I’m delighted to be supporting Choc Lit in celebrating the paperback release of A Stranger’s House by Clare Chase. A Stranger’s House is available for purchase in e-book and paperback by following the publisher links here.

A Stranger’s House

What if you were powerless to protect the person you cared about most?

When Ruby finds out that her partner has done the unforgivable, she has no option but to move out of their home. With nowhere else to go, a job house-sitting in Cambridge seems like the perfect solution.

But it’s soon clear the absent owner hurts everyone he gets close to, and Ruby’s faced with the fallout. As violent repercussions unfold, her instinct is to investigate: it’s a matter of self-preservation. And besides, she’s curious…

But Ruby’s new boss, Nate Bastable, has his eye on her and seems determined to put a stop to her sleuthing. Is he simply worried for the welfare of a member of staff, or is there something altogether more complicated and potentially dangerous at play?

Absorbing the Atmosphere

Creating A Sense Of Place In Mystery Fiction

A Guest Post by Clare Chase

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today, Linda. I was delighted when you asked me to write a post on this topic. Soaking up the atmosphere of the setting I’ve chosen is one of my favourite parts of preparing to write a new novel.

My latest paperback, A Stranger’s House, is set in Cambridge. Although it’s my home city it still surprises me and I never tire of its beauty. Here’s what I do to absorb its atmosphere.

Look afresh, even though I know the area well

I’ve lived in Cambridge for over twenty years, but I still find it’s important to revisit the areas I want to write about. There are various practical reasons for doing this. There’s a lot of development in Cambridge, meaning streets change, and I can’t take the layout for granted, even if I saw a particular road six months earlier! And the city varies a lot with the seasons too; seeing a specific place at the right time of year certainly makes a difference. There are the normal changes you’d expect of course, but the population alters too. In term time, students from the city’s two universities amount to a fifth of Cambridge’s residents. The ancient streets in the centre are packed with young people hurtling from one lecture to another on their bikes. But from June to October the undergraduates go off for the vacation, to be replaced by increased numbers of tourists, as well as language students from the continent.

But most importantly of all, I find my descriptions from memory get stale and clichéd. If I go and stand in the setting I want to use, and experience it again afresh, I feel confident that I can convey it vividly.

Video and stills

A Stranger’s House is set in a Victorian villa overlooking Cambridge’s Midsummer Common. The story takes place in late May and June, and I took lots of photographs of the Common around this time: cattle grazing up close to the smart townhouses, cow parsley in the tall grass, students cycling across the paths and college boat crews taking part in the May Bumps. (These are races where rowing boats start in a staggered formation and each has to try to ‘bump’ the craft in front. They actually take place in June! You can always spot a winning team as each member of the crew puts willow leaves in their hair.)

Midsummer Common hosts Strawberry Fair, a free festival, which also features in A Stranger’s House. It’s a very colourful occasion full of everything from alternative bands and stalls, to people on stilts dressed as fairies. Again, I went along and took photos and videos so I could conjure up the atmosphere even if I ended up writing about it in November!

Sound recordings

If I’m in a place full of people – a café, for instance, or a pub – it might seem a bit intrusive to wave my camera in people’s faces. I’m not sure they’d understand if explained they were contributing to my novel’s background colour! So I have been known to use the voice recorder on my phone, not to preserve actual conversations of course, but to get an impression of the background hubbub so I can describe it later – from shouts and laughter to drunken singing or someone dropping a teacup. I’ve also recorded the sounds on the river, such as coaches shouting to the college boat crews, and street performers in town singing opera.

Notebooks

Videos and photos are all very well, but they don’t capture the smell of the river, or the chill morning air on your face. If I’m struck by a particular atmosphere and what’s caused it, I’ll note it on my phone. Things like this occasionally cause delays on my journey into work. My cycle route takes me up the river and it’s hard not to stop if there’s something interesting going on!

Capturing the moment

I can’t always tell when a useful scene will land in my lap. It’s easy to go along to events like the Fair I’ve mentioned, or to see what one of the colleges looks like in the snow, but sometimes something much more mundane can be useful: car headlights in the driving rain and plumes of exhaust as traffic queues on the ring road, for example. I try to tune in to these moments so that they don’t slip by and keep my phone handy, ready to take pictures.

Back at home, I keep my photos, videos and notes together, so that I can refer back to them as I write. There’s nothing like fortifying myself with images of long, hot summer days in Cambridge when the winter weather’s at its height! And later the photos are useful all over again, when I start to promote a new novel. The only thing I have to watch out for is overdoing the research. Sometimes taking a stroll on the commons – just to check once again exactly what they’re really like – can seem more appealing than, say, proofreading!

About Clare Chase

Clare Chase writes women sleuth mysteries set in London and Cambridge. She fell in love with the capital as a student, living in the rather cushy surroundings of Hampstead in what was then a campus college of London University. (It’s currently being turned into posh flats …)

After graduating in English Literature, she moved to Cambridge and has lived there ever since. She’s fascinated by the city’s contrasts and contradictions, which feed into her writing. She’s worked in diverse settings – from the 800-year-old University to one of the local prisons – and lived everywhere from the house of a Lord to a slug-infested flat. The terrace she now occupies presents a good happy medium.

As well as writing, Clare loves family time, art and architecture, cooking, and of course, reading other people’s books.

She lives with her husband and teenage children, and currently works at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

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

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

I adored The Words In My Hand by Guinevere Glasfurd and reviewed the book here. As I’m certain The Words In My hand is going to be one of my books of the year 2017, I’m thrilled to be helping to celebrate today’s paperback release with an interview with Guinevere Glasfurd.

