The Allotment Sisterhood’s out!
The authors Nancy Revell and Stephanie Butland have been really helpful to me so I was chuffed to have them as book shelf neighbours at The Bound
Thanks to everyone who supported me to get my second book, The Allotment Sisterhood, out into the world and has taken an interest in it. You can buy a copy from The Bound, Whitley Bay, Joanne Wishart Gallery (the cover artist) Cullercoats, Chapter 13 Sunderland and on Amazon as well as Kindle. (Chapter 13 and The Bound needed more stock, hurray).
The book launch at The Bound was on the same night as England’s World Cup semi-final. Luckily my lovely friend Bay Tales director, Vic Watson, who was interviewing me, and I talked so fast, most people only missed the first 10 minutes.
I’ve had my first feedback from independent reviewers in the last couple of days and it’s a big relief to find that they enjoyed it. Also, it’s particularly satisfying that one person complimented me on my knowledge of vegetables and allotments – my Dad, who I dedicated the book to, would hopefully have been proud! He was always disappointed I failed O level Maths so this might have helped redress that…
July was busy with my first visit to the Harrogate Crime Festival. I can’t read anything too grim or with torture scenes, so was unsure how I would find it. Well, I don’t know what it says about me, but I found it generally an absolute hoot! Great atmosphere and plenty of author panels promoting cracking novels with super twists.
On the first day I was really pleased to be given the chance to read at the Noir at the Bar. I chose the start of my work in progress, The Power of Truth, about a young woman about to become Prime Minister, unless things go wrong.
The festival is based in the Old Swan hotel (where Agatha Christie hid for a while, when she went missing), and its grounds, with a huge bookshop in one of the large hospitality rooms. I bought two books. The first is The 10:12 by Anna Maloney, about a woman who makes a split second decision when a train is hijacked. The second one is My Husband’s Wife, by Alice Feeney, which starts with a wife returning home to find another woman living in her house, claiming to be her husband’s wife.
I’m also planning to read Dissection of a Murder by Jo Murray, who comes from the North East. Listening to her at Harrogate was fascinating. She comes from a working class background and wanted to become a barrister, no easy task, but she did it. Her book has had great reviews.
Last week I finished Stephanie Butland’s new novel A Bookshop Summer. As always, with her writing, this story was uplifting and like a warm hug of a book.
My current reading is a review copy of Before I Sing You This Song, a new novel about a woman in the stand-up world of the 1970s. Set in Sunderland, its written by Justine Sless and published by Crear Publishing. I’ll be sharing more about it in my next newsletter but it has already made me laugh out loud.
If you fancy a chuckle, I totally recommend two funny friends Yvonne Vincent and Marie Thom, who are doing a live show based on their Hear Me Roar podcast, at the Little Theatre, Gateshead on 19 September at 7.15pm. Both women have great Facebook pages and are very frank about women getting older so strap yourselves in – they would have something funny to say about that I’m sure 😊.
Another date for your diaries. Vic Watson has an excellent Bay Tales crime fiction festival, The Word is Murder, with best-selling authors including Mark Billingham and Abigail Dean, taking place at The Word, South Shields on Saturday, 26 September.
Hope everyone is having a good summer and reading some great books.