I’m very pleased to welcome Stephanie Harte to Linda’s Book Bag today. Stephanie’s latest novel, Peppermint Park, is out now and available for purchase on your local Amazon site and I’ve enjoyed hearing more about it in today’s interview.

Peppermint Park

The tree-lined street in the affluent suburb of Chigwell, Essex was made up of extravagant mansions. Peppermint Park looked picture perfect on the outside, but behind closed doors, it was a different story. It concealed a life of torment, where family secrets were hidden from public view.

In the swinging sixties, Violet boards a plane bound for San Francisco with her boyfriend Bradley, to start a new life at Happy Acres, a hippie commune. Once they stepped inside the boundaries, they entered a different realm, one without clocks and calendars. Where naked yoga sessions and howling at the moon were compulsory activities, and people experimented with marijuana, magic mushrooms and moonshine as a daily pastime.

Violet and Bradley were having the most amazing time of their lives. They were living the dream. But was their amphetamine-fueled existence about to come crashing down around them? Surely you can never have too much of a good thing, can you?

Join Violet and Bradley on their journey as they take a leap of faith into unknown territory in search of a new beginning, set against the stunning backdrop of Northern California.

An Interview with Stephanie Harte

Hi Stephanie. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing and Peppermint Park in particular.

Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

I was born and raised in North West London where I still live with my husband Barry, daughter Sarah, son James and Cairn terrier Ruby. I trained in Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy at London College of Fashion and worked for many years as a Pharmaceutical Buyer for the NHS, based at Barnet General Hospital purchasing medicines and related supplies for North London hospitals.

When did you first realise you were going to be a writer?

I had dreamt of writing a book for years but had always been put off by such a daunting task. But something changed and on New Year’s Eve 2013 I decided to make a resolution, this year I’m going to do it. The time had come, and I finally felt ready to put pen to paper.

If you hadn’t become an author, what would you have done instead as a creative outlet?

When I’m not writing I work as a self-employed Beauty Therapist teaching beauty workshops at a specialist residential clinic that treats children with severe eating disorders. I also love to sew.

How do you go about researching detail and ensuring your books are realistic?

I use the internet and spend a great deal of time checking multiple sources. I pay attention to tiny details to ensure my research is correct.

Which aspects of your writing do you find easiest and most difficult?

I find writing dialogue the easiest and I love writing descriptions. The most difficult part has to be finishing for the day when I still want to continue.

What are your writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?

I write Monday-Friday in our office at home with my trusty terrier Ruby squashed on the chair behind me, in case I forget to take her for a walk.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to read?

I read a wide variety of books. I love anything from contemporary fiction to non-fiction, psychological thrillers, biographies, cookbooks and anything related to aromatherapy.

I know you have quite a scientific background. How useful was this when writing about some of the drug related elements in your story?

I think my background working in pharmaceuticals helped me when it came to writing about addiction as I know certain medication is closely monitored. It is just as easy to become dependent on prescription drugs as it is illegal ones.

Peppermint Park is your third novel. How has your style developed since you began writing fiction?

Unlike my other two novels Peppermint Park is a bitter sweet romance and it contains some serious issues. Having written two light-hearted novels I wanted to try something different with this one.

What made you choose the 1960s as the setting for Peppermint Park rather than the 1980s of your other two books?

A large part of the story is about a commune in the USA. I thought it would be appropriate to set the novel in the 1960s following the Summer of Love when the hippie culture was at its peak.

There are some unorthodox practices in Peppermint Park. What is your view of alternative therapies?

I love aromatherapy. I make beauty products and treatment oils using essential oils for my friends and family. I always use my own products when I run my beauty workshops.

If you could chose to be a character from Peppermint Park, who would you be and why?

I would be Sunshine; she’s optimistic about everything and lives in her own little world.

If  Peppermint Park became a film, who would you like to play Violet and Bradley?  

I would like Elle Fanning to play Violet and Justin Bieber to play Bradley.

If you had 15 words to persuade a reader that Peppermint Park should be their next read, what would you say?

Hippies, moonshine and mayhem help Violet overcome her troubled past and find a brighter future.

Thank you so much for your time in answering my questions Stephanie.

About Stephanie Harte

Stephanie Harte was born and raised in North West London where she still lives with her husband Barry, daughter Sarah, son James and Cairn terrier Ruby.

She was educated at St Michael’s Catholic Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school she trained in Hairdressing and Beauty Therapy at London College of Fashion.

She worked for many years as a Pharmaceutical Buyer for the NHS, based at Barnet General Hospital purchasing medicines and related supplies for North London hospitals including, Edgware General, Finchley Memorial, Napsbury & peripheral sites . Her career path led her to work for an international export company whose markets included The Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

Since 2007 Stephanie has been teaching regular beauty therapy workshops at a London based specialist residential clinic that treats children with severe eating disorders.

