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Bullies' jibes inspired my hit novel
Dec 1 2004
By Diane Parkes, Evening Mail
Sophie Martin-Canning was called plenty of names when she was young - 'Scarface', 'Redface' and even 'Phantom of the Opera' - all because she was born with a facial port wine stain.
But the schoolgirl from Hodge Hill refused to sink under the pressure.
Support from a loving family and a determination to succeed have meant that Sophie is having the last laugh.
Instead of burying the experience, she used it as the basis of a novel, Kissed By The Angels, which has taken the United States by storm and is now hitting our own book shops.
The book, which tells the story of Orlagh, who has a facial mark, mirrors Sophie's own journey - through travels, life and experience, but is much more than just her own tale.
"I think every writer, especially with their first novel, tends to write from their own experiences," she says. "There is a lot in this book that did actually happen. But when you are writing fiction you need to make it all larger than life. Everything she does is so much bigger than in real life.
"The book is about a journey, about how she gains wisdom along the way. But everyone will get what they want out of it. Some people will find it a light-hearted novel and others will find it deeply insightful."
Sophie is keen for people to realise the book is not simply about a child with a facial mark - it is about everyone growing up and facing life's difficulties.
"Everyone has something they feel may be holding them back. It could be their weight, baldness, psychological problems - no-one ever thinks they are perfect," she adds.
"I think you can take the birthmark as whichever aspect of your makeup you feel a hang-up about."
Sophie admits she faced many difficulties growing up with such a visible mark on her face, but her parents Carmel and Paddy Martin ensured she felt special.
It was only when she attended St Mary and St John RC School, Bromford School and then Hodge Hill Comprehensive that she faced bullying from fellow students.
"I was called all kinds of names," she says.
"Children can be ruthless and nasty. Once you make friends you blend in but you were always meeting new people, like at a sports event, and that would bring new taunts."
Sophie's father Paddy, known to countless Birmingham families because of the many years he ran the Aston Boxing Club, gave Sophie the inspiration for her book's title by telling her the mark was special and showed she had been kissed by angels.
But as she grew, Sophie learned that such a physical mark could impact on her life. The family therefore enlisted the best medical help to remove it.
"I was very lucky because I had an amazing family who instilled an abundance of confidence in me," she recalls. "I was made to feel 100 per cent special. But life would have been a lot easier for me if I hadn't had it because I was tormented every day at school.
"I had it from when I was a baby but I had every treatment I could possibly
have had. This was well before lasers became really established in the UK and we travelled all over the country to have consultations and even travelled to the United States.
"My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they had to go the private route because they faced a brick wall with the NHS.
"I was one of the first people in this country to have laser treatment --somehow they found the money because if we had had to wait, it would have been 20 or 30 years."
These days 32-year-old Sophie's birthmark is hardly visible and she is overflowing with confidence.
She met her husband 36-year-old building business boss Martin Canning, when he was a trainee boxer with her father's club and they married seven years ago.
The couple split their time between New York and Sutton Coldfield and have a nine-month-old daughter Saoirse, which is Irish for Freedom.
Kissed By The Angels was published in the United States 18 months ago and has proved to be so successful plans are already afoot to turn it into a film.
The novel has also been shortlisted for the Oprah Winfrey Book Club - which could mean an appearance for Sophie alongside the queen of chat shows.
And it has provoked an amazing response from readers. Every day she gets emails and letters from people thanking her.
"I even had a letter from a girl with bulimia who said that before she read the book she had been thinking of killing herself," she adds.
Now Sophie is planning a sequel which will see her heroine off on travels - but first she needs to conquer the UK.
"The response so far has been fantastic but there is also a sense of trepidation because it did do so well there and now is the telling time over here."
