Mandasue Heller
AUTHOR

Mandasue Heller

Tap the gear icon above to manage new release emails.
Thanks for visiting my author page. To tell you a little about myself, I grew up in a showbizzy household. My glamorous mum (an actress and later one half of a female comedy duo) and my dad were friends with some of the major artistes of the day, and their star-studded parties were the stuff of legend - and a major fascination for me and my sister as we watched the beautiful people at play from the top of our stairs. I developed a passion for reading at an early age and taught myself to type on my mum's old Royal typewriter by copying passages from books I'd 'borrowed' from her collection - my all-time favourite being The Happy Hooker, which stirred in me a passion for gritty realism. Catherine Cookson's work also resonated deeply with me, and she was, in my opinion, the trailblazer for writers like myself whose stories concern poverty, hardship and abuse from the perspective of the victims and abusers rather than the perspective of the police. As well as being an avid reader, I started writing poetry at a young age, which I later turned into song lyrics after moving to Manchester in the 80s and getting involved in the underground music scene. I'd performed in amateur dramatics as a child, and became a professional singer at 18, touring the social clubs around the UK, earning my Equity card along the way which enabled me to do TV work. In Manchester I fronted an original rock band, and also sang session for various jazz and reggae musicians. My passion has always been soul music, so it was inevitable that I would eventually front a soul covers band. I still sing and record original songs with my musician partner between books, but I haven't performed live for many years - apart from the occasional karaoke party with my daughter. Oh, and if the mood takes me, I've been known to burst into song at the end of a book signing event. I wrote my first book when I was taken ill and had to quit singing for a while. I based it in the Hulme Crescents, where I had spent 10 of some of the best and absolute worst years of my life. It was a squatters paradise when I moved in, and a notorious no-go zone for the police. Violent crimes were commonplace and drugs were rife. I saw a fair few friends get sucked into the hell of addiction - and lost too many of them because of it. Those were the bad times, but then the musicians and artists started moving in. A friend once described it as being like Glastonbury all year round, and it really was. I wanted to capture the spirit of the place in my writing - the good and the bad; but I quickly discovered that I couldn't write about real people. I'd start, but then I'd become conscious of what they might think of it and that would inhibit me. So I decided to take a stab at inventing characters instead, using the Crescents as the backdrop for their stories. And, guess what? It worked! The Front, Forget Me Not and The Game were all set in the Crescents, but I expanded into different areas after that; some areas real, others fictitious. I took Brutal even further afield by setting it in a farmhouse in a remote part of Yorkshire. But I'm back on the mean streets of Manchester with the one I'm working on right now. So that's me . . . From professional singer to full-time writer, with various other jobs in between: TV extra, barmaid, waitress, pharmacy assistant, phone-line tarot card reader, to name just a few. My children and grandchildren are my world, and my books come from the other-world that lives and breathes inside my twisted mind. You can follow me here, if you wish, and you can chat to me directly if you join me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Looking forward to meeting some of you there. Oh, and if you'd like to hear any of my original music you can find it here on Amazon, and also on iTunes, Spotify, etc. Well, that's it. It's been nice chatting to you, and I hope you enjoy my books if you decide to try any of them. Mandasue x
Read more Read less
Not an Audible member?
From £7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Best Sellers

Product list
  • Regular price: £9.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £9.99 or 1 Credit

  • Regular price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £15.99 or 1 Credit

  • Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

  • Regular price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £13.00 or 1 Credit

  • Regular price: £11.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £11.99 or 1 Credit

  • Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

  • Regular price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: £12.99 or 1 Credit

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.