OUR TEAM MEMBER, AUTHOR EVA BIELBY, IS SHARING WITH US AN 'IN DEPTH' LOOK AT HER PROTAGONIST IN 'THE HURT' TRILOGY - HELEN RUSHFORTH/PAWSON #RWRTeamBlog #ReadWriteRepeat

Eva Bielby
4 days ago
3 min read

**Helen Rushforth/Pawson - the University days**

Throughout her infant and junior school years, Helen Rushforth had everything a child could ever want. Her parents being wealthy, she had a very privileged education in private schools. Her hobbies as a young girl were horse-riding, piano lessons and ballet, and she proved herself to be a most skillful pupil in them all.

From being a precocious young girl throughout her junior school years, by the time she was twelve, she was an early sexual developer and took an active interest in boys, much to the dismay of the other young females. Helen was pretty and attracted the attention of all the boys. As a result, she often found herself being a target for the bullies. The bullying was mainly verbal; nasty and hurtful comments, but several times she felt the force of someone's fists too. Worried that her parents would create a fuss at her private school if she told them she was being bullied, she kept the tough times at school to herself. She feared that telling would only make matters worse in school. Crying herself to sleep at night was a regular occurrence.

From a once innocent eleven-year-old, Helen quickly grew to become extremely sexually aware and started to indulge in experimentation with a string of handsome boyfriends. She lost her virginity when she was fourteen to a boy two years her senior and the newest, best-looking boy in the school. It happened during lunch-break in the sports equipment storage room, and of course, the boy had to brag to his friends. The news was soon common knowledge around the school. That really gave the other girls something to talk about.

When I created Helen, I was unsure what career she should have, given that she excelled in all her exams. However, I had often heard it said 'write about what you know', so, as I worked as a company accountant for many years, it made sense to also give Helen a career in accountancy.

After leaving school and going to university, Helen took the control away from me as regards where she wanted her story to go. I hadn't planned for her to have a serious boyfriend at university, but this was the point where Helen started to take over and tell her own story, and my ideas fell by the wayside.

After dropping out of the London School of Economics after two years, she sought an alternative route to achieve her goal of becoming a Chartered Accountant. She secured a position as an AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) with a firm of Chartered Accountants in London and passed the exams. Not being satisfied with this, she went on to study for her chartered recognition. Throughout those long years, she became rather obsessed and studied hard. This had a drastic effect on her social life, and she had very little in the way of fun during that time. Ted Hopkins, Helen's boss, idolised her and he made her a partner in the firm, which far exceeded Helen's original goal.

She is highly intelligent, and both clients and the staff became really fond of her. She is charismatic, kind, loyal, trustworthy, and a hard-working perfectionist. Helen also has a great sense of humour and enjoys a little mischief with some of the staff - not only at work, but also when the girls go on occasional nights out.

Helen is such a complex character, and due to her impulsive nature, there are many times she often makes rash decisions. It is highly likely that the choices she makes end up as some of her most colossal mistakes. She is an over-thinker who has easily been taken in when promised the world by the men in her life, yet she is a remarkably independent person who is more than capable of taking care of herself.

THINGS THAT HELEN DETESTS

Any form of cancer.

Men who cheat.

Bullies.

Narcissists.

People who are cruel to animals.

Drugs/drug dealers.

Crowds.

Queues.

The London Underground.

Night driving.

THINGS THAT HELEN LOVES