The Words In My Hand is published by Two Roads Books, an imprint of John Murray and is available here and from all good booksellers including Waterstones and W H Smith.

The Words In My Hand

The Words In My Hand is the re-imagined true story of Helena Jans, a Dutch maid in 17th-century Amsterdam, who works for Mr Sergeant, the English bookseller. When a mysterious and reclusive lodger arrives – the Monsieur – Mr Sergeant insists everything must be just so. It transpires that the Monsieur is René Descartes.

Helena’s life, like that of so many women in history in history, is scarcely recorded. In The Words In My Hand she is a young woman who yearns for knowledge, who wants to write so badly she makes ink from beetroot and writes in secret on her skin – only to be held back by her position in society as a servant, and as a woman.

Weaving together the story of Descartes’ quest for reason with Helena’s struggle for literacy, their worlds overlap as their feelings deepen; yet remain sharply divided. For all Descartes’ learning, Helena has much to teach him about emotion and love.

When reputation is everything and with so much to lose, some truths must remain hidden. Helena and Descartes face a terrible tragedy and ultimately have to decide if their love is possible at all.

An Interview with Guinevere Glasfurd

Photographs kindly provided by the author

Hi Guinevere. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing and The Words In My Hand in particular. Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

Thanks, Linda. It always throws me a little when I’m asked to say something about myself because I’m the least interesting, most ordinary, part of this — I’m a writer; I keep pretty antisocial hours, get inordinately grumpy when the pressure is on, and forget to cook dinner for my loved ones when nearing the end of an edit. I’m from the north of England, but work pitched me south some years ago, and here I’ve stayed. I love the Fens but it does mean I’m not much good at high hills anymore.

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

Gosh, that’s tricky. I think finding and revealing the true heart of a book is the most difficult part of writing. Books I’ve given up reading, often fail to do that. They can be well written, but have no real emotional heart, or depth, to them.

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

Part of Guinevere’s Writing Space

There’s a lot of not writing in writing. That sounds like a terrible admission! But it’s true. I’m not sure I have a routine. Each book, I realise, has its own demands. I don’t keep notebooks: the work has to be in my head, even if it is not yet straight in my head. I forget what I forget and remember what needs to be remembered. I lose stuff. It drives me mad. But the book is the book that gets written, which is the right book, the only book I am capable of, in the end.

I know The Words In My Hand has been written with the aid of a grant from Arts Council England. Could you please explain this process and how it has affected your writing career?

I was one of ten new writers taken on to a mentoring programme called Escalator at Writers’ Centre Norwich in 2012; WCN helped me through the process of applying for Arts Council funding. I was awarded a grant from their Grants for the Arts which helped fund two research trips to the Netherlands as well as some buy-out time for writing. I promised them a first draft by October 2013. Looking back, that was a tough deadline to meet, but I managed it, just. It is true to say that I have never worked so hard at anything in my life. Being funded enabled me to take my writing seriously for the first time. It’s been such a learning experience. I very nearly didn’t apply for Escalator, because I didn’t think I was good enough. I think early-career writers, women especially, can find it hard to believe in themselves, to put themselves, their work, forward competitively. If you’re in that position, don’t hesitate, be brave, do it.

Why choose Descartes and Helena as the inspiration for your first novel as opposed to any other historical characters?

I knew at the outset I wanted to write about Descartes in some way. To begin with, I had in mind a novel in three parts which would function like an equation, x + y = z, but really all I had was a structure and not much else. As I read around Descartes, not really knowing what I was looking for or where I was going, I came across a reference, just a sentence, that mentioned his affair with Dutch maid, Helena Jans. That was the initial hook, and I wondered why I’d never heard of this before. That single sentence troubled me. It seemed to me that Helena had been reduced to little more than a footnote in history.

As I researched further, it became clear that the story I wanted to tell was the story that was missing: not Descartes’ but Helena’s. I hadn’t intended it at the outset, but my novel became a way to examine the invisibility of women in history, both then and now.

The House Where Helena and Descartes Lived

Although The Words In My Hand is ostensibly Helena’s story, as I read I felt I found out more about Descartes than any of my university studies of him. How far was it your intention to show both characters so fully and how far did that effect arise naturally as you wrote?

Actually, the trick was not to make it feel too Descartes-heavy. There’s lots about Descartes in the book; I had in part to be able to tell his story if I was to tell Helena’s, but the book is not about him as a central character. So much has already been written about him and I did not feel I had anything important to add. It went further than that. I was tired, really deeply tired, of histories that focused on great men and which could reduce a woman to a footnote. I wanted to turn the ‘great man of history’ narrative on its head. That said, the novel was an opportunity to reimagine Descartes, to see him through Helena’s eyes, before he had published, before his ideas had gained acceptance. He is now known as the ‘father of modern philosophy’ but he wasn’t that then, in the 1630s, when he met Helena. I hope the book gives the reader a more nuanced view of Descartes. I hope it also shows how the relationship with Helena might have changed him.

To some extent I felt The Words In My Hand to be a feminist text. Did you begin with that concept from the start?

Yes, I do see this as a feminist work, in as much as it challenges the way in which history has been written about Descartes and how Helena’s significance has been downplayed or overlooked.

Helena is not written as a feminist, that would ahistorical, but I do show her agency: her struggle to become literate and to survive the affair with Descartes and its consequences.

Given that history is so heavily male oriented, how did you research Helena’s story?

