SHEFFIELD AUTHORS
- Stories "Made in Sheffield"
Karen E Stokes
Karen describes herself as a 'true Yorkshire lass'! She remembers reading from an early age, and from her passion for poetry and limericks, came a poem that she wrote about her father when she was 10. As she grew older, among some of her favourite authors were Kingsley Amis and Fay Weldon.
She began her literary journey in 2010, writing simply to see where it would lead, as opposed to ever becoming a published author.
Her latest novel Black Sheep was published by Blossom Spring Publishing in November 2025
Gem was a quiet girl born of a loving family, or so it seemed. One day, her life was irrevocably changed by her mother's sudden, unprovoked and brutal attack, fracturing her very existence. Years of intolerable cruelty followed until an adverse event during her teenage years forced her to leave Lanebridge and seek shelter with her sister in London. Her newfound freedom within the hostile depths of a big city came at a price, her innocence and purity attracting salacious predators.
She eventually finds a career, love and the comfort of stability, none of which which can erase a torturous past and the underlying bitterness gnawing at her tender soul. A brush with the mystical brings change, as an unlikely guardian watches from the sidelines, infusing her thoughts and decisions by psychological transference. The dark, influential encounter guides her to a gratifying finale where she must compromise what is right to settle a long awaited score.
Jess was muddling through as a single parent, raising her son, Jonas, who was unfulfilled and missing his father. On the journey home from school, a fellow pupil, or so they thought, walked along side Jonas and his mother towards home and was invited in to play. Life's distractions present in many ways, but none so strange as from those who cease to exist.
'Heartrending, yet so mysterious. A very captivating story'