It once again gives me enormous pleasure to welcome to Linda’s Book Bag an author I’ve met in person. This time it is lovely R.L McKinney. Rebecca’s novel Blast Radius is published by Sandstone Press in e-book and paperback and is available for purchase from all good booksellers, Waterstones, Amazon and via the publisher.

I was so interested in the idea that Rebecca had written a ‘war story that isn’t a war story’ that I just had to invite her onto the blog to explain.

Blast Radius

Sean McNicol’s best friend Mitch saved his life in Afghanistan, in an act of impulsive heroism. Now Mitch is dead and Sean has left the Royal Marines with a head full of ghosts and guilt. Mitch talks to Sean from beyond the grave, by turns encouraging him, cursing, singing and leading him to question his own sanity on a daily basis.

Turning his back on his life as a soldier, Sean grudgingly returns to the downcast Scottish town of his childhood and takes a job moving second-hand furniture for the Once Loved Furniture Company. He is hired by a former schoolmate to clear her late father’s house at Cauldhill Farm, and gradually discovers that his own life is intertwined in the most unexpected way with the farm and its former occupants.

In order to find the thing he wants most- a bit of peace- Sean must confront the unquiet spirits of his past: his alcoholic mother, his absent father, his old (almost) girlfriend Paula, his own fatal mistakes in Afghanistan and, of course, Mitch.

A Universal Truth

A Guest Post by R. L Mc Kinney

Blast Radius, my debut novel, is the story of Sean McNicol, an ex-Royal Marine who comes home to his village in Scotland and struggles to settle back into civilian life. Sean has blast damage to one ear after an IED explosion in Afghanistan, and the only thing he can hear in that ear is the ghostly voice of his best friend Mitch, who died saving his life. The book’s title is a technical term: a blast radius is the spatial area affected by an explosion. In the book this has both literal and metaphorical resonance.

Since the book was published last year, I have been asked one question repeatedly. Why would a woman with no first-hand knowledge of war choose to write a war story? I suppose one could equally ask the same question of Pat Barker, whose award-winning Regeneration Trilogy had such a powerful impact on me. Put on the spot, my answer to this is that I hadn’t really intended to. I sat down to write a very different book and, being a write-by-the-seat-of-your-pants sort of person, this is what I produced.

However, this isn’t the best answer. The real answer is that Blast Radius isn’t a war story at all. It’s a home story. It’s a story about life in a working class Scottish community in these austere times. It’s a story about a man who comes back from war to a place he never wanted to come home to, a place which holds as many bad memories for him as the poppy fields of Helmand Province. He is as haunted by unanswered questions about his dead mother and absent father as he is by Mitch. Before joining the Marines, Sean was damaged by poverty, a chaotic childhood and the feeling of being an outsider.

This is territory I know well. In my non-writing life, I have spent many years working in regeneration, collaborating with people from disadvantaged communities who are working to life make better where they live. Many of them are people who, like Sean, have had to fight to overcome adversity. The fictional town of Eskbridge is set in Midlothian, where I live, and most of the places described in the book are pretty close to my own front door. So many books set in Scotland run to one extreme or the other: Highland mystique or violent urban streets. Blast Radius is about a Scotland that is workaday, a dreary post-industrial town surrounded by beautiful country, ordinary people who are trying to navigate their own daily minefields. The war element adds an additional layer of complexity, but that’s reality too. Around the corner from my office in Dalkeith, the local veterans’ charity supports men and woman who have been affected by this country’s relentless string of wars. The Chairman of that charity recently told me he sees Sean in every man who comes through the door.

The thing Sean wants most in the world is a bit of peace. To find it, he must learn to stop running from the chain of explosions that have defined his life. He must learn to live where he is. I think this is true for all of us, whether we have been to war or not.

About R. L. McKinney

R. L. McKinney was born in Boulder, Colorado in 1971. She completed a PhD in social anthropology at Edinburgh University in 1999 and since then has worked in social research and community regeneration. In past incarnations, she has trained horses, worked in a bar, taught creative writing, played folk and bluegrass music, and performed with the Scottish a-capella singing group Stairheid Gossip. She now lives in Lasswade, Midlothian with her husband and two young children. Blast Radius is her debut novel.

You can follow Rebecca on Twitter, find her on Facebook and visit her website.

As an ex-English teacher I’m always interested in the enduring power of classic writers and when I discovered that Laura Briggs was influenced by Jane Austen in her novel Boyfriend in the Book, I just had to invite her onto Linda’s Book Bag to tell me a bit more. Laura’s Boyfriend in the Book is published in e-book and is available for purchase on your local Amazon site.

With Poldark returning to British television this evening, readers might also like Laura’s novella A Wedding in Cornwall which is available here.

