When readers asked about a follow-up to my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, I was surprised. Although I had thoughts about how my character, Diana, might have developed since 2004 when the novel is set, I didn’t plan to explore them in fiction. My perspective turned on its head shortly after I submitted my third…
I’m interviewed by Yvonne Battle-Fenton for her podcast, Bookable Space, about my novel Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home. I also read three extracts, one from each of my main characters’ points of view. Yvonne asked me about the inspiration for this novel and what it was like drawing on familiar settings: Cumbria where I grew…
What a delight to be interviewed again on Hannah’s Bookshelf on North Manchester FM. This time the focus is on Lyrics for the Loved Ones, the follow-up to Matilda Windsor is Coming Home, which Hannah and I discussed on the programme in August 2021. Hannah was curious about what it was like to return to…
I’m truly honoured that book blogger Yvonne Gill has taken such care with her review of Lyrics for the Loved Ones. Not only has she beautifully articulated her response to the novel – both her reservations and appreciation – she’s shared some of her favourite quotes from the text. I’m delighted that, overall, she found…
I’d been meaning to visit the former home of the Brontë sisters in Haworth ever since I got the germ of an idea for an alternative version of Jane Eyre. Last Monday, two years after that initial impetus, I finally made it. I’d been as a child, on a family visit inspired by my mother’s…
Come along and say hello. If you’re making a special journey and want more information, contact me. Thurs, Fri, Sat,11-13 June SherWords writing group bookstall at St Martin’s Church, Trevose Gardens, Sherwood, NG5 3FU Sunday, 12 July Inspired Quill bookstall in the Literature Village, Newark Market Place, NG24 1EA Saturday, 5 September Bookstall and short reading…
Marked on 22 April each year, Earth Day is a reminder to celebrate the natural environment and to pat ourselves on the back for our efforts to protect it. Alongside the usual recycling, composting and picking up other people’s litter, I spent it admiring the early blooms in our garden wildflower meadows and the newts…
Alongside the humour in my novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, Matty’s story tugs at the heartstrings. But readers differ in what they find particularly poignant. One early reader told me, I was all right until I got to the nuns. The most tragic part for me came when I was researching ballroom dancing for…
My previous post was about the female friendship at the heart of my novella, Stolen Summers. This is about my character Matilda’s short-lived friendship with a male patient and the surprising discovery I made when I was researching his background. I made Eustace a Black World War I veteran, partly to do my small bit…
It’s often said that we choose our friends – but we have to find them first. We make friends from the people we cross paths with, from our schoolmates, neighbours, co-workers and people who share our leisure pursuits. We might choose friends who have similar interests and outlooks to our own. But not always. Sometimes…
The history of mental health care is littered with discarded treatments revealing the practitioners to be barely more rational than the patients. One fad that seduced me for a short time when I worked as a clinical psychologist was ‘earplug therapy’ for people who heard unwanted voices. Wacky as it seems, there was solid research…
For some, history means kings, queens and political intrigue. For others, it’s a litany of colonisation and war. At my school, history leapt from Roman Britain to the industrial revolution, where history meant innovation, manufacturing and machines. Now I enjoy fiction that honours the lives of those the history books have often neglected: working-class people;…
I came across the name Anne Lister as I was researching my novel-in-progress, a subversive retelling of Jane Eyre. Born in 1791, Anne Lister was a pioneering Yorkshire landowner, businesswoman, traveller and mountaineer. She was also a secret diarist commonly considered the first modern lesbian, unkindly nicknamed Gentleman Jack. Although her sexuality, and her independent…
Now on my fifth draft of an alternative version ofJane Eyre, I’m experimenting with a different opening. It’s tough – there’s so much to balance in those early scenes. I need to orientate my reader without overwhelming them with information. I need to intrigue, without confusing. The first page has to do a lot of…
Women in nineteenth-century novels spend a lot of time sewing. They might comment on their embroidery or the shirt they are making or, like the orphaned narrator of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, lament the bluntness of the needles, but I’ve never come across a character marvelling at the feat of engineering that pulls the thread…
I was leading a walk around Jane Eyre territory the other weekend when we heard the peal of church bells from down the valley. Wedding bells – which was perfect timing, as we were approaching the ruined chapel where the eponymous heroine doesn’t get to marry Mr Rochester. It’s a great point of high drama in Charlotte…
Earlier this month, a critique partner sent me her feedback on the initial draft of my novel-in-progress. Honestly, I’d forgotten what a wonderful gift it is the first time an attentive reader ploughs through to the end. Especially so if, as in this case, she gets what you’re trying to do, likes it and is…
At a book fair last month, I finally achieved a goal I’d set myself more than five years before. Yet, until the opportunity arose, I’d forgotten it was ever on my to-do list. I’d set this as a target for 2020 – but we all know what became of live gatherings that year. Amid the…
I’ve begun a new project, and it’s quite a departure for me. Not only for the historical setting but also in that it’s influenced by a much loved classic. This is bringing as many problems as it does opportunities. One that immediately presents itself is that my dramatis personae are already laid out for me,…
One of my favourite walks takes me over the moors and down through Eyam, the picturesque Derbyshire village made famous by the inhabitants’ self-sacrifice during the Great Plague. When the pestilence arrived from London in a bolt of cloth, the residents – led by the young vicar, William Mompesson – agreed to quarantine themselves to…
There’s a lovely tradition in rural Derbyshire where the community comes together to create a colourful mosaic using natural materials pressed onto a board filled with wet clay. These are displayed beside ancient water sources to attract visitors to the village and raise money for charity. I’ve always been in awe of the work that…
I’d been waiting over six months to check out the setting for an early scene in my novel-in-progress. Back in November, the rocky field carpeted with purple orchids of my imagination proved a pleasant distraction from the storms buffeting the land beyond my desk. It was based on a place I’ve visited often, albeit not…
Do you ‘read’ audiobooks? I often meet booklovers who express an interest in my novels and short stories but prefer to listen rather than read. About eighteen months ago, I bought some kit and did a record-your-own audiobooks course but, after much frustration, concluded it wasn’t for me. But never say never. When my fellow…
With a spate of extreme weather events over recent months, we’re all becoming more aware of the climate crisis. However, you might not have heard of Earth Day, established in 1970 to draw attention to the importance of environmental conservation and sustainability. It’s marked each year on April 22. This year’s theme is the planet…