In large part, I had to imagine her. Some facts are known about her relationship with Descartes. Although the evidence is scant, it is tantalising. The Leiden section was tricky to write, and covers a period of a couple of years in between two known events that place Helena with Descartes. I hadn’t a clue what Helena might have done at this time. I avoided that section for as long as I could, perhaps in the hope it would go away. (It didn’t). What solved the impasse was simply to ask questions of her character, to think my way round the difficulties she must have faced and to imagine how she might have resolved them.

Dutch genre paintings were a key source material. Women became visible in all kinds of ways in these paintings for the first time. Look at Vermeer’s paintings: often they show wealthy women reading and writing letters. He shows maids too, though usually in the background. Vermeer’s maids don’t write, they pour milk. The written word at this time still predominantly belonged to men, and to some wealthy women. It is known that Helena wrote to Descartes, although these letters have been lost. It intrigued me. How did Helena learn to write? Answering this question became key to revealing Helena’s character and creating her backstory.

Literacy, and the opportunities it affords, is a central theme. How far do you think the world has moved on in educating females since Helena’s time?

My Grandmother lived until the age of ninety-nine. She was brought up in Merthyr in the years after the First World War. She was bright, able, and her school recommended her for a scholarship. Her adoptive parents were working class and couldn’t afford this. So my dear Gran left school at twelve and worked in their small shop. Later in life, she went to night school, gained a secretarial qualification and ended up as the main earner in her family.

I had my Grandmother’s story in the back of mind as I wrote the novel. Yes, things have changed in leaps and bounds since, but it all feels horribly close too.

Women continue to face all manner of discrimination, some it very subtle, but deeply entrenched nonetheless. The annual VIDA count analyses how this affects women writers, and has shown, year after year, that publishing favours and rewards the white male voice. Things are changing, but goodness, it is taking time. Find out more about VIDA’s work here.

The Words In My Hand was shortlisted for The Costa First Novel Award. How did that make you feel?

I was astounded. I had no idea my book had been submitted and no idea that it was Costa shortlisting time, so I was completely stunned when my publisher told me. Everyone has been so lovely about it; I think by that time in the year we were all so desperate for some good news. Being shortlisted has been prize enough. It means the book will be more widely read. It’s a huge challenge for new books to find readers, and the Costa prize plays an important part in helping readers to discover books that might otherwise have fallen off their radar.

(You see, it’s not just me who loves this book!)

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

I am a potter of sorts, but that’s been something I’ve picked up recently. I build hand-coiled, stoneware pots – mostly jugs and vases – and absolutely love making them. The earliest pots were made this way, and I love the sense of being connected to a skill that goes back thousands of years. I’m addicted to the BBC’s Throw Down series, and can’t wait for the new series to begin.

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

I tend to binge read, especially on holiday. I’m reading a lot of shorter novels at the moment. My second novel is shorter. I love the discipline of creating a work which is as much about what is not told as about what is.

I read a lot of non-fiction: art history especially and history too.

I loved the hardback cover of The Words In My Hand. We can’t say too much about it for fear of revealing aspects of plot, but how did that image come about?

The hardback cover was created by a very talented American artist called Jill de Haan. I feel very fortunate to have a publisher who was willing to commission a cover for my book.

The paperback cover presents the book in a different way. I love the blue, and think the cover has direct emotional appeal when you pick it up.

Thank you so much for your time in answering my questions Guinevere. I loved finding out more about The Words in My Hand.

Thanks for asking me; sorry it took so long to get the answers to you.

About Guinevere Glasfurd

Author Photo – Stefano Masse

Guinevere Glasfurd’s lives on the edge of the Fens near Cambridge. Her short fiction has appeared in Mslexia, the Scotsman and in a collection from The National Galleries of Scotland. The Words In My Hand, her first novel, was written with the support of a grant from Arts Council England. Guinevere Glasfurd manages the Words and Women Twitter feed, a voluntary organisation representing women writers in the East of England. You can found out more on her website. You can follow Guinevere on Twitter.

If you would like to know more about how Guinevere became a writer, click here.

There’s more with these other bloggers too:

My grateful thanks to Caroline Saramowicz at Harper Collins for a copy of Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby in return for an honest review. Fragile Lives is published in hardback by Harper Collins today, 9th February 2017, and is available for purchase by following the publisher links here.

Fragile Lives

An incredible memoir from one of the world’s most eminent heart surgeons and some of the most remarkable and poignant cases he’s worked on.

Grim Reaper sits on the heart surgeon’s shoulder. A slip of the hand and life ebbs away.

The balance between life and death is so delicate, and the heart surgeon walks that rope between the two. In the operating room there is no time for doubt. It is flesh, blood, rib-retractors and pumping the vital organ with your bare hand to squeeze the life back into it. An off-day can have dire consequences – this job has a steep learning curve, and the cost is measured in human life. Cardiac surgery is not for the faint of heart.

Professor Stephen Westaby took chances and pushed the boundaries of heart surgery. He saved hundreds of lives over the course of a thirty-five year career and now, in his astounding memoir, Westaby details some of his most remarkable and poignant cases – such as the baby who had suffered multiple heart attacks by six months old, a woman who lived the nightmare of locked-in syndrome, and a man whose life was powered by a battery for eight years.

A powerful, important and incredibly moving book, Fragile Lives offers an exceptional insight into the exhilarating and sometimes tragic world of heart surgery, and how it feels to hold someone’s life in your hands.

My Review of Fragile Lives

With thirty-five years working in heart medicine, Stephen Westaby shares his memories of his life and some of the patients he has encountered.

