Author Archives: kathmcgurl

The Lost Sister – available for preorder!

16 Tuesday Feb 2021

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Delighted to announce that my latest book, The Lost Sister, is now available for preorder! I absolutely love the cover for this one – HQ art team have surpassed themselves, thank you!

Here’s the blurb:

Three sisters. Three ships. One heartbreaking story.

1911. As Emma packs her trunk to join the ocean liner Olympic as a stewardess, she dreams of earning enough to provide a better life for both her sisters. With their photograph tucked away in her luggage, she promises to be back soon – hoping that sickly Lily will keep healthy, and wild Ruby will behave. But neither life at sea nor on land is predictable, and soon the three sisters’ lives are all changed irrevocably…

Now. When Harriet finds her late grandmother’s travelling trunk in the attic, she’s shocked to discover a photo of three sisters inside – her grandmother only ever mentioned one sister, who died tragically young. Who is the other sister, and what happened to her? Harriet’s questions lead her to the story of three sister ships, Olympic, Titanic and Britannic, and a shattering revelation about three sisters torn apart…

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Online Event

11 Monday Jan 2021

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On 4th February I am taking part in an online event (on Zoom) organised by Northumberland Libraries. I’ll be talking about my books, my inspiration, my writing processes and my latest and forthcoming novels.

To join me (and please do!) click the link here to register. It’s all free!

Register on Eventbrite

Welcome to 2021!

01 Friday Jan 2021

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And good riddance to 2020. I think we are all hoping that this year will be a little better.

At this time of year I always write a blog post looking back on the year and setting out some aims for the year ahead. I considered not doing it this year, as no one really wants to look back on 2020 do they? But I think I’ll stick to my tradition. There have (for me) been a few good things in the year.

Last year, none of us could have foreseen what was ahead. I envisaged another year like 2019 for me – lots of travelling and writing, but slow progress on thinning down house contents ready to move. That’s reflected in last year’s resolutions. Here they are:

  • Complete the two novels written last year. Both are slated for publication in 2020. — Done, The Secret of the Chateau and The Forgotten Gift
  • Write first drafts of two more novels. — Wrote a full draft of one, and the starts of two others, so I guess I’m a little behind here.
  • Continue thinning down possessions, with a view to selling this house in 2021. — The pandemic and lockdowns helped us here – we completed the declutter, put the house on the market in July and moved on December 1st – ahead of schedule!
  • Continue enjoying life! — Not as easy as it had been the previous year. Of course all our travel plans were scuppered. But we had our sons living with us on and off all year, and managed lots of family walks and bike rides and board games. So not all bad.

Looking ahead, of course the one thing 2020 showed us is that life is never certain. It’s hard to plan in detail, when we don’t know how this pandemic will pan out. And Brexit means our travel plans are not as achievable as they were, now that I’m no longer an EU citizen (although my Irish husband still is). But here’s what I hope to do in 2021:

  • Complete writing two more novels
  • Pandemic allowing, spend a couple of months in France in late spring/early summer (a booking from 2020 that was postponed a year)
  • Finish sorting out the new house, including building a garden room which is to be my writing space
  • Make the most of every day, even when we’re restricted in what we can do. There are always possibilities.

Thanks to all my readers for your support, and I hope the year was kind to you. Best wishes for 2021.

OUT NOW!

11 Wednesday Nov 2020

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Delighted to announce that The Forgotten Gift has now been published as an ebook. Paperback and audiobook to follow in January.

It’s been receiving some lovely early reviews on Netgalley, including one that said: “The queen of dual timelines has done it again!” – makes me giggle every time I read that sentence, but I am delighted with it.

The blog tour has begun – links to all reviews will be added to the book’s page on this blog as they come in. Thank you to all bloggers for taking part, and to Rachel for her fabulous organisational skills!

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Countdown!

05 Thursday Nov 2020

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Counting down the days now until publication day for The Forgotten Gift! I can’t wait to see this one released into the wild. It was such fun to write and I’m really fond of this novel with its themes of family and nature vs nurture.

Above is the details for the blog tour, which begins on publication day, 11th November, hosted by Rachel’s Random Resources. I’m so looking forward to hearing what these reviewers thought of the book. All links will be added daily to the book’s page on this website.

The Forgotten Gift – publication date looming closer!

23 Friday Oct 2020

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With less than three weeks to go until publication date for The Forgotten Gift, it’s time to get going with a bit of promotion for it. There’s to be a full blog tour starting on publication date – 11th November, and here are the blogs involved and the dates. I’ll post links to all of them on the Forgotten Gift page on this website.

