I hope you managed to catch my 2004 letter with lots of details about A Woman Scorned and writing short stories for the exciting Woodhorn Museum Project, and for the collection called BOUND. This letter is now lodged in the Diary if you want to re-visit it.

How good to talk to you again in 2005. I have had a bit of a dramatic time this year – bit more of that anon. Books first!

In Paperback

This month A WOMAN SCORNED, which was in hardback last year has come out in paperback. You can read an article I wrote about the spooky experience of writing it in my articles section. I think it touched some very fundamental core in both me as a writer and people who have read it. The reviews were lovely and it has raised a lot of interest. So many people have said it would make a good film, so I am still waiting for Miramax to knock on my door.

New Novel

Well, the music hall novel which I mentioned in my 2004 letter - NO REST FOR THE WICKED - is now completed and nearly ready for printing, and will be published by Headline in September. It follows the fortunes of Pippa Valois, a young French girl who joins a vivid, eccentric, sometimes threatening English Variety troupe in 1923 and travels with them to England for their provincial tour.

It has been great working on this novel with my publisher, Harriet Evans. She is fizzing with ideas: creative and rigorous at the same time. Great editorial qualities. The cover of NO REST FOR THE WICKED was a case in point. She took a great deal of trouble to get this right. The right cover for a mainstream novel poses a particular challenge both for author and publisher. The author wants a cover which is true to the spirit and the nature of the book. The publisher wants this of course, but also wants the cover to carry a clear promise of a good, compelling story which hundreds of thousands of people will be attracted to on sight. I think Headline has managed this with NO REST FOR THE WICKED. There on the cover is my lovely Pippa with her twenties bob, her beret and the fur tippet she borrowed from the property box, set against an ornate theatre (right period…) with people (some on folding chairs…) queuing round the block. All this is set in a luminous apple-green background which somehow, for me, expresses the essentially bright spirit in this sometimes dark novel.

Look out for it in September. I think you will enjoy it. It will be launched at Bishop Auckland Town Hall with an actual Music Hall evening at 7.30 on Thursday 8^th September. Come if you can make it! Ring 01388 602610 to confirm.

Down To Earth!

I sat up late one night in November to finish the final draft of NO REST FOR THE WICKED. The next morning, racing out to replenish the low food reserves, I fell on the black ice and really smashed up my ankle.

I remember lying there, unable to move, thanking God that I had sat up late to finish the novel! I had been planning to go down to London to take it to Harriet at Headline but at least now it could be posted for me.   I was in plaster for two months, very much hors de combat and even now I need one crutch. They keep saying it will be ‘a slow job’. Well may they say it! However, now I am back at my desk, which is great. And last week-end I started to drive again. My customary freedom and independence beckon at last. As for the crutch, I now model myself on that woman surgeon in ER who flies around on one crutch saving lives and bringing sustenance to those around her… 

New Stories, Articles and Poems on my website

Like all writers, I write a good deal ‘out of the box’ of my main novel. As well as articles and short stories I write notes and fragments which may or may not play a part in future novels. Some of the fragments develop into poems and I thought you might like to read a few of these, just for interest. One day I’d like to get round to publishing a small collection. Till then, here is a sample just for you.

I have also added my short story GLASS, which is in the collection called BOUND, as well as an essay which I wrote for that publication regarding the inspiration for writing that short story. This is intensely autobiographical. here is also the newspaper article about writing A WOMAN SCORNED. I have also added  a letter I wrote for the Headline author magazine News & Natter.  

Feel free! Write to me!

I have had some lovely letters and emails from people who have read and enjoyed the website the books, and some of my odd ideas. I hope you feel free to drop me a line about anything on the website, I will be so interested.

I feel so much better now that I am at last beginning to write notes and sketches for my new novel. This one will be the closest yet to my own direct experience and I am becoming very excited about it. Watch this space.

Happy reading, happy living, and watch your step!