What an engaging portrait of an incredible man Fragile Lives is. Although it’s non-fiction, it is written with a skill that makes it read almost like fiction. The descriptions and characterisation are precise, engaging and affecting. The passage about Kirsty, for example, left me reeling.

I have to admit to feeling a little squeamish at one or two of the descriptions of operations, but then I can’t watch a needle inserted into skin on television. At times it felt like I was reading a horror book! There’s also quite a lot of technical detail woven into the text so that a reader can learn as well as be entertained, if entertained is the right word, by Fragile Lives. I enjoyed this aspect but feel others might find it distracting. For those who want to be precise in their reading there is a very helpful glossary of technical terms at the end of the book and I think those thinking of entering medicine would love reading this book in advance of their studies.

As heart surgery is not a medical field that always has success, Stephen Westaby explains the impact on the team behind the stories so well and I think Fragile Lives would be an enlightening read for those who prefer a blame and shame culture. Indeed, that is another of Stephen Westaby’s passions about which he writes very forcefully in the final few lines of his acknowledgements.

The quotations that head each chapter are inspired and if read consecutively, in one go, provide their own insight into the world of those involved in the different aspects of heart surgery, be it surgeon or patient. I found many of them very touching as I returned to them after having read the chapter.

I’m not sure that those expecting a biography all about Stephen Westaby will appreciate Fragile Lives because the reader sometimes has to read between, and behind, the lines to extract the man from the case he is presenting, but actually I liked the read more as a result. I’m not keen on biographies usually, but I found Fragile Lives interesting, frequently moving and totally enlightening. Fragile Lives gives incredible insight into a world I hope I never have to inhabit.

About Stephen Westaby

Professor Stephen Westaby is a world-famous heart surgeon who is renowned for being the first surgeon in history to fit a patient with a new type of artificial heart. During his 35-year career as a surgeon he worked at several of the UK’s top hospitals and performed over 11,000 heart operations. He won the Ray C. Fish Award for Scientific Achievement (2004). In 2004 Steve Westaby was featured in the BBC documentary Your Life in Their Hands, which is a long-running series on the subject of surgery.

Having read and thoroughly enjoyed The Lavender House by Hilary Boyd, my review of which you can read here, I’m so pleased to be helping celebrate the paperback edition which will be published by Quercus on 9th February 2017.

The Lavender House is available for purchase from all good book sellers, including here, but there’s also a chance for a lucky UK reader to win a copy of the paperback further down this blog post.

The Lavender House

Nancy de Freitas is the glue that holds her family together. Caught between her ageing, ailing mother Frances, and her struggling daughter Louise, frequent user of Nancy’s babysitting services, it seems Nancy’s fate is to quietly go on shouldering the burden of responsibility for all four generations. Her divorce four years ago put paid to any thoughts of a partner to share her later years with. Now it looks like her family is all she has.

Then she meets Jim. Smoker, drinker, unsuccessful country singer and wearer of cowboy boots, he should be completely unsuited to the very together Nancy. And yet, there is a real spark.

But Nancy’s family don’t trust Jim one bit. They’re convinced he’ll break her heart, maybe run off with her money – he certainly distracts her from her family responsibilities.

Can she be brave enough to follow her heart? Or will she remain glued to her family’s side and walk away from one last chance for love?

Giveaway

UK readers only I’m afraid, click here for your chance to win a paperback copy of The Lavender House by Hilary Boyd. Giveaway closes at UK midnight on Tuesday 14th February.

About Hilary Boyd

Hilary Boyd trained as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, then as a marriage guidance counselor. After a degree in English Literature at London University in her thirties, she moved into health journalism, writing a Mind, Body, Spirit column for the Daily Express. She published six non-fiction books on health-related subjects before turning to fiction and writing a string of bestsellers, starting with Thursdays in the Park. Hilary is married to film director/producer Don Boyd.

Follow Hilary on Twitter and find her on Facebook or visit her website.

I can’t believe that Linda’s Book Bag is only two today. It feels as if I’ve been blogging for ever!

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed blogging over the last two years because I have encountered wonderful books, but even better, fantastic people, be they fellow readers, bloggers, authors or publishers. Some I’ve met in real life and some only virtually but many have become real friends.

In that first month two years ago I had a mere 18 views of my 8 blog posts. Twelve months later in February I published 36 posts and had 3, 401 views. This month I’ve published 13 posts including this one with another 23 scheduled without any other reviews I might fit in. As I write I have had just under 75,000 views so I think the blog might be growing!

To celebrate my second blog birthday with this, my 771st blog post, and to say a huge thanks to all those who support my blog either by following it here, sharing posts on Facebook or tweeting for me, I’m running a mystery giveaway. It’s a mystery because I haven’t entirely decided what the prize is going to be!

Giveaway

To enter the giveaway simply click here. The giveaway is open until UK midnight on Saturday 11th February.

Thank you so much for all your support. I appreciate you all.

Oh – and all those books above are just a fraction of the ones on my reading pile patiently awaiting a review!

Blogging has been wonderful in bringing me into contact with authors I might never have encountered otherwise. Today I’m delighted to welcome writer Heather Weidner, author of Secret Lives and Private Eyes, to Linda’s Book Bag. As an animal lover I was fascinated that Heather often features pets in her writing and luckily she’s agreed to tell me more about that in a great guest post.

Secret Lives and Private Eyes was published in June 2016 by Koelher Books on and is available for purchase in e-book and paperback here.

Secret Lives and Private Eyes

Secret Lives and Private Eyes is a fast-paced mystery that will appeal to readers who like a strong, female private investigator who has a knack for getting herself in and out of humorous situations.