Boyfriend in the Book

Can Jodi find true love with help from the likes of Lizzie Bennet and Jane Eyre? Her friends think she can and push her to use a relationship guide that claims women can find their perfect match by channeling the wisdom of famous storybook heroines. Jodi thinks it sounds crazy—no way is she acting like some character in a book to find a man! Besides, she already has a crush on Levi, the cute and friendly deliveryman for the hotel where she works. But when Levi suddenly grows distant and Jodi’s chances with him seem to fizzle before her eyes, she wonders if her friends might have a point after all. Disheartened and lonely, she decides to give the so-called relationship guide a whirl, with unexpected consequences.

Before you can say ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Jodi is up to her neck in handsome, brooding men that seem too much like fictional heroes to be true. Her attempts to think like the greatest heroines in romance lead her to meet everything from a modern Mr. Rochester to an angsty Heathcliff, and even a Darcy-esque novelist. But when a former crush re-enters her life in the form of a modern day Romeo, Jodi wonders if there might be something to this ‘inner heroine’ thing after all. Now, if she could just stop thinking about Levi, then maybe her happy-ever-after will fall into place…or is something still missing from Jodi’s storybook romance?

Boyfriend by the Book is a perfect feel good read for curling up with on a rainy day or a summer afternoon, with lots of laughs and surprises to keep the reader turning pages!

A Wedding in Cornwall

It’s the career move of a lifetime, and Julianne can’t believe it’s hers: a position as an event planner at a country house in Cornwall, England, beginning with the wedding of a celebrity! If her old firm’s senior planner back in the States hadn’t fallen suddenly sick with the chicken pox, Julianne would never have found herself chosen for a life in one of England’s most beautiful coastal counties, surrounded by rugged shores, quaint cottages, elegant gardens and a house to die for.

But life in Cornwall isn’t exactly as Julianne imagined it. Her first bride-to-be is a resentful, petted snob, the groom is immature and bored, and the Cornish staff of Cliffs House has a difficult time believing that an event planner from a mid-level position can handle a wedding this big. And then there’s a personal matter — the handsome, sometimes charming, sometimes standoffish gardener Matthew Rose. He and Julianne have a strangely complicated relationship somewhere between friendship and attraction. But with a secret in his past, and a scheming bridesmaid plotting to have Matthew all to herself, will Julianne find a way to untangle her feelings and the problems of planning a perfect Cornish wedding?

The Inspiration of Jane Austen

A Guest Post by Laura Briggs

First of all, thank you to Linda for inviting me to share with all of her lovely readers on the topic of Jane Austen’s work and why it still inspires us today.

It’s true that Jane Austen’s stories seem to pop up everywhere, from BBC adaptations, to modern retellings on The Hallmark Channel, and Hollywood blockbusters that have Lizzie and Darcy battling a zombie invasion in Regency England (that one I still can’t get used to!).

Austen is certainly a source of inspiration for the romance novel industry as well. Retellings, continuations, and variations on her work are published monthly it seems. But what is it exactly that keeps us fascinated with the world that Jane Austen created over two hundred years ago? Why do romance authors and readers go back to its various themes again and again? I can only guess, of course, but a few reasons come to mind immediately.

The Appeal of the Underdog: This may not be true of all of Austen’s heroines—such as Emma Woodhouse, for instance—but it applies to the majority, I would say. Lizzie Bennet is repeatedly snubbed by members of the upper class in Pride and Prejudice, while Eleanor and Marianne are suddenly impoverished in Sense and Sensibility, and poor Fanny Price is overlooked and undervalued by her snobbish relatives in Mansfield Park. Class distinction is an issue no matter what era you’re from, and the strength Austen’s heroines display in the face of such prejudice makes it easy to root for them and hope their happiness wins out against the odds.

The Tortured Hero: There seems to be a fascination in the romance novel world with angst-ridden heroes, from the vampire in Twilight to that guy in Fifty Shades of Grey. Mr. Darcy is a little like a forerunner to these modern favorites. His stoic appearance is just a front for the emotional turmoil he feels over Lizzie’s rejection of his love, and readers have gobbled up various retellings that spin the story from Mr. Darcy’s wounded perspective.

The Love/Hate dynamic: This is still a favorite scenario for romance readers today, and Lizzie and Darcy have it in spades. I mean, how much worse could their first meeting be? Darcy insults Lizzie’s appearance and comes off as a snob to most of her neighbors and Lizzie, well…she doesn’t exactly make it easy for him to make amends later on. They seem to bring out the worst in each other, which is exactly what makes it so satisfying to see their relationship evolve into one of admiration and respect.

Of course, there are many more reasons that Jane Austen’s work has a timeless appeal. I’m sure that all of you who are reading this now may have different reasons for enjoying her novels time and again. Maybe it’s the old fashioned world of Regency era ladies and gentlemen that draws you, or the witty, insightful narrative on romantic relationships. Whatever the reason—and there are probably too many to count—it seems apparent that Jane Austen’s stories and characters are here to stay.

