How a photograph in a book inspired a character in my first novel
My first novel, A Greater World, begins in a place I have never actually visited. At least not the exact location, although I do know the surrounding area from my time living in the North East of England. The book originally opened with Elizabeth Morton, the main...
Voyage Round the World 6 – Bay of Islands
Yesterday was Valentine's Day and the ship pulled out all the stops to make it a festive occasion – decorating the restaurant in spectacular style. A very good evening. Earlier in the day I was interviewed by a delightful German lady, Irene, who is doing a blog – in...
Liza Perrat’s new novel
I'm delighted to welcome Liza Perrat back to the blog to mark the publication of her new Australian novel The Lost Blackbird. I was fortunate to be asked by Liza to read the book in advance and contribute a quote to go on the cover. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and...
Voyage Round the World 5 – Bora Bora
What a magical place is Bora Bora. The volcanic island (extinct!) has no harbour so our ship moored offshore and we went ashore by tender. When I was a child one of the first long playing records my parents bought was South Pacific and I listened so often I can still...
Interview with John Jackson
My guest today is writer of historical romances, John Jackson, whose first book, Heart of Stone was published in 2017. I first met John in 2016 as we stuffed goody bags for delegates to the Historical Novel Society Conference in 2016 in Oxford. A year later I went to...
Liz Harris talks about going from traditional publishing to indie
I've known Liz Harris socially as a fellow-writer for several years. We met when we worked on the committee for the Historical Novel Society Oxford conference and then subsequently as members of the Romantic Novelists Association - bonding over gin and tonic or a...
Voyage Round the World -4 – The Long Haul across the Pacific
What was meant to be a seven day stretch at sea – anyway our longest of the whole voyage – turned out to be ten days. Early on the morning of the day we were due to hit land at last on the Polynesian island of Nuka Hiva – one of the highlights of the trip – I heard...
Jane Davis on her new book inspired by Ruth Ellis
It's always a pleasure to talk to Jane Davis. Jane was hailed by The Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’, and is the author of nine thought-provoking novels. She was last year's winner of the Selfies Book Award for her fabulous Smash All the WIndows (the one I won this year)...
Voyage Round the World -3 – Acapulco and the Pacific
I didn't expect to like Acapulco so much. While it had seemed exotic, luxurious and enticing when I was a teenager and it still had a reputation as the playground of the stars, more recently I'd heard it wasn't very nice at all. This impression was wrong. Yes, it's...
Voyage Round-the-World – 2. Guatemala
Three days after the Panama Canal we reached Guatemala. I was feeling tired after a cold and a sleepless night. I accidentally stepped on someone's toe at the meeting point for the excursion I was doing and got my head chewed off by my victim despite my abject...
My voyage round the world revisited – 1. The Panama Canal
I've been neglecting this blog. I can't blame You-Know-What, as the last post I made was on March 1st and I didn't go into isolation until 19th March, just ahead of the official lockdown on 23rd. Anyway, I came across the journal I kept on my Round the World Voyage...
Author, Judith Barrow on how her great aunt’s dementia inspired her new novel
I'm delighted to welcome author, Judith Barrow, onto the blog today. This is the second time she has visited - you can read my interview with her a couple of years ago here. Judith's new novel, The Memory, is a tragic story of love and duty, betrayal and loss, based...