Business has been slow for PI, Delanie Fitzgerald, but her luck seems to change when a tell-all author hires her to find rock star, Johnny Velvet. Could the singer whose life was purportedly cut short in a fiery car crash still be alive?

And as if sifting through dead ends in a cold case isn’t bad enough, Chaz Wellington Smith, III, a loud-mouthed strip club owner, hires Delanie to uncover information on the mayor’s secret life. When the mayor is murdered, Chaz is the key suspect. Now Delanie must clear his name and figure out the connection between the two cases before another murder – probably her own – takes place.

Pet Plots! The Role of Pets in My Mysteries

A Guest Post by Heather Weidner

Thank you so much for letting me visit your blog today. I write mystery novels and short stories. Secret Lives and Private Eyes is the first in the Delanie Fitzgerald mystery series. Delanie is a sassy, redheaded private investigator who zips around Central Virginia in her black Mustang. Her partner at her PI firm, Falcon Investigations, is Duncan Reynolds, and his sidekick is an English bulldog named Margaret. Margaret, the slobber queen, is an integral part of the characters’ lives. The brown and white log with legs adds humor, normalcy, and often comfort to the plot line. Writers can use the pet character to lighten the scene, bring comfort in a tense situation, or even as a working dog for search, rescue, and drug detection efforts. Pet sidekicks have been a part of mysteries since the early days, and now there are subgenres devoted strictly to pets.

Heather’s ‘undercover’ pet Riley

When I started writing, I knew I wanted animals to have a place in the story. They have always been a part of my life, so there should be pets in my characters’ lives too. Margaret is part of the family. She has a bed at the office, and she rides shot-gun in her favorite guy’s yellow Camaro. Margaret goes just about everywhere that Duncan does, so it fit that she would be included in the main characters’ daily lives. And she is always underfoot if she thinks she’ll score a snack. Margaret even has a little competition and drama when Duncan finds a steady girlfriend.

In this novel, Delanie and Duncan are investigating John Bailey, who they believe to be ‘80s Rockstar Johnny Velvet. A tell-all author hires them to see if the rocker faked his death and is living incognito in rural Virginia on a farm. His farm is packed with animal companions: a donkey, two alpaca (Myrtle and Joe), and five dogs. The leader of that pack is a Jack Russell Terrier. And the names of the dogs provide Delanie with a clue and an a-ha moment that help her solve the case.

Disney and Riley

My husband and I share our home with two (crazy) Jack Russell Terriers. Disney and her brother Riley have two speeds: turbo-charged and sleep. They love chasing each other, running around, tracking squirrels, and playing ball. And they are such good companions and listeners. They often hang out (sleep) in my writing cave when I’m working on projects. And they let me know when we’ve sat still too long. Everything is a game to these two. Life is always fun with Jacks. They keep us on our toes with their antics and constant quests for fun.

They are such an integral part of my life that it’s just natural for them to have a place in my mysteries. Dogs and cats also appear in most of my short stories.

About Heather Weidner

Heather Weidner’s short stories appear in Virginia is for Mysteries and Virginia is for Mysteries Volume II. Currently, she is President of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia, and a member of Guppies and Lethal Ladies Write. Secret Lives and Private Eyes is her debut novel.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.

Through the years, she has been a technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager.

You can visit Heather’s website and find her on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Goodreads. You can also follow Heather on Twitter.

As a lover of historical ficction, I’m delighted to be part of the launch celebrations for The Lost Daughter of Liverpool by Pam Howes. The Lost Daughter of Liverpool is the first in The Mersey Trilogy. It was published on 3rd February 2017 by Bookouture and is available for purchase in e-book on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

To celebrate  The Lost Daughter of Liverpool I have a lovely extract for you to read and then an opportunity, open internationally, for you to win an e-copy of this wonderful book.

The Lost Daughter of Liverpool

Can she save herself, her marriage – and her daughter?

It’s 1946 and the war is over. In Liverpool, the blackout blinds may be coming down, but one family is about to face devastating misfortune…

Dora Evans is finally marrying the love of her life, Joe Rodgers, and her dreams of opening a dressmaking business look as if they might come true. With twin daughters on the way, Dora has everything she’s ever wanted.

But then tragedy strikes: one of Dora’s babies dies in infancy, and a catastrophic fire changes their lives forever. Dora is consumed with grief, struggling to get through each day and Joe is suddenly distant, finding solace in his colleague, Ivy.

With Ivy watching and scheming, and Dora battling against her own demons, can she keep her family together?

The Lost Daughter of Liverpool is a heartbreaking and gripping story of love, loss and hope. Perfect for fans of Nadine Dorries, Diney Costeloe and Kitty Neale. Discover Pam’s new series, The Mersey Trilogy, today.

An Extract from The Lost Daughter of Liverpool

THE LOST DAUGHTER OF LIVERPOOL

Chapter One

Knowsley, Liverpool, July 1946

Dora Evans breathed a sigh of relief when the dinner-break bell rang out, gloriously loud and clear. Peace descended as the hum from twenty machines ceased, punctuated only by the loud voices of the factory girls as they dithered between eating in the canteen, or sitting outside on the grassy knoll at the back of Palmer’s factory with their pack-ups.

