Author Archives: kathmcgurl

Shepherd Books and Travelling Readers

30 Tuesday May 2023

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Recently I was featured on the Shepherd Books website, talking about my five favourite books about Titanic and Carpathia. As many of you know I wrote a novel a couple of years ago that feature Titanic (The Lost Sister) and recently I’ve been working on one that features Carpathia, the ship that picked up Titanic’s survivors. This one will be published in November this year.

I love the Shepherd Books website – it’s such a great concept, and a whole new way of finding books you like. I was delighted to see that author Gill Thompson featured my book The Girl from Bletchley Park in her list of books set in WW2 and featuring strong women. All her choices look like excellent reads as that’s a category of books I love too!

Do take a look and try exploring the site, searching for the kind of books or authors you enjoy and see what comes up. They put a huge amount of effort into this website and it’s turning into a wonderful resource to inspire readers.

Also in recent days, my book The Storm Girl was included in boxes sent to subscribers of The Travelling Reader book boxes. Another marvellous concept for those who love to read – each month you’re sent a box containing a book that’s set in a specific area plus a load of goodies from that area! The Storm Girl is set in Dorset and the box contained a Dorset tea towel, a box of Dorset tea, some soap made locally, chocolate biscuits also made locally, a bookmark featuring pictures of The Storm Girl’s setting and a letter from me to the readers, all beautifully packaged up.

I was particularly impressed by the selection of photos tucked into the book. The Storm Girl is set right where I live, and those photos might have been taken by me on one of my many walks in my local area (but they weren’t!) They are exactly the places that inspired my novel.

A subscription to The Travelling Reader boxes would be a wonderful present for someone. It was such fun to open it and see what was inside!

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A new departure

28 Tuesday Mar 2023

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Over the last year or so I’ve been working on a rather different kind of writing project. I’ve had to keep it secret until now, but there was a press release about it a few days ago so at last I can talk openly!

I was asked by my publisher if I would consider ghost-writing a novel for a celebrity, and after due consideration, I agreed to do it. The premise of the novel intrigued me – a tragic event during World War II, set in the East End of London, and inspired by family stories recalled by the celebrity’s grandmother. And it was a new challenge for me.

The celebrity in question? None other than the supremely talented Millie Bobby Brown, star of Stranger Things and the Enola Holmes films. I knew her work from Enola Holmes and of course then had to watch all of Stranger Things last summer. What a fantastic series!

I was sent a lot of research that had already been pulled together by Millie and her family, and plenty of ideas, and we had a couple of Zoom calls. And then I knuckled down and wrote the first draft. The book has been through several drafts since then.

Last week, Millie announced the book on her Instagram page, and there’s been plenty of coverage of it on various news and book-related websites. The book is entitled Nineteen Steps and is available for preorder as an ebook or hardback, to be released on 12th September. I’m delighted to have been involved with this project, and I hope both my readers and Millie’s fans love the book!

Preorder on Amazon UK

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Preorder a signed edition from Waterstones UK

The Girl with the Emerald Flag

30 Friday Sep 2022

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Here’s the cover and blurb of my new novel, The Girl with the Emerald Flag, which is now available for preorder from all the usual places! It’ll be published as an ebook and audio book on 11th November, and as a paperback in January next year.

It’s set partly in Dublin, 1916, during the Easter Rising, and partly in Brighton, 1998. I absolutely loved writing this novel and hope you love reading it.

Here’s the blurb:

A country rebelling
It’s 1916 and, as war rages in Europe, Gráinne leaves her job in a department store to join Countess Markiewicz’s revolutionary efforts. It is a decision which will change her life forever. A rebellion is brewing, and as Dublin’s streets become a battleground, Gráinne soon discovers the personal cost of fighting for what you believe in…

A forgotten sacrifice
Decades on, student Nicky is recovering from a break-up when a research project leads her to her great-grandmother’s experiences in revolutionary Ireland. When Nicky finds a long-forgotten handkerchief amongst her great-grandmother’s things, it leads to the revelation of a heartbreaking story of tragedy and courage, and those who sacrificed everything for their country.

Inspired by a heartbreaking true story, this emotional historical novel will sweep you away to the Emerald Isle. 

The Storm Girl

25 Friday Mar 2022

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Delighted to say that my latest book, The Storm Girl, is now available for preorder from all the usual retailers. It’ll be published as an ebook in May, and as a paperback in July.

This was a real lockdown book, written when we could not travel anywhere and set in my home town which I’d discovered was a hotbed of smuggling back in the 18th century…

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New book!

15 Wednesday Sep 2021

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Delighted to announce that my latest novel, The Girl from Bletchley Park, is now available for pre-order! The ebook will be released on November 3rd, and the paperback about 2 months later in early January.

I absolutely adore this cover – possibly my favourite of all my books. Here’s the blurb and preorder links. It’s just been added to Netgalley as well, and I am nervously awaiting first reviews.

There will be a blog tour starting on publication day, organised as ever by the brilliant Rachel.

Will love lead her to a devastating choice?

1942. Three years into the war, Pam turns down her hard-won place at Oxford University to become a codebreaker at Bletchley Park. There, she meets two young men, both keen to impress her, and Pam finds herself falling hard for one of them. But as the country’s future becomes more uncertain by the day, a tragic turn of events casts doubt on her choice – and Pam’s loyalty is pushed to its limits…
 
Present day. Julia is struggling to juggle her career, two children and a husband increasingly jealous of her success. Her brother presents her with the perfect distraction: forgotten photos of their grandmother as a young woman at Bletchley Park. Why did her grandmother never speak of her time there? The search for answers leads Julia to an incredible tale of betrayal and bravery – one that inspires some huge decisions of her own…

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The Lost Sister publication day!

12 Wednesday May 2021

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Today is ebook publication day for The Lost Sister. I’m really proud of this novel, written during last year’s lockdown. The historical story centres around three sisters who go to work on three sister ships – the Olympic, Titanic and Britannic. The modern day story centres around a granddaughter of one of the girls, who is herself now a grandparent and going through some difficult times with her family.

A blog tour has begun today, and I am hugely thankful to all bloggers taking part. As always, as each blog is published I will add a link to it to the book’s page on this website.

It’s already had some lovely reviews on Netgalley, and I am honoured to see myself called by some reviewers, “the queen of timeslip”!

Paperback and audiobook versions of the novel will be published in July.

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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