Brian O’Donnell was born in Tyneside… the middle one of five brothers, whose love of books was encouraged by their parents, Jean and Jerry.
After leaving secondary modern school, he took up an engineering apprenticeship which involved a spell in London. From there, he joined the Merchant Navy sailing to the Persian Gulf and India, and shuttled between New York and the Caribbean Gulf.
He returned home but had a tough time finding steady work, so he enrolled as a mature student at Northumbria University, graduated with honours, and assumed a teaching post in Newcastle. An illness forced his premature retirement, so he started a less stressful job as a market researcher.
He is married to the best smile in Tyneside and has twin boys and a daughter.
Putrid streams that flow too slowly through a local wood, leaving puddles and pools of a hostile environment in its wake.Where children used to play is becoming desolate and lifeless. Even the trees are showing signs of ill health.But three children are determined to find out what ails Broadaxe Wood...