Dora and her friend Joanie Lees brought their dinner from home each day, except for Fridays, when it was their favourite Spam fritters and chips in the canteen. They hurried outside into the bright sunshine and sat down on the wall that skirted Old Mill Lane, just under the now-faded factory sign that boasted Palmer’s Ladies Fashions of Distinction. The decorative black and gold cast-iron railings that had previously graced the top of the sandstone wall had been removed a few years ago to be melted down to help the war effort. Now, wild flowers grew in their place, cascading down to the ground, giving the wall colour and a place for butterflies and bees to frequent.

These days, there were no distinctive fashions made at Palmer’s. At the beginning of the war, the factory had been commissioned to make uniforms for the troops and nurses. But since the war had ended and old Gerald Palmer had passed away, to be succeeded by his son-in-law, George Kane who, according to the loyal workforce, hadn’t a clue about the rag-trade, the company had struggled to make ends meet. The only contracts so far this year were for men’s shirts that were sold in Littlewoods stores and catalogues.

Dora and Joanie had been classmates all through school and were best pals. Joanie was the only girl in her family and with four younger brothers who drove her mad with their brawling and noisy games, had spent most of her childhood playing at Dora’s house, where they’d spend hours making dolly clothes from scraps of material that Dora’s mam had given them. The pair were as close as sisters and shared a special bond and all their secrets.

They’d joined Palmer’s in 1941 when they left school, just after their fifteenth birthdays. Both enjoyed working in the business, though they daydreamed about making pretty dresses and skirts, rather than spending all day stitching collars and cuffs onto shirts. The nearest they’d come to making any dresses at all had been the plain cotton ones that were sent out to the nurses serving abroad. Still, they’d been helping the war effort and it was a decent enough job. They were grateful for the training they’d received, and their supervisor said they were exceptional seamstresses.

‘What you got in your sarnies today?’ Dora asked taking a greaseproof-wrapped package from her bag and smiling at the jam and margarine filling. She had two ginger nuts for afters too.

‘Dripping on toast, again.’ Joanie pulled a face.

‘Here, swap for half of mine, and give me half of yours.’

‘Thanks,’ Joanie said. Dora’s mam’s home-made bread and jam was always delicious.

The pair tucked in, enjoying the welcome warmth of the sun after being cooped up all morning. After they finished their dinner and shared a bottle of lukewarm corporation pop Dora had dug out of her bag, they dropped down onto the patch of grass below the wall to sunbathe. Dora hitched up her faded wrap-over pinny, exposing her bare legs slightly, and Joanie did likewise.

‘Look at my legs! What if Frank can’t get me any stockings for the wedding? We need to spend time on the beach at New Brighton to get some more sun on them,’ Dora said. ‘Might ask Joe if he’ll take me across on the ferry at the weekend.’

Dora was excited about marrying her fiancé, Joe Rodgers. They were teenage sweethearts and had always been inseparable at school, but then the war had forced them apart. After years of anxious days and nights, and love-letters that took months to arrive, Joe returned safely home. He’d immediately proposed, and Dora, who’d dreamed and hoped for that moment the whole time he’d been away, had accepted.

She knew she was lucky that her Joe had come home safe and sound from the war, and apart from being a lot skinnier, he hadn’t changed too much in his years away with the army. Several members of his platoon were never coming home, including young men from their village, who’d left behind heartbroken wives and girlfriends. For some, it wasn’t all Vera Lynn, bunting, and finger sandwiches on VE Day, as Dora’s mam reminded her whenever Dora got too carried away with her fancy plans for the big day.

Giveaway

For your chance to win an e-copy of The Lost Daughter of Liverpool, click here. The giveaway is open internationally and closes at UK midnight on Sunday 12th February 2017.

About Pam Howes

Pam is a retired interior designer, mum to three daughters, grandma to seven assorted grandchildren and roadie to her musician partner.

The inspiration for Pam’s first novel came from her teenage years, working in a record store, and hanging around with musicians who frequented the business. The first novel evolved into a series about a fictional band The Raiders. She is a fan of sixties music and it’s this love that compelled her to begin writing.

You can find Pam on Twitter, and follow her on Facebook.

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I’m welcoming Ashley Borodin to Linda’s Book Bag today to tell me about his novel The Jealous Flock and to explain more about his motivation for writing. The Jealous Flock was published by Lulu on 4th January 2017 and is available for purchase in ebook and paperback from your local Amazon site.

The Jealous Flock

Forced from their collective comfort zone, all three members of Martin’s family come face to face with the realities that underpin their urbane way of life. Each is faced with a paradox that will test their belief in themselves and their image of the tolerant, liberal society they believe they inhabit.

An epic in miniature, The Jealous Flock takes readers from the cloistered air of Professional London through the harsh realities of the Middle East and on to the culture war simmering beneath the surface in Australia.

Through their interwoven narratives each character tries to grapple with change as they question their authenticity and value as individuals amidst The Jealous Flock.

An Interview with Ashley Borodin

Welcome to Linda’s Book Bag. Thank you so much for agreeing to answer some questions on my blog about your writing . Firstly, please could you tell me a little about yourself?

This is the hardest question for me. It’s right up there with “…so, what do you do?”

… I suppose what might give my work and personality, my values, some context for the average reader is this:

I was brought up a Fundamentalist Christian. Proper hardcore UPC, That’s United Pentecostal Church for those who came in late. It was not a happy and loving household. But then would I have anything to write about, anything to say, if it was?

I sometimes wonder if I would have any thoughts of my own if I wasn’t driven inside by my environment and forced to develop a strong sense of identity in order to cope.

So that’s why I dread that question. Because even the shortest of answers is, and I’m struggling to find a something that isn’t cliche here – oh well…. diving straight into the deep end.