About Laura Briggs

Laura Briggs’ first stories were written in crayon about a rooster named Henry—but she was pretty young at the time, so it’s understandable. She eventually graduated to writing more complex plotlines and characters and writing her stories on a laptop. She tends to write stories with a romance edge, including several wedding-themed novels and a few Jane Austen-inspired works. As a reader, she has a soft spot for mysteries, as well as novels by Anne Tyler and Amy Tan. In her free time, she likes to experiment with new recipes and tries to landscape her yard (a never-ending project).

You can follow Laura on Twitter, find her on Facebook, visit her blog and see all her lovely books here.

I’m delighted to be welcoming Jackie Baldwin to Linda’s Book Bag today. Jackie’s debut novel Dead Man’s Prayer was published yesterday, 2nd September 2016 by Killer Reads. Dead Man’s Prayer is the first in the DI Frank Farrell series and is available for purchase here.

In celebration of yesterday’s publication, Jackie kindly agreed to explain how her childhood has influenced her writing of Dead Man’s Prayer.

Dead Man’s Prayer

Ex-priest DI Frank Farrell has returned to his roots in Dumfries, only to be landed with a disturbing murder case. Even worse, Farrell knows the victim: Father Boyd, the man who forced him out of the priesthood fifteen years earlier.

With no leads, Farrell must delve into the old priest’s past, one that is inextricably linked with his own. But his attention is diverted when twin boys go missing. One twin is recovered in an abandoned church, unharmed. But where is his brother?

As Farrell investigates the two cases he can’t help but feel targeted. Is someone playing a sinister game, or is he seeing patterns that don’t exist? Either way, it’s a game Farrell needs to win before he loses his grip on his sanity, or someone else turns up dead.

Saints and Sinners

A Guest Post by Jackie Baldwin

I went to the local Benedictine Convent School from the age of 5 to 18. The nuns were kind, though way back then, before the Church began to modernise, the teachings left a deep impact on an imaginative and impressionable child and have definitely fuelled my writing as well as my fascination with psychology. There were no grey areas, no room for doubt, things were good or they were evil. You went to Heaven or you went to Hell and burned for all eternity.  There was a third Purgatory option, like the Scottish verdict of Not Proven, but I won’t muddy the waters.

I made my first Holy Communion at the age of 7 dressed all in white and enjoyed the celebration breakfast afterwards with the priest and the nuns but remember worrying about transubstantiation and how receiving the body of Christ in communion must surely be cannibalism?

We were told the grisly tales of the sainted martyrs who met their ends in a ways that would make the most grizzled Noir crime writer flinch and run for a bucket. Every now and then the box of religious relics would be brought out and we would gaze in awe at a bone from a saint, a jewel or the actual splinter of the cross.

One night, as an 8 year old, I had a Eureka moment. I would get God and the Devil to make up and sort all this worldly mess out. I called God down to one corner of my room and the Devil to the other and earnestly sought to broker a peace deal. Well, it clearly didn’t work!

Confession loomed large in my young life. It felt horrible and squirmy at the time but it made you feel brand new afterwards. The slate had been wiped clean and you had a squeaky clean soul…until the next transgression. One of the priests took a very dim view of our innocent sins. I recall kneeling in the chapel with the rest of my class speed reciting my penance so my pals wouldn’t think I was really bad. Cheating wasn’t an option. That omniscient thing was really annoying. I paid careful mind to the formalities lest someone drop down dying in front of me in Dumfries High Street and need to relieve himself of his sins with his dying breath, leaving me as the only thing that stood between him and Hell. A bit like the way Doctor’s must feel as they go on a plane, go to the theatre or anywhere, really…

I suppose, looking back it was almost inevitable that all this internal youthful angst would bubble up like lava through a crater and create a character such as DI Farrell one day. A former RC priest with a strong moral compass who strives to subdue his failings, conquer his demons and become a better man. It has also informed the themes of forgiveness, guilt and redemption that tend to run like fault lines through my work.

About Jackie Baldwin

Jackie Baldwin is a Scottish crime writer and former criminal lawyer. Dead Man’s Prayer is her debut novel.

You can follow Jackie on Twitter and find out more with these other bloggers:

From the moment I saw the evocative cover of The Constant Soldier by William Ryan I couldn’t wait until I could get my hands on it so I am indebted to Sophie Goodfellow at EDPR for a copy in return for an honest review. The Constant Soldier was published in e-book and hardback on 25th August 2016 by Mantle, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, and is available for purchase from all good book sellers and by following the links here

The Constant Soldier

1944. Paul Brandt, a soldier in the German army, returns wounded and ashamed from the bloody chaos of the Eastern front to find his village home much changed and existing in the dark shadow of an SS rest hut – a luxurious retreat for those who manage the concentration camps, run with the help of a small group of female prisoners who – against all odds – have so far survived the war.

