The Amazon promotion of EAST END ANGEL was very rewarding. I enjoyed feedback from so many readers and realize just how wonderful technology is. The Kindle and its kind are bringing readers ever closer to discovering new authors and fresh talent and in my case, the Carol Rivers novels. For those interested in the thrills and spills of family dramas, my stories are set before the 1960′s and continue back to the Great War. Writing these books has taught me that the connection between past and present is remarkable. I would say, breathtaking.

It’s great to be finishing a book at the beginning of a New Year, knowing that very soon I will be submitting it to my editor. But I have very happy memories of October of 2011, when my last book IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, was published in hardback, paperback and Kindle and crept into the Sunday Times chart.

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER is set in 1919 and tells of a family in London’s East End, suffering the traumatic effects of the Great War. As I have written before, the specific issue is of soldiers deserting the front line and the attitude of society towards their unfortunate families. Digging deep into the subject, some of the personal testimonies I researched were heartrending. They also mirrored similar accounts of our troops and their families in the most recent of wars like Iraq and Afghanistan.

What was once called shell shock is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Now at least, PTSD is recognized as a serious condition and can be treated, whereas in 1919 it was viewed with contempt and shunned. When these young men couldn’t function, they were classed as deserters or malingerers. Some were executed, a tragic injustice. I hope the story will help to enlighten readers as the novel unfolds.

The book I am about to complete draws a similar link between past and present. It involves the promise of celebrity and fame sought by youngsters of the 1930′s and the dangers of unscrupulous opportunists using these young people for their own gain. History repeats itself in a never-ending cycle. Fame and fortune, war and glory, are now transformed by technology. But always, the emotions remain the same.

With each book I’ve tried to capture some of these emotions. And most importantly, I believe that no matter how hopeless a situation may seem, it’s always possible for love and the strength of family and friends to redeem us in the end. Perhaps, this most of all, is a message that, with my writing, I would like to take into the New Year!

Just had to write a few lines for EAST END ANGEL. Amazon Kindle are promoting the book at £1. 99. This is a fabulously affordable price for an ebook and I’m over the moon for the readers. It’s only for a few weeks, but a brilliant opportunity for those Kindle owners who would like to dip their toe into the sparkling waters of the historical thriller. Here’s the blurb!

June 1941, Isle of Dogs, London.
In the dark days following the Blitz, happiness visits young Pearl Jenkins as she celebrates her marriage to Jim Nesbitt.
But what should be a joyful occasion is marred when a fight breaks out between Jim and Ricky Winters, an unwelcome visitor from Pearl’s past. And to Pearl’s horror, the new beau of her wayward younger sister Ruby.
Increasingly uneasy at staying at home when other men are off fighting for their country, Jim enlists, leaving Pearl at home – alone, pregnant, and at Ricky’s mercy… .
Together, Pearl and Ruby must bring up baby Cynthia while struggling to make ends meet and dodge the doodlebugs. And all the time, Pearl must hide the dark secret she harbours, one which would tear the two sisters apart as well as her marriage.
Then tragedy strikes both on the home front and in the trenches and Pearl is forced to fight like never before to keep her family safe.

Hope everyone enjoys!

Drawing to a close, is the old year. And with it, my current novel, set in 1930′s London. This book has no official title as yet but has been great to write! The East End in 1935, had many similarities to today. The search for celebrity on stage and in the music halls was ferocious. Just like our fascination with X Factor and Celebrity Come Dancing, Hollywood in the 30′s comes into its own. Every girl wants to dance like Ginger Rogers and partner a cool guy like Fred Astaire. Last week we saw Harry Judd and Aliona Vilani winning the spectacular glitter ball(s). Their chemistry and talent was outstanding and in the late thirties the thirst for the excitement through the dancing and singing idols of the day was at its peak too. Silent pictures were a thing of the past. Music halls had begun to lose their attraction. Superstars like Spencer Tracy, Marlene Dietrich, Gary Cooper, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable and Greta Garbo were attracting picturegoers all over the world. So I don’t have to look far for inspiration. There is so much talent today; wannabees must sing, dance, act, perform, become athletes in their own sphere and compete for the viewers’ digitally short spans of attention. It’s all about ratings – just as the movie producers and directors of the inter-war years were to discover, when many of the fabulous silent picture stars, could no longer hold an audience. You needed it ALL when Hollywood invested in the talkies, just like the hopefuls of today. And so, my 18 year-old twin heroines, Marie and Vesta, are caught up in the glamour of their newly-found fame. It’s the perfect time for me to round off a book, absorbing the emotions of the star-studded performances of 2011, and transferring them into the limelight and celebrity of 1935. This book will be published October 2012, and I’m eager to see if, like its predecessor IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER,  it captures the collective imaginations of 2012!

