt in the grip of the Arab Spring, journalist Maha Rhodes flies to Cairo. Born in Egypt but raised in England, Maha no longer knows who she is. Finding out becomes important. Events draw her into the political mayhem. She experiences the passion and violence of the revolution and is confronted by her own naivety. How will her life be changed as a web of lies and deceit unfolds? It is a beautiful, poignant and, at times, brutal work of fiction, very much based on real events.
“I used the twins’ real names in the book. It felt like the right thing to do as I was dedicating it to them.”
Jo went on to write Beyond the Margin, which is set in Ireland – she and Andy enjoyed a touring holiday of the country – and follows the story of two people living on the edge of society. Her third book, They Speak of Night, set largely in India, explores the unlikely friendship between a young English woman and an old Indian man whom she meets on an allotment in London.
All four of her novels are character-driven literary works with a strong sense of place – and all have been very well received.
Jo tends to write in the conservatory with Mollie curled up beside her and tries to maintain the discipline of regular working hours.
Interestingly, for such strong narratives, she doesn’t plot out the stories in advance. “My novels are character-driven. I try to give the characters depth so that they take on a life of their own and take me on a journey. I’m never quite sure where I’m going to end up,” she explains with a smile. Each book has taken between two and three years to complete.
Jo and Andy are extremely proud of their children, who have gone on to achieve impressive things in life. Matthew’s days as a nine-year-old kicking a scruffy ball around waste land in Cairo with young Egyptian boys was clearly not wasted. He went on to have a career as a professional footballer. Everton fans remember centre back Matt Jackson with affection for his assist for Paul Rideout’s goal in the 1996 FA Cup final at Wembley, which saw the Toffees defeat Manchester United 1-0. Now 54, Matthew is technical director at Wolves.
Olivia followed her mother into the care sector and is Assistant Director of Social Services in Northampton.
Thomas, inspired by his older brother, qualified as a professional football physiotherapist and has worked at Fulham and Charlton Athletic.
Most joyous of all, they have presented Jo and Andy with seven grandchildren.
It’s been a very full life for Jo Jackson so far. And as she contemplates work on her next book, you sense there is so much more to come – exciting places to visit, fascinating characters to meet and stories to unfold.