When, by chance, Brandt glimpses one of these prisoners, he realizes that he must find a way to access the hut. For inside is the woman to whom his fate has been tied since their arrest five years before, and now he must do all he can to protect her.

But as the Russian offensive moves ever closer, the days of this rest hut and its SS inhabitants are numbered. And while hope – for Brandt and the female prisoners – grows tantalizingly close, the danger too is now greater than ever.

And, in a forest to the east, a young female Soviet tank driver awaits her orders to advance . . .

My Review of The Constant Soldier

Returning a physically disabled man to his home village in 1944, Paul Brandt little realises that the war will still affect his life quite so profoundly.

Let me say at the outset, that I am always grateful for the review copies I receive but that I don’t always buy them too. They have to affect me emotionally for that. I will be buying The Constant Soldier. William Ryan’s book is devastatingly good.

The title, The Constant Soldier, is inspired. So many characters continue in their roles, either real or assumed, as soldiers in spite of events. Paul Brandt himself soldiers on in the face of adversity. But, importantly, the book explores what it is to be a constant, unwavering and frequently unquestioning, soldier. William Ryan made me think about collective guilt and the part even the smallest individual plays in it, doing so in a style of writing that was at times almost unbearable to read and utterly compelling in equal measure. Anyone not affected by reading The Constant Soldier simply has no soul.

William Ryan’s writing is, quite literally, breathtaking. The short chapters not only add pace to an already captivating narrative, but I was glad of them because the underlying suspense and menace was so forceful I found I was frequently holding my breath with the same kind of tension Paul Brandt was feeling. I didn’t always want to read what was in front of me but I couldn’t stop either. A longer chapter and I was in danger of keeling over as even relative normality has a quiet menace in the life of these characters. I was completely rapt by the prose. A brutal truth underpins an epic narrative in The Constant Soldier in a totally compelling read. I so want to quote from the book to illustrate but because every word is perfectly attuned I can’t for fear of spoiling the read for others.

The sense of setting is cinematic, and if The Constant Soldier isn’t made into a film there is no justice (as we frequently find in the story) in this world. Equally, I found the characters so lifelike, that when events delayed me reading the final 35 pages I found myself wondering what was happening to them all, so real had they become to me.

I’m finding I don’t have sufficient vocabulary to explain what a fantastically well written, powerful and sometimes uncomfortably moving book The Constant Soldier is. Suffice to say it is one of my top reads this year.

About William Ryan

William Ryan is an Irish writer, living in London. William’s first novel, The Holy Thief, was shortlisted for a Crime Writer’s Association New Blood Dagger, a Barry Award, The Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award and The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. His second novel, The Bloody Meadow was shortlisted for the Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year and his third, The Twelfth Department, was also shortlisted for the Ireland AM Crime Novel of the Year as well as the CWA’s Historical Fiction Dagger.

You can follow William Ryan on Twitter, find him on Facebook  and visit William’s website. All William Ryan’s books are available here.

I’m pleased to be spotlighting Undertow by Elizabeth Heathcote today. Undertow will be published by in hardback by Quercus on 22nd September 2016 and is available for purchase from Amazon, Foyles, Waterstones and WH Smith.

Thanks to Quercus I have a hardback copy of Undertow to give away to one lucky UK reader. Just click the link at the bottom of this blog to enter.

Undertow

My husband’s lover. They said her death was a tragic accident. And I believed them . . . until now.
Carmen is happily married to Tom, a successful London lawyer and divorcé with three children. She is content to absorb the stresses of being a stepmother to teenagers and the stain of ‘second wife’. She knows she’ll always live in the shadow of another woman – not Tom’s first wife Laura, who is resolutely polite and determinedly respectable, but the lover that ended his first marriage: Zena. Zena who was shockingly beautiful. Zena who drowned swimming late one night. But Carmen can overlook her husband’s dead mistress . . . until she starts to suspect that he might have been the person who killed her.

About Elizabeth Heathcote

Elizabeth Heathcote has worked as a feature writer and editor on newspapers and magazines for many years. Her jobs have included women’s editor and deputy features editor at the Independent on Sunday, as well as freelance feature writing for publications such as the Independent, Observer, Guardian, Marie Claire and Red. She is presently associate editor at Psychologies magazine. Elizabeth’s home is southeast London, where she lives with her partner and two children.

You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter and find out more with these other bloggers:

UK readers can click here for the chance to win a hardback copy of Undertow by Elizabeth Heathcote.

I recently reviewed Late Summer in the Vineyard by Jo Thomas and so I’m delighted to be part of the launch celebrations as Jo takes part in a late summer blog tour. You can read my review here. Today, Jo is sharing her top five holiday destinations for Late Summer.