I can’t believe this, but this morning, my book, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, is fifth on Simon&Schuster’s bestselling books list. My editor tells me it has also gone to No3 on the Heatseeker’s chart. The news from MIDWINTER since its publication in October, has been constant and positive. I owe a big vote of thanks to all those lovely readers out there, who have been on this journey with me. I’ve already thanked all my facebook and twitter chums, and now, to everyone who has used my Contact Carol link on my website or who has in some way, provided me with the wealth of feedback I’ve received – a big THANK YOU! Some readers have been with me since 2004, when my first novel LIZZIE OF LANGLEY STREET was published. The book’s theme dealt with the repercussions of the Great War. My heroine, Lizzie, 15, is a carer in 1919, just like many young people today find themselves caring for a disabled parent, in 2011. Lizzie’s dad is suffering from a terminal illness, a result of his horrendous experiences in the trenches. Lizzie’s mum is worn out and ailing too, after rearing a big family on a shoestring. No matter how much Lizzie tries to hold their lives together, the close-knit unit begins to fragment. This tale deals with grief and separation, poverty and crime. And in all of the following books, one published each year, I explore these topics which mean so much to me – and to the readers, it seems, who have always been kind enough to spur me on. Thank you, sincerely. From what you have said, it’s clear that although life can throw unimaginable suffering our way, the antidote is often the healing power of true love. In sickness and health we need each others support and affection. Medicine can do a lot, but we also need a solid hand to clutch or a shoulder to lean on. If the books can contribute to any part of an emotional lift for you, then I feel I’m heading in the right direction. So, on this very special day, I send all my love and thoughts to you, the readers. CarolRx

I like to re-read my old favourites and at the moment it’s Harry Bowling. Like Dickens, Harry and Catherine Cookson chronicled stories from the places and people they knew best. They told it all without fuss, elaboration or boastfulness. They used the vernacular of the street combined with an instinctive skills of diarists that make them mesmerizing. They wrote with the voice inside their heads. “Listening” to them was how I learned to harness a force inside my own head, this creative internal voice that became a way to reconcile my experiences in life. Through reading, I found help to articulate my emotions. Dickens with his keen observance and compassion, Harry with his humour, Catherine with her candid honesty. I came to know these writers and all the others that followed, intimately. What wonderful teachers we find between the pages of books. And they are all uniquely ours and eternal.

For those who would like to know more about the London area I set my novels, please follow this link

http://www.islandhistory.org.uk/

Nov. 11, 1918 and the conflict of World War I came to an end following the signing of an armistice between the Allies and Germany that called for a ceasefire, effective at 11 a.m. We know this the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

