About the Author

Mary Christine Levett was born in Somerset to working class parents just after the Second World War. Educated at Bishop Fox's School Taunton, she subsequently trained as a science teacher at Homerton College Cambridge and embarked on a teaching career working with all ages. In the mid 1980s Mary decided on a change of career and trained to be a nurse achieving RN status; both professions where a sense of humour is essential. Returning to the field of education as a lecturer in Health and Social Care, she currently works as a care assessor for NVQ with a local company (Elizabeth Training). The visits to London described in Capital Letters emanated from this work and she developed a greater interest in London. These inevitably triggered off memories of past visits and experiences of travel. Her enthusiasm for writing stems from journal writing and the preparation of educational materials for all ages. The influence of West Country culture with its characters and intrinsic humour formed the basis for looking at life in a light hearted way. As a science teacher, observation was essential for both people (pupils in particular) and the natural world. These two influences have been brought together in her debut book 'Capital Letters'.

Reviews

Capital Letters is a difficult-to-categorise collection of jottings from the author to her friend, written on her work-related visits to London. On the face of it, the book might not sound appealing. Although Levett briefly touches on the reason for her visits to London - her duties as an assessor in the care industry - the letters focus largely on the actual journeys and on the nitty-gritty problems of leaving the house on time, parking, buying tickets and finding seats. However, the author not only manages to make these mundane matters surprisingly interesting, she also provide liberal sprinklings of humour, observations on her fellow travellers, poems and, best of all, entertainingly quirky pieces on some of the famous London landmarks that she passes on her way. I hope she is busily engaged at the moment, collecting further material for a follow-up, providing more of these informative snippets. The book would be a delightful fireside read, but could just as profitably be used to help a few more commuter journeys go by in a flash. The author packs plenty into the well-bound volume, which might just make the fairly pricey GBP9.99 seem good value. The Self Publishing Magazine