BRUCE & HOLLY – THE OFFICIAL AUTHOR WEBSITE OF FARIDA J MANEKSHAH AND V.CHARLES WARD
Top photograph. Farida J Manekshah feeding the cats at Benidorm Rock.
About Farida J Manekshah
Farida was born 1945 in Mumbai (then Bombay) into a rich Zoroastrian family as one of 12 siblings.
In the wake of the vast population movements which followed the British withdrawal from India in 1947, her father, Jehangir, purchased a palace at Guru Mandir, Karachi, using the money he had earned as a photographer. But it was the strange drowning of her elder brother, Beheram, on Hawkesbay Beach in September 1953, which prompted the family’s move to London in 1957.
Farida later became trapped in an abusive marriage to a violent alcoholic, in which she suffered cigarette burns as well as broken ribs. It eventually ended after a 7-year divorce. What sustained Farida through those difficult years was her love of animals. Farida writes about it in her book, ‘She Refused to Bow’.
About V.Charles Ward
I was born in Barking, East London to my parents Viv and Lilian. Dad was Chief Perfumer at May & Baker, Dagenham. Mum took various office jobs as we got older.
When I was about 2 years old we moved as a family to Leigh on Sea, Essex where I lived with my parents and younger brother Phil. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. At 7 years old I started to take piano lessons but did not get beyond Grade 2. By listening to old ’78’ records I learned to play a mean boogie and joined several bands playing local gigs. One of my bandmates told me that he had got a job as a clerk with a local firm of solicitors. And that’s how I got into the law. I got my first break when I got a job at Unilever’s London-Blackfriars office in which I was able to specialise in commercial and residential real estate.
I began writing for publication when I got my first word processor back in 1990. It was an Olivetti. It made it easy to write because I didn’t have to start-over whenever I made a mistake. I signed up for a writing correspondence course and began writing for professional journals. I mainly write about the work I do. I began more than 30 years ago writing for Legal Executive Journal as well as a weekly law page for Local Government Chronicle (LGC) and Mainly for Students’ articles for Estates Gazette. Encouraged by Cris Derby, the then managing director of LGC, I published my first book, Local Authority Companies – 1996, which sold out on a 1000 print run. My first significant book was Residential Leaseholders’ Handbook, originally published 2006 by Estates Gazette, whose book portfolio was later transferred to International publisher, Taylor and Francis. I am about to embark on a rewrite of that book for the same publisher. I have also published some books myself using the KDP self-publishing platform. I also have a day job. I work on contract as a senior property lawyer with HB Public Law, which is a shared legal service serving several local authorities in and around London.
2025 was a first for me as, after 30 years of writing non-fiction, it is the first time I have written a fiction book. The Hendrix Joplin Community is set in a post-climate-change Britain which is now America’s 53rd State and in which everything has been made legal. It is the story of a cult rock and roll church, whose pastor will take your wife or daughter to be his concubine. Just to prove to you that he can.
Visit our associated links
http://www.routledge.com/9780815370246
https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/analysis/book-review-legal-profession-is-it-for-you-a-no-nonsense-guide-to-a-career-in-the-law/5064097.article
https://www.amazon.co.uk/V.-Charles-Ward/e/B075822WGB
You’ve worked hard for your money and you want to be paid. This book provides everything you need to use the small claims court to recover what is owed to you. Don’t let them get away.
KEEP IN TOUCH
Please keep in touch with us by providing us with an email address so that we can keep you updated.
BRUCE AND HOLLY 