Dad’s Distinguished Service Cross, awarded during World War 2 at Buckingham Palace by the King, stands on a wooden plinth in Mum’s lounge. The ribbon is torn, the medal dull. Surrounding it are other smaller tributes to his naval days, during service on a British light cruiser, HMS Sheffield. The (late) Lieutenant Commander Skeels, having won his officer’s stripes, returned to safety a small fleet of LCI’s (landing craft) navigating the Atlantic, dodging German submarines and enemy destroyers to arrive for battle at the Sicily landings. Dad’s own words were “we hung by our eyelids” as they waited, little corks of crafts, bouncing on choppy seas, the men inside these metal boxes prepared to give their lives for King and Country. That phrase never ceases to inspire me, a phrase he used to describe the morale of the British sailors under his command. Sometimes when I’m writing and the struggle is uphill, I think of him, his eloquence and gentleness, and his deep reserves of positive energy and adventure. And so when CONNIE OF KETTLE STREET came about, my third book in the Rivers’ series of historical novels, I gave Vic, my hero, Dad’s naval journey. It started with his training at Pwllheli, (Butlins holiday camp turned training centre for naval recruits), through the terrifying Scapa Flow to Murmansk Arctic Circle missions. HMS Sheffield was part of the escort fleets to our merchant ships crossing freezing U-boat filled seas, a perilous and un-envied task! Then Dad set off for New York to gather his charge of LCI’s, a flotilla of landing craft prepared for the Sicily landings. In the book, Vic’s sweetheart Connie discovers a baby boy, during the Blitz. This little fellow, called Lucky, orphaned and yet still alive, becomes a son to Vic. This is the story of not just one orphan, but of many who shared a similar fate. I’d like to think that Dad, if he’d had such a son, would have been as proud of him as I am of a truly special father who stands with me as I set these stories on paper. This particular book has proved so popular, that Simon&Schuster, my publishers, have decided to release it next year under the title of COCKNEY ORPHAN. I’m very pleased of course, but particularly so, as it was my dad’s journey into combat as a very green newbie. So when Sunday comes, as the tributes around the world remind us of all those who have risked life and limb in conflict during both World Wars and those conflicts right up to the present day, the men and women of our armed forces still fighting for Queen and Country, my first thoughts will be of you, Dad.x

The pic is a view from Sheffield as she sails on convoy duty through the waters of the Arctic ocean. In the background are merchant ships of the convoy. In the foreground is the silhouette of a lookout using a telescope

Jackie Collins (respect!) has picked up another award. This fabulous Simon&Schuster author has never stopped selling her books. She is feisty, glamorous, talented, exceptionally skilled and a brilliant all-rounder. If anyone needs to learn marketing and promotional skills, just visit Jackie’s webpages and Twitter. She is truly AM-A-ZING!

Well done, Jackie! And may there be many more books to come.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15591714

A day’s work done and lovely news from my editor. IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER has crept up to number 29 in the Sunday Times paperback charts. My husband asked me how I felt and really, the overwhelming emotion is gratitude. People have taken the time and trouble, not to mention the expense of precious pennies in this uncertain financial climate, to buy my book and put it up there on the charts. So I want to take this opportunity in a blog to thank all the readers of the Rivers novels, not only for buying it, but for your warm support, many emails and FB messages that have poured in recently and to whom I always reply to personally. It’s you who have made MIDWINTER such a success. Thank you! I will never forget  this wonderful publishing month of October 2011. It has been everything I could have hoped for and more! Last night I spoke to a lady called Jill, who told me that my previous book EAST END ANGEL had come into her life when she was at her darkest point. She said the book tipped the scales and seemed to encourage her interest in life again.For the first time I realized how much of a responsibility I have to readers – to anyone who seeks inspiration to help them out of a ‘dark place’. And if that is the single cause for writing and producing my stories, then that is my life’s ambition fulfilled. I hope to continue to be able to do this, to provide an escape route which otherwise wouldn’t be there. There is always light at the end of the tunnel and this is my core belief and the reason why I write. So I hope to continue and with each book learn more about human nature, its brilliance, its strength and resourcefulness. Thank you, everyone! This day is very special and I owe it all to you. I hope that I can give something as rewarding back with the next book – and the next – and hopefully continue to be blessed with, (as my fav tec Poirot would say) “zee  hard-wearing and creative leetle grey cells!”

I felt so excited this morning, as I stood in Tesco’s book department and was amazed to discover the paperback edition of IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, was standing proudly on the top shelf – at number 6! How awesome is that? I forgot all about my shopping and stayed to chat with some of the customers, hot gossiping about the titles out this month (like Danielle Steel, Stieg Larsson and Lee Child, ) finally remembering the cupboard at home was bare. I couldn’t resist returning an hour later and nearly fainted when I found only two copies of MIDWINTER left! Thank you, everyone! Especially the Book Elf who spirited my books away! I do hope MIDWINTER shapes up and provides you all with an exciting, dramatic and page-turning read and the valuable pennies you spent on a Rivers novel will prove well worth-while.  Lots of love and again, thank you, CarolRX.