(I think some of the best writers are driven by a personal angst Ashley)

Without spoiling the plot, please could you tell us a bit about The Jealous Flock?

It was completed over 3 years ago and I’ll outlay the significance of that. I was seeing some emerging trends in the world and I realised no-one was talking about them. There was a deliberate curtain of ignorance drawn across issues I believed were about to explode and reshape our society.

A few of these issues were:

Terrorists learning how to manipulate the West through proficient use of PR and Social Media. And beneath that the fact that the terrorists were actually a legitimisation for long-standing tribal groups who were already fighting. By ‘legitimisation’ I mean using Jihad as as a cover for local, tribal conflicts and power struggles.

In my mind the logical extension of this was to prey on the goodwill of the Western public to then legitimise the Jihad. Layer upon layer of deceit.

I wrote, 4 years ago, about an English PR consultant travelling to the Middle East to work on rebranding a terrorist/tribal group in order to successfully win over the Western Media, the public and thereby smooth negotiations with governments.

Three years later a UN press conference is held in which some startling claims are made about The White Helmets and blog readers can access part of that here.

Tanssexuals were still barely whispered of 3-4 years ago. Now they are full members of society, so much so that we have a number of outspoken Conservative transsexuals.

I think you know a group has been integrated when they start fighting with the Progressives and the Progressives fight back. That’s when you know we’ve reached parity and everything’s going to be OK.

Men’s rights. MGTOW’s. MRA’s, Cassie Jaye’s The Red Pill all spilled out into the mainstream quite suddenly late last year (2016). They’re still not at the conceptual stage I was writing about in my book but the pragmatic issues are being spoken of, loudly and in public.

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

I think I became a writer late last year when I was introduced to that video of Vanessa Beeley addressing the UN. She was talking about my book, my themes, my observations of 4 years ago, or even earlier. I’d been sitting on the book for 3 years, despondent about ever finding an audience or anyone who even cared. And here was someone telling the world. There was a fire, a stirring in my chest, that sense of well-being you get from great food, great conversation, great wine. I wanted to be alive, to be part of this vital moment in time when the truth was being told.

Truth has that effect on me. The way music and love does on others. It makes me feel alive. I suppose I’m speaking of the mystical sensation, the visceral impact of Revelation.

(That must have been a very special moment for you.)

How did you go about researching detail to ensure realistic and authentic settings in The Jealous Flock?

I’d like to answer that with a minor anecdote. Around the time I was finishing my book I kept hearing about some guy called Franzen. So after months of this – with references to a book that sounded eerily similar to mine – I finally succumbed and got a copy from the library.

Thankfully we’re nothing alike.

But what was clear was that we’d used a lot of the same source material. Just reading some of the dialogue indicated that this Franzen had watched the same docos about Lemmy and/or Twisted Sister as I had. We share at least one character and I will say no more.

I think doco’s are a great source of ephemeral, writerly information. Because they are an experience more than an historical record. Ofttimes more propaganda than fact but you get a feel for a topic. You get a firm grasp on the edges of it without ever really learning anything of real depth. So doco’s give you this framework and a set of postcards you can revisit when you need to go to Egypt or you need an American Indian Alcoholic who’s got a tense relationship with her mother.

I filled in the gaps with good journalistic sources (that’s the hardest part these days) and of course, books. I bought a book on the Hashashin and another on Islamic Mystical poetry. The rest is drawn from my poems and direct experience.

The Jealous Flock cover is quite stark and sinister. How did that image come about and what were you hoping to convey (without spoiling the plot please!)?

Christian Monks, we’re told,  used to have a skull on the desk in front of them: Memento mori (“remember that you have to die”).

I think of a sheep being led to the slaughter. I think of the outcome of being a follower, the danger of being led.

On the other hand, I am playing on the public associations with skulls and death, on horror. With ram skulls somehow associated with the occult and evil. Personally I hate ‘horror’ but with that cover I’m trying to send a message about the underlying horror of being a drone. The certain knowledge that once you’re done there’s a bullet at the end. If your existence  is dependent on the goodwill of others – on your usefulness to them – what happens if those people covet your life. What if they are ‘jealous’ and act as one?

… Memento Mori.

Or I’m just trying to be the Liberal Ayn Rand.

(Interesting concepts. There’s only one certainty in life Ashley – death! Blog readers who want to find out more about Ayn Rand can click here.)

If you could choose to be a character from The Jealous Flock, who would you be and why?

Oooh, well I’m all of them. Cover included. I was a follower once too.

When I wrote it I most related to Randall. That’s basically me. Born old. In fact that guy is closest to my own experience. Some of those passages I wrote on the bus visiting places he visits in the book, living in his house, being harangued by those same hovering birds, kept awake at night.

But my hero is Martin. The man who changed. The good man prepared to do what it takes but in doing so embarks unwittingly on the hero’s journey and is himself transformed into the ideal, into a leader who walks alongside. One who shows us how to be ourselves.

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

A good book parts the existential smog, it lets you breath. Risk it.

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

My pleasure. And thank you for this experience. It helps to remember who you are from time to time.

About Ashley Borodin

Ashley Borodin studied Engineering and is a writer and poet interested in culture and social issues. Currently living in Tasmania, Ashely can often be found playing the fret-less bass.

By following Ashley on Twitter you will have access to a poem a day. There is more from Ashley via this blog too.

I’ve read some amazing books with autism as a major theme of late and as this is a subject that I know needs greater exposure, I’m delighted to welcome Kate Hughes, author of Home, onto Linda’s Book Bag. Although fiction, Home is based on Kate’s own family. It gives me great pleasure to help Kate spread the word about the effects of autism on all the family.

