30 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted in Books, Uncategorized
I had such a great blog tour for The Forgotten Secret organised by Rachel’s Random Resources that I immediately booked another one for The Stationmaster’s Daughter. The tour starts on 20th August, and here’s the complete list of bloggers involved. I’ll post links to each blog review as they appear, on the book’s page on this blog.
So looking forward to publication of this book – just a week away now!
18 Tuesday Jun 2019
Posted in Books
Delighted to announce that my new book, The Stationmaster’s Daughter, is now available for preorder! The cover and the blurb are below. Preorder here from Amazon UK.
This one was inspired by my brother who works as a volunteer restoring the Lynton and Barnstaple railway in north Devon.
In other news – my last book, The Forgotten Secret, is currently on sale for just 99p till the end of the month!
Dorset 1935
Stationmaster Ted has never cared much for romance. Occupied with ensuring England’s most beautiful railway runs on time, love has always felt like a comparatively trivial matter. Yet when he meets Annie Galbraith on the 8.42 train to Lynford, he can’t help but instantly fall for her.
But soon the railway is forced to close and a terrible accident occurs within the station grounds, Ted finds his job and any hope of a relationship with Annie hanging in the balance…
Present day
Recovering from heartbreak after a disastrous marriage, Tilly decides to escape from the bustling capital and move to Dorset to stay with her dad, Ken.
When Ken convinces Tilly to help with the restoration of the old railway, she discovers a diary hidden in the old ticket office. Tilly is soon swept up in Ted’s story, and the fateful accident that changed his life forever.
But an encounter with an enigmatic stranger takes Tilly by surprise, and she can’t help but feel a connection with Ted’s story in the past.
21 Friday Sep 2018
Posted in Books, Uncategorized
I’m delighted to announce that The Drowned Village has finally been published, and is available to buy as ebook, paperback or audiobook. It’s available from all the usual online retailers, and is also in Waterstones and Foyles. I’m off to my local Waterstones tomorrow to see if I can catch a glimpse of it, out there in the wild!
Next week there’s to be a blog tour to promote the book. I’ll add links to the Drowned Village page on this blog, but meanwhile here’s the itinerary. I’ve completed an interview for one blog, and the others are reviews. Follow along to find out which actors I’d like to see playing the main characters, and what I’d choose as a theme tune. (Great questions, but had me scratching my head trying to answer them!)
There’ll be other exciting book news coming along soon. Keep checking back to keep in touch!
08 Sunday Jul 2018
I’ve just returned from a lovely relaxing two week holiday in the Loire valley in France, in our motorhome. The days were spent cycling beautiful lanes between fields of wheat and vines, swimming in lakes or rivers, sitting drinking wine in the campsites.
Oh, and I also managed to get a lot of writing done! Somehow, possibly due to the laptop not being connected to the internet, I managed to get an average 1000 words a day written, which is more than I do at home.
And a complete idea for a new novel, set in France and featuring a chateau, arrived. Hurray!
I’m back at the day job tomorrow. And back to the Irish independence novel from today – it needs editing and returning to my editor in about a month so I need to crack on.
In other news, The Girl from Ballymor is on an Amazon Kindle promotion in the UK, and selling at just 99p. Hurry while stocks last, as they say! I’ve just received a lovely message from a reader about this book. It does seem to strike a chord with many people of Irish descent throughout the world. Hope the independence novel does as well!
17 Saturday Mar 2018
Posted in Books, Uncategorized
To all those of Irish descent, and everyone else, have a wonderful St Patrick’s Day! If Ireland beat England in the Six Nations rugby this afternoon, thereby winning the Grand Slam, it’ll certainly be a joyous occasion in this house. My husband is a committed fan of Irish rugby. (If you read my books carefully you might spot references to Munster Rugby club in them – it’s the only way I can persuade him to read them.)
My Irish book, The Girl from Ballymor, is currently just 99p for the ebook – what better way to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, especially given the awful weather forecast for the weekend, than curling up with a good read?
And if you’ve already read it, thank you! I’d appreciate a brief Amazon review, as those really do help sell books.
Whatever you’re doing today, have a good one, and Slainté!