Just a line or two to say WOW!  The good news just keeps on coming for ANGEL. Today my ed told me that ANGEL has reached 23 on the Sunday Times paperback fiction chart. I am so chuffed that I’m tingling all over. These past few mornings I’ve woken up wondering if it really is true that ANGEL has struck a chord with people. I do hope so and am so grateful to everyone, that thank-you seems inadequate, but I’m saying it again and again until I wake up and find this has all been a dream!

ANGEL is now NUMBER ONE ON THE HEATSEEKER’S CHART

I’ve done very little writing today as, aside from the boiler breaking down and 2amp fuses seemingly extinct, I’ve just been savouring the news that ANGEL has gone into the number one slot of the Heatseeker’s chart. This is a chart  made up of debuts and publications by authors who have not yet made the Nielsen top 50 (which is comprised of fiction, non-fiction, paperbacks and hardbacks). I am so happy for ANGEL. This is a once-in-a-lifetime feeling, and I’m trying to believe that it’s true. I was overjoyed to be at 4 – but 1? The boiler hasn’t got its fuses yet, but I have a sensation akin to internal combustion and need no extra warmth tonight!

I watched Kara and Artem dance the tango tonight and was completely blown away. The couple ooze sex appeal and are stunning to watch. Will their lives after Strictly become the drama they have enacted? I think Artem is the perfect hero and Kara the heroine…add to this their youth and beauty and this material is hot. Oddly, I was reading the National Geographical and this pic caught my eye. An older version of what I saw tonight and in their faces the tale I would like to tell.

How do you describe an emotion in writing? This is often a question a writer is asked. Quite out of the blue, my friend, an avid reader of celebrity mags, phoned me to say that to her surprise she was enjoying EAST END ANGEL, which she’d rashly bought at ASDA. We dug a little deeper and this is what she came up with. “It’s the emotions I like,’ she told me. “Anyone who has experienced them would know how Pearl (leading lady) feels. I kept going hot and cold and thinking, she’s just getting in deeper and deeper. Why doesn’t she stop? At the same time, I didn’t want her to.”

After we’d spoken I went back through Pearl’s journey, replaying the guilt and shame of the things she had done in the past, then the fear of her husband finding out. How would she keep the past a secret? She goes to all sorts of lengths, as all our heroines do if they are desperately in love (or lust). This made a very strong story-line and one which my friend pointed out, enjoying the conflict in relationships that are at the crux of all satisfying stories – and hot magazine articles! So I thought back to my own first encounter of reading fear, shame, guilt and doomed love. I came up with Dickens, a past-master of all these emotions, his writing interwoven with manipulation, deception, cowardice and courage, the darker side of life, but with a resolution that leaves a part of you impressed forever. So it seems a perfect ending to this year to find myself reading GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Dickens’ own secretly-guarded emotions seem even more alive for me now than when I first read the book decades ago. I’m now giving GE to my friend and have a pretty good idea that HELLO! could well be put aside for the holiday.

I found this poignant letter during Christmas 1914-18 research at

http://www.christmastruce.co.uk

“Dear Miss Fuller and other assistants of the little tea shop. Just a few lines to let you know how we are all keeping. The 6th have been in the trenches twice. A good few of them had to go to hospital through the cold and exposure. They are hardly fit for this work. We were in the trenches on Christmas Day. We spent a merrier day than we expected. There was a truce to bury our dead. We had a short service over the graves, conducted by our minister and the German one. They read the 23rd Psalm and had a short prayer. I don’t think I will ever forget the Christmas Day I spent in the trenches. After the service we were speaking to the Germans and getting souvenirs from them. Fancy shaking hands with the enemy! I suppose you will hardly believe this, but it is the truth. I often think about the little tea shop and wonder how you are getting on. Long may the lum reek at the little tea-shop.”