Late Summer in the Vineyard was published by Headline on 11th August 2016 and is available for purchase in e-book and paperback from Amazon UK, Amazon US, W H Smith, Waterstones, from all good book sellers and directly from the publisher.

Late Summer in the Vineyard

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Emmy Bridges has always looked out for others. Now it’s time to put down roots of her own.

Working for a wine-maker in France is the opportunity of a lifetime for Emmy. Even if she doesn’t know a thing about wine – beyond what’s on offer at the local supermarket.

There’s plenty to get to grips with in the rustic town of Petit Frère. Emmy’s new work friends need more than a little winning over. Then there’s her infuriatingly brash tutor, Isaac, and the enigmatic Madame Beaumont, tucked away in her vineyard of secrets.

But Emmy will soon realise that in life – just as in wine-making – the best things happen when you let go and trust your instincts. Particularly when there’s romance in the air…

Jo Thomas’s Top Five Holiday Destinations for Late Summer

I love Late Summer as the heat goes out of sun, but we can still enjoy the warm longer days before Autumn rolls in.

I love being in France in late summer, just in time for the grape harvest. The whole place becomes a hive of activity. The tractors start rolling up and down, waking up the sleepy lanes and the sunflowers are in bloom.

West Wales. I love being there, treasuring the last few days as the children surf, swim and spend evenings catching crabs off the rocks, enjoying their freedom before school starts again in September.

London in late summer when the children have gone back to school and many of the tourists have left. The heat has gone out of the streets but people are still sitting outside the cafes and bars and it feels like a lull before the shops and stores start gearing up for the next holiday season to kick in.

Crete. I am an outdoors person and love the sun but not when it’s at its hottest. I spent last late summer in Crete. We drove the mountains in the day, ate in wonderful, family run restaurants, and swam in a pool in the evenings, watching the moon come up with the smell of wild mountain herbs in the air and glass of raki in our hands.

And Italy, when the towns and villages are building up to the olive harvest and all the talk is of when to pick. I love seeing ground being swept, the orange and green nets being laid down under the trees and the tiny fires being lit in the olive groves, to keep the bugs at bay. The frantoio, the local olive press, is where everyone meets to discuss the olives and the quality of oil. Picnics are unpacked and glasses raised to celebrate another year’s harvest and to many more to come.

About Jo Thomas

Jo Thomas worked for many years as a reporter and producer, first for BBC Radio 5, before moving on to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and Radio 2’s The Steve Wright Show. In 2013 Jo won the RNA Katie Fforde Bursary. Her debut novel, The Oyster Catcher, was a runaway bestseller in ebook and was awarded the 2014 RNA Joan Hessayon Award and the 2014 Festival of Romance Best Ebook Award. Jo lives in the Vale of Glamorgan with her husband and three children.

Find Jo Thomas on Facebook and follow her on Twitter.

You can find more with these other bloggers too:

My enormous thanks to Caitlin Raynor at Headline for a copy of The House on Sunset Lake by Tasmina Perry in return for an honest review. The House on Sunset Lake was published by Headline on 25th August 2016 and is available for purchase from all good booksellers including Amazon, Watertones, W H Smith, and Love Reading.

The House on Sunset Lake

Casa D’Or, the mysterious plantation house on Sunset Lake, has been in the Wyatt family for over fifty years. Jennifer Wyatt returns there from university full of hope, as summer by the lake stretches ahead of her. Yet by the time it is over her heart will be broken, her family in tatters, her dreams long gone.

Twenty years later, Casa D’Or stands neglected, a victim of tragic events. Jennifer has closed the door on her past. Then Jim, the man she met and fell in love with that magical summer, comes back into her life, with a plan to return Casa D’Or to its former glory. Their reunion will stir up old ghosts for both of them, and reveal the dark secrets the house still holds close…

My Review of The House on Sunset Lake

When Jim Johnson’s boss buys up Casa D’Or, a house with memories for Jim, he finds he is forced to face the past.

I really enjoyed The House on Sunset Lake and I thought it was a perfect summer read. Reading it felt a bit like being on a long haul flight – just when you think you’re settled there is turbulence, and the plot of The House on Sunset Lake flows along with several twists and turns and secrets revealed, keeping my interest throughout. I was totally absorbed by the narrative and several times found myself thinking ‘Oh! I hadn’t expected that’, especially in the later part of the story.

I thought the quality of the writing was very evocative. Whilst some readers may feel the style is different to what they are used to from Tasmina Perry, I feel her writing has matured and is more graceful and assured. I could picture the scenes really easily and found the variety of sentence length, the natural dialogue and the descriptive passages wove a tapestry of experience just right for a beach read or a cold winter’s afternoon by the fire. Against my prejudices, I was swayed by the two time frames and Tasmina Perry has made me review my opinion that I don’t enjoy this kind of structure because I loved the two eras she has created. I felt they were clearly defined and easy to relate to.

