Tag Archives: The Forgotten Secret

Podcast and a promo!

07 Sunday Jun 2020

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A few weeks ago I was interviewed by the lovely Jenny Wheeler for a podcast – that is a first time for me. She’s now posted it up on her website, The Joys of Binge Reading, and you can listen to it here.

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In it, I chatter on about lockdown, The Secret of the Château, how I got started writing, writing while living in Gertie, The Forgotten Secret and more. There’s also a transcript for those who prefer to read rather than listen. And there’s a giveaway of copies of the ebook of The Secret of the Château!

Jenny’s is a fabulous website and she’s interviewed loads of writers. Do go and take a look around and perhaps listen to some of them!

(PS I hate the sound of my recorded voice, but I suppose that’s true for many of us!)

Also – for all readers in the US – please note The Secret of the Château is currently on sale at just 99c from Amazon for the month of June. Bargain!

News and updates

19 Saturday Oct 2019

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Well I may not have put much on my blog lately but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy! As regular readers know I gave up the day job in February this year and life’s been very full since then with lots of travel, lots of writing and lots of fun.

Here’s the latest news.

Firstly, The Stationmaster’s Daughter has now been released as a paperback and is available to buy from all online retailers. It’s done very nicely as an ebook and has some lovely reviews – see the book’s own page on this blog. (And at the moment the ebook is selling for just 99p in the UK for a limited period!)

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Back in August, The Forgotten Secret was featured on a Bookbub deal in the US and imagine my excitement when it reached no 13 in the Amazon chart and was a US Today bestseller for that week!

 

 

Writing has been going well – I recently submitted another novel to my editor and am waiting to hear what she thinks of it and see how much work there is still to do on it. It’s scheduled for publication in spring 2020. I will, of course, announce further details as they are finalised, but there are a few clues about it on The WIP page on this blog. This is book 1 of a 3-book contract I signed in August.

Meanwhile while I wait to hear from my editor, I am pushing on fast with the novel after that (book 2 of the contract). This one’s very genealogy-based and is flying onto the page. Some novels seem easier to write than others and so far this one’s a joy.

I want to get it written quickly anyway, as I am very excited about my idea for book 3 of the contract, and have amassed a few research books to get me started on that one. Plus I already have some notes made for another book after that… I never seem to have a problem finding new ideas, long may that continue.

Publication day and other news

07 Wednesday Aug 2019

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Today is publication day for The Stationmaster’s Daughter, and I can’t wait to find out what people think of this one! It was inspired by my brother’s work volunteering on the Lynton to Barnstaple railway restoration project – he’s been involved with that for 30 years. I adore this cover – that girl is EXACTLY how I imagine my character Annie!

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In other news, The Forgotten Secret is currently on promotion in the US, selling at just 99c. Yesterday after a Bookbub promo, it climbed to number 13 in the overall chart which had me VERY excited, checking its rankings more times than I care to admit. If you’re wondering what Bookbub is, please click the link above and consider following your favourite authors. You’ll get emails when they release new books or when their books are on promotion, so you are the first to hear!

Here’s my book in the charts when it was at its highest point, ahead of a couple of rather well known books:13 in the US

And finally, I posted an important document back to my publisher the other day… one that contained a signature and a commitment to write another three books… So I had better get on and write them!

Update

26 Sunday May 2019

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The last time I had a long gap between blog entries was I think back in 2017, when I spend 6 months travelling in our motorhome…

…and the reason for THIS long gap is that I am once again on the move! Since giving up the day job back on Valentine’s Day I’ve been away from home far more than I’ve been there. Several short holidays (Ireland, Lake District, ski trip, visit to son in Liverpool) and now a two month trip in France in our beloved Gertie.

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But don’t worry – I am still writing while travelling. I have blogged about it over on the Novel Points of View blog – go there for more photos of me writing in the van. We are touring the south-east corner of France, the Alpes-Maritimes. Not entirely coincidentally, it’s where my current work-in-progress is set. So inspiring to be travelling in the area I’m writing about!

In other news, the paperback edition of The Forgotten Secret is now available to buy from online retailers. And a foreign edition of Mr Cavell’s Diamond is on its way – more on that later!

And the June edition of Writing Magazine features me talking about my first week as a full time author in Lynne Hackles’ column – in the shops now! I haven’t seen it myself as we’ve been away, but my lovely son (need to keep him sweet) bought me a copy and sent me a photo of it.

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The Forgotten Secret paperback

30 Saturday Mar 2019

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A box of paperbacks of The Forgotten Secret arrived a couple of days ago! Always so exciting to see my book in paperback format for the first time.

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To celebrate, I’m giving away a signed copy, and will post anywhere in the world. To be in with a chance of winning, either leave a comment here or on my Facebook author page by 6pm Sunday evening UK time. I’ll draw the winner’s name from a hat.