I’m just taking this opportunity to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. May our writing continue, with inspiration, perspiration and consternation, but always great satisfaction at the conclusion of our WIPS! Have a great 2011, guys! Love from Carol R X

World War ll may have been an age of austerity but with this came a natural way of being slim. It has been recorded that women were never so slender – or fit – as in the 4o’s. The saying, “everything in moderation” was never so true as both food and liquids were rationed. Per week you were allotted 4oz of bacon, 8oz sugar, 2oz butter, one egg and 2oz of tea, to name but a few items affected. Chocolate, sweets and coffee, our comfort foods were practically non-existent. Oil and fats to fry in had to be squeezed from the little meat allowed, providing you stood long enough in a queue and had a ration book to show at the end of it. Living in towns and cities was very hard. Register at a local shop to buy your groceries and you might end up if you were lucky, with treasures like spam, potatoes, carrots and dried egg. In the country at least it was easier to grow your own and keep chickens. My Granddad tried growing his own veg in the back yard. But after the raids, what produce there was – should there be any left over from the unkind elements and poor quality soil – were covered in dust. Even the plane trees’ lives were numbered beneath the torrent of bombs. Other than the Mudchute, a waste area, there was no greenery, so no fruits or berries to gather. East Enders gave up trying to be versatile and settled for spam and the Woolton Pie, promoted by the government – a thin wafer of pastry laid over whatever vegetables were available. The pounds slipped from the waistline and filling men’s jobs kept women active and focused. The austerity measures may have been unwanted and reviled, yet you only have to look at photos of women in the 40′s to see how beautiful and confident they were – and SLIM!

I was asked at a recent coffee/book/gossip afternoon, for a good tip for writing enthusiasts. Apart from my usual “a tube of glue to spread on your pants before sitting down at the computer” ha, ha, I admitted that I would never go anywhere without a notebook. If you are thinking about writing a novel/story/bestseller  I’d recommend a glance through your notebook or diary right now. Ideas should leap off the page, especially if you keep that diary locked! And re-read those crumpled notes under your pillow and in the scrapbook beside your bed. What has happened to raise your eyebrows? What secret confidence have you shared? What drama stretched you to breaking point? Who or what gave you the greatest joy/sadness/excitement/thrill? It’s the emotion you felt at this time that you can transplant into a fictional character. Mary Shelley did it so well when she wrote Frankenstein. Were the monster’s emotions also hers? Was she as lonely and desperate, as fearful and vulnerable as her creation? Mary adored her husband. But obsession was his undoing. Was it also Mary’s? We may never know the true story. The strong emotions on every mysterious and enthralling page are so vivid and honest that they give us an insight into Mary herself. And so it is for a writer. It’s the emotion that leads the way in – and creates the foundation for your bestseller.

The Jenkins family survived the Blitz – as in EAST END ANGEL. This short film gives an idea of how it must have looked one morning to Pearl and Ruby and their mum and dad, one of many mornings during the Blitz, after the Luftwaffe had flown home.

I’m just researching the 1920′s and 30′s, the wilder element of those days! As usual I found a little international gem that led me astray, but thought it would make an entertaining post. Has anyone heard of the Garden of Allah, Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood? Nor had I, but apparently, Alla Nazimova, a mysterious, beautiful and hedonistic silent movie star, producer, stage actress and visionary, plus being a former concert violinist, created this wonderful oasis for the benefit of her actor chums. Nazimova converted her well-situated 1921 mansion estate into a three and a half acre semi-tropical hangout for the benefit of the likes of Gloria Swanson, Greta Garbo, John Barrymore, Clara Bow, Buster Keaton, Ramon Navarro, the Marx Brothers (especially Harpo), Ava Gardner, Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Ernest Hemingway, Lillian Hellman, Joe E. Lewis, Artie Shaw, Marlene Dietrich, George Kaufman and Larry Olivier. Not everybody wanted to be seen there – like Orson Wells because of the tangle of phony marriages, the fist-fights, the liquor,recreational sex, drugs, robberies and drunken rages that made up the era. Having their souls consumed by the Hollywood system, orgies, more robberies, feuds, money problems and sudden changes of plan caused the Garden of Allah to gain quite a bohemian reputation. I could have lingered in this fire-breathing, head-spinning, seductive area of research, but sadly my characters are ducking and diving in the East End of London – though, take away the palm trees and champagne, there might not be such a leap of imagination…