There’s been a few lovely reviews posted on Netgalley or Goodreads, including one that calls me “the queen of dual timelines”!! I keep giggling about that one.

And the first blog review is from wonderful Cindy Spear – you can read that here. She also interviewed me for her blog, and that’s here. Thanks so much to Cindy for all her support.

Meanwhile, I have more or less completed a set of edits for the book after this one, and begun writing another. There’s no rest!

Inspiration!

10 Thursday Sep 2020

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A couple of weeks ago, my back list titles were all published as audio books. To celebrate, my publisher asked me to record a minute for each book, of myself talking about the inspiration behind each one. Those videos have all been uploaded to Instagram, and you can watch them via the HQStories channel, linked here.

It was a pretty excruciating experience getting those done, I can tell you! My drama student son helped, and it took us ages getting the lighting right, and the camera (phone) angle right, so the bags under my eyes didn’t look too bad. And then I kept stumbling over the words, or speaking as though I was ‘dead inside,’ as my son kept telling me. We had to do about 20 takes for one book. I have a newfound respect for all actors, presenters, radio and TV hosts. Words are far easier to write than to speak, I think!

Anyway, here are the links to the individual clips, saved here so they’re easier to find in case anyone ever wants a giggle.

The Stationmaster’s Daughter

The Pearl Locket

The Girl from Ballymor

The Emerald Comb

The Daughters of Red Hill Hall

The Forgotten Gift

02 Wednesday Sep 2020

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I’m delighted to be able to share with you the cover and blurb for my latest book, The Forgotten Gift!

It’s due to be published on 11th November 2020 as an ebook, with the paperback following on 7th January 2021, and it’s now available for preorder.

Here’s the blurb:

What would you do to protect the ones you love?

1861. George’s life changes forever the day he meets Lucy. She’s beautiful and charming, and he sees a future with her that his position as the second son in a wealthy family has never offered him. But when Lucy dies in a suspected poisoning days after rejecting George, he finds himself swept up into a murder investigation. George loved Lucy; he would never have harmed her. So who did?

Now. On the surface Cassie is happy with her life: a secure job, good friends, and a loving family. When a mysterious gift in a long-forgotten will leads her to a dark secret in her family’s history she’s desperate to learn more. But the secrets in Cassie’s family aren’t all hidden in the past, and her research will soon lead her to a revelation much closer to home – and which will turn everything she knows on its head…

Discover a family’s darkest secrets today. 

News update

02 Sunday Aug 2020

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After an exciting couple of months watching how The Secret of the Château was doing on various Amazon deals in the US and then UK, this month it’s the turn of The Girl from Ballymor that is now selling at just 99p on Amazon UK.  It’s still my favourite of my novels, so I hope it does well.

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Later this month, on the 27th, all my older books will be released as audiobooks. There will be five coming out on the same day, which is really exciting! That will mean all my books are available in all formats. I’ll soon be recording some promotional video clips about the inspiration behind The Emerald Comb, The Pearl Locket, The Daughters of Red Hill Hall, The Girl from Ballymor and The Stationmaster’s Daughter, to celebrate these audiobook publications.

Also this month, I’ll be announcing news of my next novel – the tenth. I can’t wait to share this with everyone! Novel Eleven is also written and with beta readers for a few comments before I send it to my editor. And ideas for more are brewing, of course.

I hope everyone’s found plenty of time to read over recent months. I have – along with writing. And house clearing. We’ve been talking about moving for a couple of years, and are finally taking some steps towards doing it. Which means the loft and the garage that we’ve been ignoring for years all need sorting. Funnily, book eleven starts with a character clearing her attic. She gets on with it a lot faster than I have managed to.

Live on Facebook & other news

02 Thursday Jul 2020

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Yesterday as part of the One More Chapter book club I was ‘live’ on Facebook along with editor Mel and author Adrienne Chinn. We were talking about our latest books. Adrienne’s is also dual timeline, like mine.

We had a lot of fun, and the video is available to watch on FB here.

Also – for the month of July – my latest novel The Secret of the Château is on promotion at just 99p for the ebook on Amazon UK! The paperback and audio versions of the book will be released later this month.

I handed a revised version of my 10th novel to my editor last week – hope to soon bring you news of its title, cover, blurb etc – I love announcing new books!

And today I’m going back to my 11th novel. I have written a very rough first draft, and now I need to turn it into something readable!

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