Five years ago I was contacted by 59-year-old Janet Holt who asked me if I would help write her life story. She sent me a 70,000 manuscript detailing her life growing up in a happy, suburban home in the Peak District of Derbyshire. Forty of those years were spent as a farmer in New Mills.
When Janet spoke to me initially she told me that her life was full of funny stories and amusing anecdotes but when I read her story it was the four days she ‘lost’ in 1976, the hideous nightmares she’d suffered since then and the disappearance of her business partner, Fred Handford that really gripped me.
Janet had never told anyone about these nightmares – or the fact that she couldn’t remember what she’d done from 14 March 1976 to 19 March 1976 – but when I suggested that she might benefit from therapy, she agreed.
Meanwhile, I began my research, beginning with the discovery that the police file regarding Fred’s disappearance was still open.
It really is a fascinating story that unravels like a thriller, except, of course, every word is true.
My blog, taken from my notes, over on the other page of this website, tells in diary form how the story unravelled and is, ultimately, my story.
This is the link to Janet’s Story.
The Stranger In My Life 