Home is available for purchase in e-book here.

Home

“You need to come and get my daughter. She’s not safe anymore.”

For Sophie, life with her daughter has never been easy. Rosie’s extreme autism has made her unpredictable and often difficult. Like most mothers though, her first instinct has always been to protect her child and keep her close. However, when Rosie’s escalating violence culminates in a terrifying incident at home, Sophie is faced with a choice that no parent ever wants to make. A choice that will inevitably plunge her into a set of unimaginable new circumstances which will test her to the limit.

A true test of a mother’s love.

Could you send your child away?

Autism

A Guest Post by Kate Hughes

Autism.

It’s a word which seems to be on everyone’s lips in recent years. It’s in the news, on the television and in books. People you meet may know someone, or have taught someone, or are related to someone, or know someone who knows someone else…who is autistic. The upshot being, that many of us have a little bit of knowledge of the condition and think we understand it, but the autistic spectrum is in fact huge and no two autistic children are exactly alike.

Autism has played a huge part in my family’s life for many years. Like everyone else, we were only vaguely aware of this condition until my beautiful niece Eva was diagnosed 13 years ago. I’d certainly had some experience in my job as a primary school teacher, however the reality of seeing my sister living day to day with an autistic child is very different to the snapshot you see in an educational setting. It has been a steep learning curve for us all.

I finally decided to write my novel Home after seeing my sister go through the painful process of putting 12 year old Eva into residential care when her extreme behaviour escalated. I felt it was a story that needed to be told since many people are unaware of the meltdowns and violence which can make older autistic children very difficult to manage.

You often hear of children being taken into care but you don’t often hear about parents who have made that decision themselves. Looking in from the outside, all people might see is someone who just couldn’t cope. The reality is very different. I know that my sister’s decision came at the end of a very long road of coping with things that other parents will never have to experience. Most people can’t begin to imagine their own child being violent towards them.

I wanted to give an insight into the terrible set of events which leads a parent to make this decision and the enormous guilt which comes with it. It has a huge effect on the entire family. Suddenly one of their loved ones is no longer part of everyday family life. I hoped it might also comfort readers who may have gone, or be going through, a similar ordeal. Just to realise that you’re not the only one and that others have felt your pain can be extremely reassuring.

It had to be a work of fiction because after all, essentially, I am a storyteller. So although my protagonist, Sophie, experiences many of the same events and feelings as my sister, there are also lots of differences in her character and life story.

Once I’d made the decision, writing Home was a difficult and fairly long process. Apart from the fact that I’m a teacher and mother of three children which means I have a million things to do each day, I needed to make sure the events were accurate and so there was much interrogation of my sister and other family members! I also wanted to make it more than just a miserable memoir, I wanted to create an uplifting story which shows the true power of a mother’s love for a special needs child.

I hope you feel the final book has achieved what I set out to do.

Kate Hughes

About Kate Hughes

Kate Hughes is a primary school teacher of more than twenty years. Her passion for reading from an early age has finally led her to making her own contribution to the world of books. Her debut novel Mr Brown’s Suitcase was published in 2014. Home is her second novel.

Kate lives in Derbyshire with a husband, three feisty daughters and a lively lilac tortoiseshell cat.

You will find Kate on Facebook and can follow her on Twitter.

I’m so pleased to be celebrating Taste of the French Caribbean by Chef Denis today. Taste of the French Caribbean was published by Clink Street on 31st January 2017 and is available for purchase here.

Today I’m sharing a simple recipe from the Taste of the French Caribbean fish setion.

Taste of the French Caribbean

Stir up an authentic taste of the Caribbean at home with Chef Denis Rosembert’s first ever cookbook. The St Lucia born restauranteur lovingly curates his favourite dishes — from delicious jerk chicken to spicy mutton curry and sweet golden apple cake — for you to recreate, bringing the unique flavours and exotic aromas of the island — renowned for its seafood and exquisite chocolates — vividly to life in your own kitchen.

At his much-loved restaurant Chez Denis in Norwich, England, Denis Rosembert blends the eclectic cuisines of Africa, Europe and Eastern India that combine to make St Lucian food so rich and so special. His colourful, infectious, easy-to-follow recipes are the ultimate celebration of island life, food and drink and entertaining and will soon have you inviting friends and family round to experience your own taste of the Caribbean.

Mussels with Calvados

 

Ingredients

500g mussels washed and cleaned

4 shallots chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

4 sprigs dill chopped

3 sprigs parsley chopped

50ml dry white wine

25ml calvados

50ml double cream

1tsp cornflour

1 tbsp water salt and pepper

SERVES 4

1.Put mussels into a pan with finely chopped shallots , garlic, dill, parsley, and dry white wine.

2. Place the pan on a moderate heat, cover the pan. When the mussels have opened pour in the cream, bring to the boil cook for 3 minutes.
3. Mix the corn flour with a tablespoon of cold water.
4. Stir in the cornflour mixture then the calvados. Cook for 3 minutes salt and pepper to taste.
5. Ready to serve.

About Chef Denis

Denis Rosembert was born on the island of St.Lucia where he started training to be a chef in 1973. After a couple of years he was invited to England to continue his training. Since then Denis has worked in various hotels and restaurants across Britain and America in the role of Commis, Sous and finally Head Chef. In 1989 he moved to Norwich, where after a brief stint working for the Sports Village, he finally realised his dream and opened his own restaurant Chez Denis.

You can visit Chef Denis’s website and follow him on Twitter.

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