My writing blog is now a Book Blog.

Because some of us un-essential folk have times on our hand, I decided it was time I totally re-thought my blog. Recently I published my novel THE LARK ASCENDING.

I was so lucky to have Anne Cater on board to organise a blog tour for me because I am unable to organise my own bookshelves or even my sock drawer. Not only have Anne and I become virtual friends, but I have also met some wonderful people online who, like me, are book mad. Many are book bloggers. I want to have a go. But I'm wearing L plates and haven't even mastered parallel parking.

Added for non-UK readers

... So don't ask me to read and review your book. Not now. I'm not even walking yet and it will take a while change this random blog where I talk about my life in general. (No wonder everybody stopped reading it.)

I will start with a few brief words about three novels I have recently read that have stayed with me for more than a nanosecond.

 Although I knew a small amount about the voluntary evacuation of this remote archipelago 100 miles off the western coast of Scotland as it was no longer sustainable, I knew nothing of the conditions of some Scottish regiments during WWII. In this atmospheric historical novel, the two are combined. I loved it.





I have loved all of Louise Beech's novels. All are so different but all contain elements of the supernatural and strange.   which concerns murder surrounding a hit stage musical entwined with a threesome who communicate with the spirit of a murdered actress with an Ouija Board. I found it creepy, frightening - even though I don't believe in the supernatural. Even so, I could not put it done. because it's so cleverly structural. Is I am Dust, a hit musical or is the way the dust and ashes we see floating around us when the sun shines actually what ghosts are? This is her best novel yet.

Don't be put off by the cover of this novel. This is not straight-forward clogs and shawl romantic novel although it is about a mill worker who works on a Spinning Mule in a typical Visrtoerin mill, its cruel supervisors and child workers,  factory and the man she loves. It's full of tension as we all know the Peterloo Massacre is on its way and we are right in the middle of it and all its horror and miserable aftermath. All the historical facts are true and unromanticized. The heroine's small son is autistic and described in an absolutely accurate way with his mannerisms and fears with total accuracy but the word is never used as it was unknown at the time. The ending isn't necessarily happy either. I cried buckets, something I really do when reading historical novels.


As you can tell I read a great deal of fiction. I am a historical novelist so  - mainly historical fiction but not exclusively.

You may also want to know I have been a member of The Historical Novel Society (HNS) from almost its beginning and very much involved with its quarterly magazine, The Historical Novels Review on its editing side. Although I do far less these days, I still review for them.

I am also a member of the Historical Writers Association. (HWA) and the Romantic Novelists Association (RNA).

Finally, finally. I have never ever and will never review for payment.