This inspired me to
research that area of North London which in turn led me to 1960s and the
undertow of violence in people’s lives, not dissimilar to the present day.
A kind of mixture of crime and love story, this book has been very well
received. Look out for THE LAVENDER
HOUSE in paperback in March. I will have a party to celebrate that in
the area of North London where the book is set, which should be fun.
My current pre-occupation
is again the 1960s, but this time in the North of England. My new novel is a
fictional take on factories and fame in the early 1960s with Sandie Shaw as
the invisible but presiding spirit of the times. Factory life – despite
being dynamic, exciting, comic and tragic in turns - has little reflection
in modern fiction apart from dated, dismissive references to boring
processes and dark satanic mills. Yet in the twentieth century factory life
was the mainstay of many communities. And many factories - particularly
light manufacturing industries - depended on the skilled work of women, My
new novel focuses on the lives of three very different women in the week
when a great celebrity visits their factory. All this sounds very serious
but the provisionally titled SANDIE SHAW AND THE MILLIONTH MARVELL COOKER has, I hope, that balance
of passion. comedy and tragedy that sits at the base of all our lives. Watch
for this one in September.
Read the
Prologue now!
My work in prison continues
to be ever more interesting and absorbing. We had our own
Litfest Inside in
October and have just published our first book. Called
THE SELF REVEALED, it
includes poems, memoirs, prose, short stories and novel extracts by the
community of women writers at Low Newton. It is a great book – a credit and
a tribute to them and is now obtainable on
Amazon.
My last good news is that
IRON PRESS is to publish a collection of my short stories later this year,
to be called KNIVES. Writing short stories is a different kettle of fish
than writing novels and has provided me with a nice counterpoint to the
writing THE LAVENDER HOUSE and
SANDIE. Hard to compare the two forms,
really: like spinning fine silk compared to weaving a patterned braid,
perhaps.
Now I am down to reading
all things Polish in preparation for a new novel. It goes on!
Happy reading and keep in touch.