We’ve all talked about forward planning in our lives and no less enthusiastically after the family has flown. One thing a writer knows at the beginning of her new project, is that it will be approximately a nine-month odyssey of labour and delivery, that in many ways reflect a familiar pattern. It’s not a pink or blue nursery with pretty mobiles that I’m preparing, but an internal journey, shadowed with voices and unknown movement. I’ll make, not visits to Marks&Sparks baby department, but epost an outline/synopsis to my editor and describe the life I hope to create. I’ve a name, not Sarah or Stephen, but a working title, and a form in my head that can’t be detected by a scan, but by a place in my brain/heart called the subconscious. Each day a little weight adds to the embryo and the heartbeat suddenly kicks in, more than likely waking me up from a deep sleep. The little feet don’t kick but the ideas tumble around, like a panic delivery from an online Tesco shop. In a sweat, I sit up and wonder what the heck I’m doing yet again at the beginning that white water ride of gestation. How do I connect with my baby before the weight piles on? How much knowledge of this mysterious creature is embedded in my mind? What do I have to do, to ensure a safe delivery? All my various strategies pale into fear and desperation in the middle of that dark night. I mop my brow and peer into the gloom. I’ve been through it all before; the relaxation, meditation, contemplation, and frustration. Shall I really do it all over again? And then the first light of dawn spills through the window. The ideas are subtly whispered through this inner child’s voice. The whisper is so faint that it feels as though the minute I have it, the next, it’s gone. But it will come again and I should have more faith. I know I am committed and that delivery date will happen, as it always has, within a predictable margin of time. I get up and make a cup of tea and gaze out at the trees and flowers, the first blush of spring that spills over the hedge. And I welcome this pregnancy and my invisible embryo, knowing that I’ll be able to eat as many pickled gherkins as I fancy without being sick. I may not have a nursery, a set of three lemon babygrows and a wardrobe full of Pampers to organize, but I do have a blush-pink memory stick and sky-blue laptop, a Wi-Fi modem and an IPod. And sipping that first drop of Yorkshire Tea, I ask myself what senior-moment-writer could ask for more than this?

Since having my novels turned into E books, and buying myself a Kindle, my respect for this little device grows! I recently found this page on the web http://www.kinworm.com/2011/02/how-to-download-and-listen-to-podcasts.html
and haven’t looked back since. Here is a snippet;
A podcast, or netcast, is a series of mp3 audio files (and less commonly, video) which you can download and listen to on your PC or mp3 player. While the latest Kindle isn’t capable of watching video, it can play mp3 audio files.

Sometimes reading the Kindle just isn’t practical – maybe you’re busy ironing, cooking, gardening or decorating. And that’s where podcasts come in handy. Whatever you’re interested in, you can pretty much bet there is a podcast available on that subject for you to listen to and enjoy – usually for free.

Many moons ago, in the land that time forgot, I read Mary Wibberley, a dedicated Mills & Boon author who wrote a How To book, that surely must be a classic. To mention her name now still gives me the goose bumps; the anticipation, excitement, hope and youth all mixed together in a heady cocktail of oh-how-much-I-want to be published! Along with her marvellous advice, came the 13 rules of how romance/plot/character should evolve. I wonder if anyone else remembers them? If my memory serves me well (which could be in doubt) they went something like this;

13 step structure for romance plots

1. Heroines social identity is destroyed

2. She reacts antagonistically to hero.

3. Hero responds ambiguously to her.

4. She interprets this as sexual interest.

5. She responds to his behaviour with anger or coldness

6. Hero retaliates by punishing her

7. They are physically and/or emotionally separated

8. Hero treats heroine tenderly

9. She responds warmly to his act of tenderness

10. She reinterprets his ambiguous behaviour as the product of previous hurt

11. Hero proposes his love for/demonstrates his unwavering commitment to heroine with a supreme act of tenderness.

12. Heroine responds sexually and emotionally

13. Her identity is restored.

Hmm, pretty straightforward, I thought (then). Let’s have a bash. 2011, and I’m not quite so certain!