27 Wednesday Dec 2017
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We had a lovely day with both sons home and my brother visiting. Lots to eat and drink and plenty of silly games.
I’ll let you into a tiny secret – I cooked Christmas dinner for the first time ever. 25 years ago I made the very wise decision to marry a good cook (not just for his cooking skills you understand!) and therefore have never had to do much in the kitchen other than clear up the not-inconsiderable mess he makes.
But this year we decided to do things differently, and so on Christmas morning our younger son and I cooked, while the other three went for a walk and to the pub. And dinner was amazing, though I say it myself.
Best present received? My dear husband bought me a Lego campervan, to remind me of our travels this year! I spent many happy hours on Boxing Day constructing it, with the help of two very jealous sons who have not quite grown out of Lego and probably never will.
A nice surprise this morning was to see that the ebook version of The Girl from Ballymor is on an Amazon UK promotion, selling at just 99p, and rising nicely up the charts as a result. Here’s the link if you want to grab yourself a post-Christmas bargain!
16 Thursday Nov 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
Way back in September, while I was away travelling in our motorhome, I recorded a radio interview with Talk Radio Europe, to promote The Girl from Ballymor. They’ve only just broadcast it, and for the next few days you can listen to it on the link below. Choose 15th November, time slot 19:00-20:00. My bit starts at 38 minutes, 40 seconds in.
http://www.talkradioeurope.com/on-demand/
It was an odd experience – I was in the motorhome somewhere in Portugal, with all the doors and windows closed despite the heat to keep background noise to a minimum, speaking on my mobile phone. A tractor kept driving back and forth through the campsite, but thankfully the interviewer, Hannah, confirmed she couldn’t hear it. I’d locked my husband outside – didn’t even want to LOOK at him while the interview was ongoing!
If I sound nervous it’s because I was, although Hannah put me at my ease and let me waffle on. I’d had some great advice from writer friends on Facebook about smiling as I spoke (comes through in your voice), trying to speak slower than normal, and standing up rather than sitting down. Actually I paced back and forth in the small space in the middle of the van!
30 Monday Oct 2017
Posted in Campervan
From today, The Girl from Ballymor is on promotion on Amazon.com, selling at just 99cents. Hurry while stocks last!
And I’m featured today on the RNA blog, talking about the joys and trials of writing novels while travelling.
01 Thursday Dec 2016
Posted in Writing
I am a bit shocked and horrified to discover it is over 3 months since I wrote a blog post, and I am becoming one of those bloggers who has to start every post with an apology that it’s been so long since the last one. So sorry, dear blog followers, I shall try to do better!
So in the last post I was between novels. Since then I have completed two rounds of edits on the ‘Irish 
novel’, which does have a title now but not one I am allowed to share just yet! I’m waiting to hear back from my publisher on the latest edits, and also to hear when it’ll be put up for preorder. I will, of course, announce it here!
And I am now 20,000 words in to the next one, working title ‘Drowned Village’. So there’s been plenty of writing going on in this house, if not any blogging.
And in another snippet of news, my book The Daughters of Red Hill Hall has been included in Amazon’s December monthly deals, so is priced at just 99p for the next 3o days. Go on, treat yourself!
05 Sunday Jun 2016
Tags
Oh dear it has been over a month since I posted anything on this blog. I had a fortnight’s holiday in Ireland in May, travelling round in our campervan, and I feel as though I have barely stopped moving since.
There is a little bit of bookish news to share – The Emerald Comb is currently on an Amazon promotion – 99p on Amazon.co.uk until the end of this month. Grab it while you can!
As a result of this, I now have TWO books with best seller flags which is extremely pleasing. Obviously I needed a screenshot of this – and here it is.
While in Ireland we toured the south-west corner – counties Cork and Kerry. This is where my next novel is mostly set, so I found it very inspiring. No date yet for publication but I will let you know when I have one.
Gertie (our campervan) turned out to be perfect – better than we’d dared dream. I love everything about her. Just as well, because next year we plan to spend six months touring Europe in her! Here she is parked at the foot of Carrauntoohil, Ireland’s highest mountain, which we climbed on a beautiful and memorable day. That’s me, just before we set off.
