Welcome to the website of author Gwen Wilson, aka blogger Garrulous Gwendoline The Reluctant Retiree…
With a few twists and turns along the way, life after forced retirement chose to reinvent me as an author.
Take a peek at my page I Belong to No One to learn more of my early journey. (work in progress at April ’26)
One day, I may write the sequel to my memoir. A ‘Self-Help’ book explaining how to transform a life that looked hopeless into one so full of vibrant activity there is never a spare minute in the day. The problem is that in all the years in between I was too busy putting one foot in front of the other to keep a diary, so the second-best option is my blog, first begun in 2013. Perhaps that is more revealing than any book could ever be…
Explore this website to learn more about me, my memoir I Belong to No One, and my debut historical novel, Louisa.
Or simply enjoy my blog posts, an eclectic mix of exhilarating travel adventures and random philosophical musings.



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I was numb. We had ridden in the mourning coach all the way from Shipley, up the Otley Road to Undercliffe Cemetery. I could hear the horses’ bridles clinking as they pulled in unison, plodding through the soot-blackened slush. Ahead, another team dragged the hearse. I kept my eyes down. I didn’t want to see…