There are interesting themes in The House on Sunset Lake that don’t intrude or dictate to the reader so that the story can be enjoyed for pure escapist entertainment. However, Tasmina Perry explores how we are affected by time and place, how love can endure or be destructive and how we are sometimes not true enough to ourselves.

But what I enjoyed most about The House on Sunset Lake was the creation of Jim. I’d define The House on Sunset Lake as women’s fiction and it made a refreshing change to have more of a male perspective, even though I loved reading about Jen too. Jim is by no means perfect and it is his flaws that made him all the more real to me.

The House on Sunset Lake is a super book and I highly recommend it.

About Tasmina Perry

Tasmina Perry is a former attorney who gave up a career in law to move into the more glamorous world of women’s magazine journalism. She has written on celebrity and style for many magazines, including Marie Claire and Glamour,and most recently was deputy editor in chief of In Style (UK). She lives in London with her husband and son.

You can follow Tasmina on Twitter, visit her website and find her on Facebook.

It gives me very great pleasure to welcome Isobel Blackthorn to Linda’s Book Bag with a publication day interview. Isobel’s latest novel A Perfect Square is published today by Odyssey Books and is available for purchase direclt from the publisher and your local Amazon site.

A Perfect Square

When pianist Ginny Smith moves back to her mother’s house in Sassafras after her breakup with the degenerate Garth, synaesthetic and eccentric artist Harriet Brassington-Smythe is beside herself and contrives a creative collaboration to lift her daughter’s spirits: an exhibition of paintings and songs. Ginny reluctantly agrees.

Mother and daughter struggle to agree on the elements of the collaborative effort, and as Ginny tries to prise the truth of her father’s disappearance from a tight-lipped Harriet, both are launched into their own inner worlds of dreams, speculations and remembering.

Meanwhile, another mother and artist, Judith, alone in a house on the moors, reflects on her own troubled past and that of her wayward daughter, Madeleine.

Set amid the fern glades and towering forests of the Dandenong ranges east of Melbourne, and on England’s Devon moors, A Perfect Square is a work of remarkable depth and insight.

View the book trailer here.

An Interview with Isobel Blackthorn

Hi Isobel. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing. Congratulations on your latest novel A Perfect Square.  

Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

I’m a Londoner originally, and currently living near Melbourne, Australia. Growing up I wanted to write creatively but I suffered from a crushing lack of self confidence. It wasn’t until my late forties that I decided, sod it, what have I got to lose? So I dedicated myself to the art of writing as only a  forty something can. Now I’m a fifty something and my passion is even stronger!

When did you first realise you were going to be a writer?

I think it was in 2007 when I finally received the endorsement I needed, from my then new boss and literary agent. She would say to me, ‘Is this a writing weekend, Isobel?’   And on Monday it was, ‘And how’s the writing?’ No one could ask for more encouragement than that.

I know art and music feature in A Perfect Square. If you hadn’t become an author in your 40s, would you turned to art or music instead as a creative outlet or something else?

To be honest I don’t know what I would have done. At that critical turning point I was growing an awful lot of organic vegetables and I was passionate about self sufficient lifestyles so maybe I would have done that instead!

How do you go about researching detail and ensuring your books are realistic?

I am meticulous about research. Doing a PhD teaches you that. Really that’s what a PhD is, proving you can do good research. I apply it right down to the smallest detail. I read scholarly works, books rather than websites, and I only rely on Google Maps if I’ve already actually been to a place.

Which aspects of your writing do you find easiest and most difficult?

Without doubt I find dialogue easiest. Next comes reflection. Description can be hard work but it’s like painting a picture, so worth the effort. But action! I think for me that’s the hardest. I labour just getting a character through a door.

What are your writing routines and where do you do most of your writing?

I’m at my best in the early mornings. And I have two writing spots. My desk, and the couch. In my current home my couch faces a giant cactus, and beyond, in the neighbour’s garden, a palm tree. I stare at them a lot. I cannot write anywhere except at home.

I love Melbourne where you’re based – particularly all the sculptures. How far does living in that area influence your style as a writer?

It definitely makes my writing  urban, and connects me to my roots. My latest work, still in formation, is set in Kensington, a suburb of Melbourne which contains Holland Park! I adore Melbourne. For me, it’s somewhere between the rest of the world and the vast interior that is Australia. I guess Sydney could to that too, but for me it’s too hot.

When you’re not writing, what do you like to read?

Well, my last book which I’ve just put down is Elliot Perlman’s The Street Sweeper. He’s an Australian author, and he wrote this book just a few years ago. It’s breathtakingly good. I’m so distinctly British in the way I write that I struggle to feel that I fit in to the literary scene in any sense that might be taken. But when I came across The Street Sweeper I knew that I did.

You  describe yourself as an activist. How far does this influence your writing?