On this special Eve, a sincere wish of good luck to every wedding couple, for marriage is still held by many to be the formula for happiness. Authors write about romance because their belief in Love is strong. At the heart of a cracking good Love Story, there is the couple who defy all obstacles to achieve their desire to be with one another eternally. The royal wedding this year sheds enchantment over our TV screens and flows out to the world, through the lens of the cameras. It’s a moment in time, for Love and Lovers, captured in history for all to remember. My husband painted this picture for me when we married. It told of a midsummer Love and our dream of marrying under a canopy of trees in a bluebell wood or perhaps at Huddlesbury Head on the sea shore, late on a summer’s night. Luckily our Love survived without nature’s enchantment – or perhaps because of it. So here’s to Love and Lovers everywhere, and may they all be blessed with eternal magic, because we all know it’s Love (with a capital L) that makes us all truly eternal!

This hot off the press from the CWA

CWA campaigns for threatened libraries

The CWA has launched a campaign to help promote libraries at a time when the service is under threat from public sector cutbacks. We know that every single one of our members feels that libraries are fundamental to reading in the UK. Many of us first discovered the joys of reading through our public libraries, and it is our view that millions of people could be deprived of this going forward, as result of the cuts.

Local authorities, faced with a 29% budget cut over four years, often do not see libraries as a high priority. Even though they may not close, libraries may find their staff reduced and their book funds cut. We believe that with over 300 million visits to UK libraries in 2009-10 alone, it is crucial that authors help them to survive and thrive. Crime is the most borrowed genre from UK libraries. Therefore we are asking all our members to approach their local libraries and to stage at least three events there each year.

CWA Chair, the best-selling crime novelist Peter James, said: “We feel it is not enough to say that we oppose cuts to libraries. We want to do more, to offer practical help to libraries in their hour of need, hence our programme of initiatives to raise their profile. We feel passionate about libraries and want to do everything that we can to help in these difficult times. Libraries have been very good to the crime writers of the UK and we wish to acknowledge that through our campaign.”

The association already runs the annual Young Crime Writers Competition exclusively through libraries, acknowledging the role that they play in encouraging young people to read. The national shortlist has just been announced, and the winner will be revealed during National Crime Writing Week.

CWA members also hold a large number of meet-the-author sessions. In addition, the CWA organises National Crime Writing Week, which will this year run between June 13 and 19, and again involves events and readings in libraries.

If you want a writer to come to your local library, emailwriters@thecwa.co.ukand we will put you in touch.

Alan Bennett has joined Zadie Smith and Philip Pullman in the campaign to save a London library – opened by Mark Twain in 1900 – from closure.

As local campaigners announced plans to take legal action against Brent council over its decision to close six libraries, Bennett said he would be coming to Kensal Rise to help raise the £30,000 needed for the legal campaign. The much-loved author will be speaking about the library closures and reading from his work at an event on 24 May, which will also see him interviewed by Whitbread award-winning local author Tim Lott.

“We fully understand the need for cuts to be made,” said Lott, who has been part of the committee to save Kensal Rise library since its inception. “This is not a head-in-the-sand campaign. However, local residents have campaigned to run Kensal Rise library on a partly voluntary and possibly self-funded basis, but have met with only indifference and stonewalling from Brent who have offered no practical help, assistance or encouragement.”

Brent council voted to close six of its 12 libraries on 11 April. Councillors want to use the savings this will bring to improve services in the borough’s remaining libraries, and to open a large central library near Wembley Stadium in 2013.

The six Brent libraries – Kensal Rise, which was opened by Twain, Barham Park, Cricklewood, Neasden, Preston, and Tokyngton – are looking to raise £30,000 to fund their legal challenge against Brent, which they hope will see them challenging the council on the “legitimacy” of its “flawed” local consultation process. “In reality, 82% of local residents oppose Brent’s ‘rationalisation’ programme,” said the campaigners. The council has said that although 82% of those residents who responded to its survey were against closing the libraries, they represent fewer than 1% of borough residents.

Smith, author of the Orange prize-winning On Beauty, has previously spoken out against the closures, arguing that local libraries were “gateways to better, improved lives” and attacking “the low motives [of the government] as it tries to worm out of its commitment”. Pullman, learning that the closures would be going ahead, said that it was “a sad day for Brent that the council has not been persuaded, despite all the arguments put forward”.