You might also be interested in my latest post over on Novel Points of View blog, in which I talk about theme, and the fine line I needed to tread when writing The Forgotten Secret, as it explores the idea that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”.

Finally in what is to me fantastic news, my next book The Stationmaster’s Daughter has gone through to copyedits stage. I love knowing the hard work is over for a book, and only tweaks are now needed! This one’s due out in September and of course I’ll be sharing its blurb and cover etc when they’re ready, right here on my blog.

 

Publication Day!

01 Friday Mar 2019

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Back in May 2017 I was on a six-month motorhoming trip around Europe with my husband. We’d reached Sicily and were sitting in a campsite restaurant one evening, when we began talking through ideas for my next novel. I’d just finished a round of edits for The Drowned Village and was ready to start work on something else. I had this vague idea I wanted to do something around the Irish war of independence, and that my contemporary character would uncover a cache of old guns under a barn – that would be the trigger to set her off researching the past.

We sat in that restaurant and began thrashing out ideas. My husband’s Irish so of course he knew a lot more than me about this period in history. I jotted down a load of notes, kept mulling it over for the next week or two and ended up with a plan for the novel that eventually (after several title changes!) became The Forgotten Secret.

This one turned out to be the most difficult to date to write. Partly because I didn’t do enough research before starting to write. Partly because for some reason I wrote most of the contemporary storyline before the historical (usually I do them the other way round, so at least I know what happened in the past, and know what my contemporary character needs to discover). And partly because hitting the right note for the historical story was tricky. I wanted the novel to illustrate the premise that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. But I didn’t want it to be overly political or partisan.

I think I got the balance right. Early reviews are positive. I hope everyone enjoys this novel, and do let me know what you think of it!

Publication looms and a lovely review

23 Saturday Feb 2019

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Just a week – actually less! – till publication of The Forgotten Secret. It has been gathering some lovely early reviews on Netgalley and Goodreads, so I hope it’s going to do well and be enjoyed by many people. One thing early reviewers have said is that they learned some Irish history from it, and appreciated the brief historical notes at the start of the book. I had to do a lot of research for this one, to get the history right and yet not overwhelm the reader with it. So far it sounds like I found the right balance.

In other news, the Historical Novels Society have featured The Drowned Village in their latest batch of reviews. Really pleased with this one! I keep meaning to join the HNS. One day I will!

 

100th anniversary

21 Monday Jan 2019

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Today, 21st January 2019, is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the first Dáil – Ireland’s parliament. The Dáil was not recognised by Britain, and thus the Irish war of independence began.

The war ended in 1921 with a signing of a treaty that split six counties of Ulster away from the rest of Ireland – creating what we now know as Northern Ireland (although those in the republic tend to refer to it simply as ‘the north’).

Many in Ireland were not happy about that treaty, and civil war ensued (1922-3) between the pro and anti-treaty forces.

And of course some anti-treaty forces (the IRA) continued fighting over the decades until the Good Friday Agreement finally brought peace in 1998. (Peace that Brexit may endanger, but this isn’t supposed to be a political post so let’s not go there!)

My new book, currently available for preorder, is partly set during the war of 1919-21, telling the story of Ellen, young and in love with an idealistic Republican fighter. In the present day, Clare inherits a farmhouse in county Meath, and discovers long-forgotten secrets that allow her to unearth Ellen and Jimmy’s story…

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The Forgotten Secret

02 Sunday Dec 2018

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Cover from Amazon

Here it is! My new book, The Forgotten Secret. Set in Ireland during the war of independence, and in the present day. Here’s the blurb:

Can she unlock the mysteries of the past?

A country at war

It’s the summer of 1919 and Ellen O’Brien has her whole life ahead of her. Young, in love and leaving home for her first job, the future seems full of shining possibility. But war is brewing and before long, Ellen and everyone around her are swept up by it. As Ireland is torn apart by the turmoil, Ellen finds herself facing the ultimate test of love and loyalty.

A long-buried secret

A hundred years later and Clare Farrell has inherited a dilapidated old farmhouse in County Meath. Seizing the chance to escape her unhappy marriage she strikes out on her own for the first time, hoping the old building might also provide clues to her family’s shadowy history. As she sets out to put the place – and herself – back to rights, she stumbles across a long-forgotten hiding place, with a clue to a secret that has lain buried for decades.

For fans of Kate Morton and Gill Paul comes an unforgettable novel about two women fighting for independence.

And here’s the Amazon links to preorder: UK   US  

This was the most difficult book I’ve ever written but probably the one I am most proud of. It will be released as an ebook on March 1st 2019, and in paperback later in May. I can’t wait to find out what readers think of it!