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Jenny Tomlin's book 'Sweetie' |
‘Sick’ abuse book to stay in our libraries
TV star mum’s paedophile novel ‘shouldn’t be hidden’
A “SICK” novel chronicling a series of horrific sexual assaults and murders of young children by a runaway paedophile will remain on the shelves of Westminster’s libraries.
Sweetie, by Jenny Tomlin, the mother of former soap star Martine McCutcheon, has the unenviable record of being one of only two books in the borough’s 11 libraries that users have called to ban.
The other is a foul-mouthed fan’s guide to the films of Hollywood action hero Stephen Seagal – Seagalogy: A Life in Badass Cinema – described as “not kid-friendly” by one critic.
The titles were revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request by the West End Extra.
The council’s senior library boss, David Ruse, said neither books were removed because it would amount to “censorship” and the complaints were isolated incidents.
Mr Ruse said that to be taken off the shelves the books would have to be banned by the government under the Obscene Publications Act.
He added: “The decision to buy this book is justified because the author is well established, having written three non-fiction titles before and there had been a lot of pre-publicity about it. The fact she is Martine McCutcheon’s mum also influenced the decision.
“We don’t ban books because we respect freedom of expression not censorship. It’s not our place. If something’s offensive then stop reading. People should be able to read challenging and offensive books. One person’s offence is another person’s way of life.
“Perhaps other libraries wouldn’t stock it, but we decided that the issues dealt with should not be hidden under the covers.”
Ms Tomlin has spoken candidly of being sexually abused by her father when she was growing up.
While the back cover jacket blurb of Sweetie, published last year, gives an indication of the story, it does not reveal the graphic nature of many of the child rape scenes, which are too disturbing to print here.
Seagalogy was the subject of complaints because of “the style of English in the book”. Described as “lewd” and “raunchy” it won plaudits for adding something to a swollen “fan” genre.
Westminster Council has a buying policy that broadly reflects government guidelines on controversial books set out by the London Museums Archives and Libraries body.
It buys around 120,000 books a year, many of which are multiple copies of the same book and serves just under three million users every year.
It was also revealed that library chiefs collected almost £50,000 more in fines than the previous two years – up to £203,506 in 2008/09 from £155,671 in 2007/08. |
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