Daughter’s tribute to best-selling author who taught herself to read
The daughter of the muchloved Sunderland author Sheila Quigley, whose crime fiction captured the imagination of readers around the world, has paid tribute to her mum on the first anniversary of her death.
Sheila passed away in the early hours of Friday, April 24, 2020, at the age of 72, following a brief spell in Sunderland Royal Hospital after being admitted with a toe infection.
Now, a year on from her death, Sheila’s daughter, Dawn Quigley from Houghton, has paid tribute to her mum who was a pioneer in her field of crime fiction.
The 53-year-old carer has reflected on how difficult the last year has been since her mum sadly passed away.
She said: “It’s been a massive shock and it has definitely been the hardest time of my life.
"It really kicked us in the teeth.
"You just can’t rest, in normal circumstances you could celebrate her life and then get on with it but we obviously haven’t been able too.
"When your mam goes into hospital with a toe infection, you expect her to come out again.”
Over the years, Sheila became a best-selling author with novels such as Bad Moon Rising, Living on a Prayer, Every Breath You Take and her latest release in 2011, Stand By Me.
It was with her debut
novel, Run For Home in 2003, that the author rose to prominence after securing a £300,000 book deal with Random House.
Dawn has looked back fondly on her mum’s achievement and spoke of
her pride of her mum’s incredible life.
She commented: “She lived the dream, not many people achieve in their lives in things that my mam achieved.
“My mam always tried to help out others in the community and for her, it was never about the money, it was always about what she could achieve.
"I remember when she received her first book deal and we were invited to a meal at Michael Caine’s restaurant, just that experience in itself was incredible.
"She certainly didn’t do too bad for someone who had to teach themselves to read to becoming a best-selling author.”