Every book I write has an element to it concerning social justice. If anything this dimension to my writing gets stronger with each work. My passion just grows and grows. Arundhati Roy gave up fiction after winning the Booker with The God of Small Things, and I respect her for that. I’ve decided that if I chose that path I’d burn out. So I pour all my passion for social and environmental justice into my books and have my characters do the hard work on my behalf.

I love the cover design to A Perfect Square. How did that image come about and what were you hoping to convey (without spoiling the plot please!)?

Truthfully, my publisher and I were on Lanzarote promoting my previous release, The Drago Tree, and trawling through hundreds of images, mostly artworks. We wanted to convey something of synaesthesia at first. We found a number of artworks in Deviant Art, and that one that is now the cover spoke to both of us the strongest. It conveys more the metaphysical dimension of the story.

If you could chose to be a character from A Perfect Square, who would you be and why?

Oh I’d be Harriet! Every time I think of her, Jennifer Saunders springs to mind. So Ab Fab!

If A Perfect Square became a film, who would you like to play Ginny and why?  

An Australian actress naturally, so she would have to be Cate Blanchett. Now wouldn’t that be simply amazing!

If you had 15 words to persuade a reader that A Perfect Square should be their next read, what would you say?

Art, synaesthesia, occultism, wrapped in a dark mystery that’ll  keep you guessing until the end.

Thank you so much, Isobel, for your time in answering my questions.

About Isobel Blackthorn

Writer Isobel Blackthorn grew up in London and South Australia. She currently lives in Melbourne and has a deep passion for the island idyll of Lanzarote.

She’s the author of a collection of short stories, All Because of You (2012, 2016 ), and the acclaimed novels, Asylum and The Drago Tree (Odyssey Books, 2015). Her writing has appeared in e-journals in Australia and the US.

You can find out more about Isobel on her website and by following her on Twitter. You’ll also find Isobel on Facebook.

There will be more with these other bloggers soon too:

As an aspiring writer I’m delighted to be featuring a guest post by Faye Bird, author of What I Couldn’t Tell You, all about the writer’s voice today. What I Couldn’t Tell You is a young adult thriller published by Usborne on 1st May 2016 and is available in paperback and e-book from Amazon, W H Smith, Waterstones or via the publisher and other good book sellers.

What I Couldn’t Tell You

When love turns to jealousy, when jealousy turns to rage, when rage turns to destruction…

Laura was head over heels in love with Joe. But now Laura lies in a coma and Joe has gone missing. Was he the one who attacked her?

Laura’s sister Tessie is selectively mute. She can’t talk but she can listen. And as people tell her their secrets, she thinks she’s getting close to understanding what happened on that fateful night.

Voice

A Guest Post by Faye Bird

When you start out writing and you go to talks and panel sessions with industry folk – agents and publishers – there is much talk of a writer’s “voice.”

“A writer needs to have a voice,” they all say.

Most of the audience nod their heads, but I think to many the notion of a voice feels like an unknown and often massively intangible thing.

We know what it means for a character in a book to have a voice – it’s ultimately the voice of our story, and it needs to feel authentic, intrigue us, entertain us, draw us completely in.

But what is a writer’s voice? And where does it fit? And how do you even know if you’ve got one in the first place?

When I was working as a literary agent representing TV scriptwriters I felt pretty clear about what a writer with a voice was; he or she was, as all those agents and publishers say on those panels say, the writer I wanted to represent, and I most definitely knew when I had read a script by a writer who had one.

So here goes – here’s my best attempt at describing what it was that the writer with a voice had, from when I thought I knew…

A writer who handles their story with confidence – by which I mean someone who creates characters you wholly believe in, characters who behave in a thoroughly convincing way, but about whom you are still constantly asking questions along the way.

A writer who handles their story with ease – stories by their very nature are complex, but a writer with a voice, with the confidence of a voice, will make the complexity of his or her story look simple.

A writer who handles their story with originality – it’s a love story, it’s an adventure story, it’s an adventure love story about vampire eating pirate dogs in space. It doesn’t matter what it is. It is the way it is told that makes it original.

And lastly it is a writer who is ultimately an illusionist – as you read each sentence the graft that went into the words will be hidden, and so too the graft that has gone into capturing the potential enormity of its meaning. A seemingly simply sentence about a brief moment in time, a feeling or an otherwise ordinary event may not appear at first to say that much, but in the vast scheme of things it may well say EVERYTHING!

These are at the writers who I think have a voice, the writers I love to read, and the ones that I aspire to try and be as good as when I sit down to write.

About Faye Bird

Faye writes fiction for young adults. Before becoming a writer she worked as a literary agent representing screenwriters in film and TV. She studied Philosophy and Literature at Warwick University, but has otherwise always lived in London, and still does now. Her second novel, What I Couldn’t Tell You, was published on 1 May 2016.

You can follow Faye on Twitter or visit her website. There’s more with these other bloggers too: