Veronica's Bird - Thirty-five years inside as a female prison officer

Richard Newman, Veronica Bird

Summary

Veronica Bird was one of nine children living in a tiny house in Barnsley with a brutal coal miner for a father. Life was a despairing time in the 1950s, as Veronica sought desperately to keep away from his cruelty. Astonishingly, to her and her mother, she won a scholarship to Ackworth Boarding School where she began to shine above her class-mates. A champion in all sports, Veronica at last found some happiness until her brother-in-law came into her life. It was as if she had stepped from the frying pan into the re: he took over control of her life removing her from the school she adored, two terms before she was due to take her GCEs, so he could put her to work as a cheap option on his market stall. Abused for many years by these two men, Veronica eventually ran away and applied to the Prison Service, knowing it was the only safe place she could trust. This is the astonishing, and true story of Veronica Bird who rose to become a Governor of Armley prison. Given a 'basket case' in another prison, contrary to all expectations, she turned it around within a year, to become an example for others to match. During her life inside, her 'bird', she met many Home Secretaries, was honoured by the Queen and was asked to help improve conditions in Russian Prisons. A deeply poignant story of eventual triumph against a staggeringly high series of setbacks, her story is lled with humour and compassion for those inside.

Available since: 01/23/2018.

Print length: 290 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Showstopper! - The Breakneck...

G. Pascal Zachary

This “inside account captures the energy—and the madness—of the software giant’s race to develop a critical new program. . . . Gripping” (Fortune Magazine).Showstopper is the dramatic, inside story of the creation of Windows NT, told by Wall Street Journal reporter G. Pascal Zachary. Driven by the legendary David Cutler, a picked band of software engineers sacrifices almost everything in their lives to build a new, stable, operating system aimed at giving Microsoft a platform for growth through the next decade of development in the computing business. Comparable in many ways to the Pulitzer Prize–winning book The Soul of a New Machine by Tracy Kidder, Showstopper gets deep inside the process of software development, the lives and motivations of coders and the pressure to succeed coupled with the drive for originality and perfection that can pull a diverse team together to create a program consisting of many hundreds of thousands of lines of code.

Show book

Thomas Aquinas: Understand the...

Eleonore Stump

This course will have a profound impact on your faith and thinking. Thomas Aquinas, OP (1225-1274), is one of world history''s most influential thinkers. His works indelibly shaped Western thought and Christian belief, and his brilliant ideas continue to resonate in universities and churches everywhere. But his complex thought can often seem inaccessible. In this superb course, taught by an internationally known Aquinas expert, you will tour his towering thought while gaining powerful insights into your faith and values. You will cover his ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophical theology. Under Prof. Stump''s guidance, you will see the world through his eyes. You will begin with an introduction to Aquinas'' ethics in order to explore his views on human flourishing and morality. Then you will gain tremendous insights into his metaphysics, which engage with the nature of ultimate reality, God''s eternity, and much more. After looking at his philosophy of free will, you will explore his epistemology. Finally, you will encounter his complex and fascinating philosophical theology. Along the way Prof. Stump will guide you through complex philosophical concepts with deft and easy-to-understand teaching. Although he died young, it is impossible to overestimate Aquinas'' influence on Western philosophy. His thought remains as relevant today as ever. You don''t want to miss this enlightening journey through the thought of one of the great intellectual giants of the Christian tradition.This course is part of the Learn25 collection and includes a free PDF study guide.

Show book

A Death in Italy - The...

John Follain

“A riveting account of . . . the murder and trial to the electrifying appeals-court decision . . . a vivid portrait of the woman at the center of it all.” —The Wall Street Journal

Shortly after 12:30pm on November 2, 2007, Italian police were called to the Perugia home of twenty-one-year-old British student Meredith Kercher. They found her body on the floor under a beige quilt. Her throat had been cut.

Four days later, the prosecutor jailed Meredith’s roommate, American student Amanda Knox, and Raffaele Sollecito, her Italian boyfriend. He also jailed Rudy Guede, an Ivory Coast drifter. Four years later Knox and Sollecito were acquitted amid chaotic scenes in front of the world’s media.

Uniquely based on four years of reporting and access to the complete case files, and hundreds of first hand interviews, Death in Italy takes readers on a riveting journey behind the scenes of the investigation, as John Follain shares the drama of the trials and appeal hearings he lived through.

Including exclusive interviews with Meredith’s friends and other key sources, Death in Italy reveals how the Italian dream turned into a nightmare.

“[Follain] relates [the story] with clarity, compassion and a wealth of fascinating detail . . . gripping” —The Washington Post

“It’s hard to imagine there will be a better book on the subject.” —The Observer (UK)

“An excellent account of the tragedy and the very Italian drama that followed.” —The Sunday Times (UK)

“[Follain’s book] does a good job of reminding us that amid the reams of print and reel are human lives; some innocent and some guilty, but all irreparably disfigured by this horribly sad story.” —The Daily Telegraph (UK)

Show book

History of Political Philosophy

Leo Strauss, Joseph Cropsey

Designed for undergraduate students, a historical survey of the most important political philosophers in the Western tradition. 
 
This volume provides an unequaled introduction to the thought of chief contributors to the Western tradition of political philosophy from classical Greek antiquity to the twentieth century. Written by specialists on the various philosophers, this third edition has been expanded significantly to include both new and revised essays.

Show book

The Infamous Sophie Dawes - New...

Adrian Searle

A biography of the British woman who left behind life in a brothel to become a baroness in a French chateau, and perhaps a killer. 
 
She was the daughter of an alcoholic Isle of Wight smuggler. Much of her childhood was spent in the island’s workhouse. Yet Sophie Dawes threw off the shackles of her downbeat formative years to become one of the most talked-about personalities in post-revolutionary France. 
 
It was the ultimate rags to riches story that would see her become the mistress of the fabulously wealthy French aristocrat Louis Henri de Bourbon, destined to be the last Prince of Condé. Her total subjugation of the aging prince, her obsessive desire for a position among the highest echelon of French royalist society following the Bourbon restoration, and her designs upon a hefty chunk of Louis Henri’s vast fortune would lead to scandal, sensation, and then infamy. 
 
The Infamous Sophie Dawes examines her island background before tracing her extraordinary rise from obscurity to becoming a baroness who ruled the prince’s château at Chantilly as its unofficial queen and intrigued with the King of the French to get what she wanted. 
 
But how far did she go? The book examines the mysterious death of Louis Henri in 1830 and uses newly discovered evidence in a bid to determine the part Sophie may have played in his demise. 
 
“Mouthwatering scandal, dangerous affairs, this story has the lot!” —Books Monthly

Show book

Honest People Look Straight Ahead

J.-M. Kuczynski

Honest people look straight ahead, whereas sneaky people look side to side. In this audio, it is explained why this is so.

Show book