The author
Hairdresser, award-winner, entrepreneur and, by her own account, the most reluctant of authors. Denise E. Jacobs is the author of Red Amaryllis.
Where it began
Denise E. Jacobs was born and raised in Darlington, England. She moved to London when she married Michael; the couple later returned to Darlington to open their own hairdressing salon, and Denise went on to win the Wella/Vogue National Hairdressing Award.
A bold idea
A few years later, they had a new idea altogether: television screens in the backs of taxis and, one day, in aeroplanes. They secured worldwide patents, put 350 screen-equipped cabs on the streets of Manchester, and floated a public company to develop it.
Then came a robbery, a fraud, and the loss of almost everything. What followed became the backbone of Red Amaryllis: a decade-long legal battle against one of the world’s largest multinational financial institutions, which Denise and Michael fought and won.
The reluctant witness
Alongside the legal fight runs another story, one Denise did not go looking for. In Red Amaryllis she describes the experiences that began in the 1980s, the messages that guided her through the case, and the warning she carried from 1985 onwards.
She kept much of it private for decades. Writing the book was the moment she chose to put it on the record.
Photographs
In her own words
“A naturally shy person, she would not be sharing her poignant, rollercoaster life story with the world unless she felt it vital to do so.”
“Denise E Jacobs can’t spell for the life of her and could never have written this book without spellcheck and her editor…”