Bio / Bibliography
"Fiennes Times for Bloomsbury USA"
"It wasn't that she wanted to hothouse us"
Pictures from the reading of Blood Ties and On Pilgrimage in NYC, 7/99
"There is a very clear echo in the valley. During the
day, while I
was writing out on the terrace, I heard voices calling
R O C A MAD OOOUURRRR. On the last midnight, after the
bells had
sounded, I walked out to the end of the valley. I
called aloud,
one by one the names of the children. Mick, Ralph,
Martha, Magnus,
Sophie, Jacob and Joseph. The sounds flew round the
valley, several
seconds of clear, uncanny call. The best two, the
sounds going on
and on, were Jacob and Joseph ... It felt as if those
names sped
into the midnight rocks, and would remain there, in
some way, to
guide the named.
Rocamadour remains for me, above all else, this spirit
of the place;
something complete and tangible by the sheer force of
its intangibility.
Within that simple, listening experience, there seemed
to be all I
sought and all I would ever find. A continuous, live
cantata of silence;
the hinge and sum and fulcrum of the rest."
"I feel completely her child. I have no detachment, just involvement."- Joe
"Pivotal, like most mothers." - Joe
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" - Joe to owner of this website when signing one of his Mum's books for her
"Get your guts in to it was what my mother used to say. She
used to ask me: "Where do you belong?" It wasn't about choosing my destiny for
me, but she invited me to think and feel which route in life was right for me.
This was a dynamic she used for all our family, and when you consider what all
of us have achieved, it shows how it worked for all of us." - Joe
"You don't have to worry too much about my writing. All I want is six
children." - Jini to Mark when she first met him
"Our mother was an inspiration - she encouraged everyone in the family
to invest time in what they wanted to do, regardless of what it was." - Joe
"She was an extraordinary encouragement. She
understood the whole creative
process, and nature. She had a lot of guts. She had a
lot of get-up-and-go."- Joe
"Jini was always more interested in what people thought, what ideas they had. Simple knowledge never impressed her." - Mark (Jini's Husband)
Suffolk Song Cycle & Other Poems
"It was an impressionable age. I have very distinct
memories. With her
other books, I was so young the references don't
register." - Joe, referring to 'Blood Ties', his favorite of Jini's books.
"She believed totally in motherhood. We were her special project and she gave it 100 per cent. She instilled in us the importance of 'putting your guts into it,' no matter how small or insignificant the task was. She always treated us as individuals and found separate time for all of us, which was no mean feat. It worked because we adored and respected her and really cared about her opinion."- Martha
"The Famous Fiennes and Mother's 'Blood Ties'"
"My mother saw children as a wonderful source of creative inspiration and
intelligence. She had had a certain amount of pain in her own life and she was
determined to break the cycle." - Joe
"Mum felt that writing was perhaps the most isolating form of work. She impressed upon me how lucky you are to be a part of a team, an interactive process that is just a joy; she thought one should relish that."
- Joe
"My mother was able to extend to lots of people, Michael being the obvious example. I think she had a great insight into people - sometimes a quite ruthless perception. She'd say, well your problem is X, Y and Z. You've got to really pull a finger out and do such and such, but always with great love. She could be quite honest, even to her own children. She would call a spade a spade when she thought you might be dillying yourself about something. She could never be cool about anything."
- Ralph
"She was an extraordinary woman, lovely, very powerful. She gave us all confidence. She encouraged us in all sorts of ways that weren't conventional.She saw the individual and possibility in each of us."
- Ralph
"She was always encouraging us, pushing us to express our most creative aspect. I miss her all the time, of course I do. But, in a different sense, she's ever present because of the books and the warmth she has left behind."
- Joe
"Fiennes' Secret Heartache"
"She knew how to give you confidence because she knew what it was to fail. She wrote books that got mixed reviews and didn't stay in print very long. She had her admirers, too, people who believed in her. She had to sustain her belief in herself. Sometimes it was very hard. So she knew what it was like when you are lacking confidence in your ability and you feel the cold breath of failure or defeat. She'd say things like: 'Never be afraid of failure.' "
- Ralph
"She gave you courage. I remember a conversation we had one afternoon when I was about 14 or 15. We were talking about what I might want to do, and she said that most people are either producers or receivers. She said, 'It's right for you to act because you are a giver.'"
- Joe
"A blue coffin for a ritual of transformation"
"My mother was very good at praising. She never talked down to us as children. She always talked to us as equals and would share with us the ups and downs of life. When something was achieved, she would celebrate and when she saw that you were at a loss, she would draw you in, because she had been there too."
- Ralph
We heard her voice, reading it aloud." - Joe about the reading in NYC
"It still moves me deeply how my mother who as a child had never received a
taste of love or warmth, had been able to be such a good mother to us," says
Ralph. "It must have been her incredible imagination to give us exactly that
which creates security." - Ralph
-On Pilgrimage
