“The scholarship, compassion and narrative drive in these books is wonderful. Helena uses newspaper reports of ‘strange exits’ as a lever to lift the tarmac of the present and reveal the lives, attitudes and feelings of the ordinary folk of Hastings and St Leonards over two and a half centuries. Reading ‘Strange Exits’ has enriched my relationship with this town. Knowing my local history gives a pleasurable depth to walking familiar pavements.” Emily Johns.

"The author demonstrates her research and detective skills to put a name to the 'Mud Jack' murder; she excites with stories of exploding smugglers; horrifies with pitch forks in the face and children being beaten for stealing cucumbers and just when you thought she was done, she gives a superb potted history of our local rail links and chucks in a one-legged, decapitated navvy for good measure.

My personal favourite was the man who deliberately roasted himself on a public bonfire. There's nothing the author's gaze doesn't fall upon.

The exits are weird, wonderful and every bit as strange as the first volume. It's a must-have book." Tony Harris

"Beautifully written and packed with local flavour. As gripping as any crime fiction, the tales have the added piquancy and thrill of having really happened, and in local buildings and streets that still exist. Arranged chronologically, the book begins with a gruesome murder and gibbeting on Fairlight Down in 1740 and concludes with a baffling 'asphyxiation experiment' in a cellar in 1958. In between you will find a drowning in the Hollington farmlands, a poignant vignette about a depressed dog, a lady cyclist killed by X-Rays, a chimney pot disaster, a frenzied chopper attack worthy of the Chamber of Horrors, a deeply moving tale of a harmless, terrified, elderly 'alien' and a detailed account of the harrowing and tragic Ore starvation case of 1885 that shocked the nation to its core. Rounding off this varied collection a special report exposes a century of local infanticides, shining the spotlight on a grim subject that, although once a hot topic, has been hidden away like a dirty secret.

Despite the morbid subject matter the book is an absolute joy to read, because Helena has dug deep to find the human stories behind the headlines. She honours the victims by recounting their lives and deaths and giving them a kind of immortality by including them in the permanency of a book.

Although the two books are about death, ultimately they are more about life, focussing as much on the back-stories of this diverse bunch of unconnected people, as on what links them: their strange manner of exiting this world. Hastings in Focus