More than 400 libraries in the UK are currently under threat of closure, according to Public Libraries News, as the government looks to make budget cuts. Legal challenges are also being prepared in Gloucestershire, Somerset, the Isle of Wight, Camden and Lewisham.

Each morning there seems to be news of a new digital triumph, with sales of ebooks both in this country and abroad outstripping those of paperbacks and hardbacks. All my online digests burst with ebook headlines. Ereader statistics prove this exciting new world is open to everyone who wants a piece of the digital action. Many authors are going it alone, without publishers, and achieving great success. They look to people like J.A Konrath, Barry Eisler and our own amazing authors like Linda Gillard. This courageous lady’s wonderful novel HOUSE OF SILENCE was rejected by mainstream publishers and so she decided to turn it into an ebook. (See link below for more info). Just a few weeks after she uploaded it, HOS hit the top of the ebook charts and stayed there. And I’m happy to say some of the Rivers novels are now for sale at Amazon, ready to download to the Kindle ereader. I bought a Kindle at the beginning of the year and can’t imagine life without it. Somehow I read more, enjoy more, and love the computerized voice that allows me to rest my eyes or use my earphones as a welcome alternative to reading. The “little grey slate” as it’s known, is a miracle of invention for all ages.

I recently interviewed a group of students (I live in a university town) who have invested in Kindles. They love being able to select dozens of really inexpensive books (e.g. 99p and £1.99p) which take up no room at all in their portable digital library. Many use the text to speech facility as they travel to and from college and uni. A slim Kindle slipped into their rucksack instead of space-consuming paperbacks is their idea of heaven. Today’s youngsters have cut their baby teeth on computers and the digital voice, like their music, has a big appeal. What a wonderful innovation and a great way to reach a new market hungry to experiment with new genres and authors! I don’t believe the paperback is dead, but it does have competition. This is a new age, with new demands from the purchasing public and they must be met. It is a revolution and nothing will stop the force of digital development as it heads towards us like a tidal wave.

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I’ve just received the cover artwork of this year’s novel IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER and it looks stunning. A girl in a blue coat stares pensively from this cover, soldiers in the background returning from the Great War and street urchins following them. I must say that every time I see the cover of each book for the first time, I am blown away. But this one is really breathtaking and my thanks go to the Simon & Schuster team who made it possible. I also have a few lines at the top from Jean Fullerton, a wonderful East End author, who like myself, specializes in East End novels. On the back page, there’s a note for Dilly Court and Katie Flynn fans, who might like to read another gripping story written in the same genre. So from now until October it’s my job to profile my book to a loyal core readership and those new to the Rivers books. Here’s what Amazon has to say about IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER.  (Hardcover August, Paperback October)

“Winter 1919. Two months after the Armistice that ended the Great War, and life in London’s East End is slowly returning to normal. But for 25-year-old Birdie Connor the battle is only just beginning. Frank, Birdie’s older brother, has been sent to prison for deserting his army post whilst fighting in Belgium, and the shame heaped on the Connor family by their neighbours is unrelenting. Wilfred, Birdie’s widowed father, has disowned Frank and vows that he will never set eyes on his son again, but Birdie cannot believe that her brother is guilty So when Frank escapes from prison and comes to find Birdie in secret, she promises to help him and is determined to prove his innocence. But little does she realise that she is exposing herself to danger as Frank gets himself deeper and deeper into trouble with the so-called friends he met in prison. Helped by the Connors’ lodger, the handsome Harry Chambers, will Birdie be able to find the proof that Frank needs in time to reconcile him to their frail father before it is too late? And can she build a future to keep herself and her younger brother, Patrick, safe?

Today, 25th June, is Southbourne Library’s 85th birthday and to celebrate, both readers and authors attended a splendid birthday bash. This lovely cosy library stands at the heart of the community and is powered by wonderful staff. Looking around, I was encouraged to see so much interest in books, with all age groups supporting our amazing library service. I’ve uploaded some of the pics we took – just click on the link, “Pics” and you’ll see today’s happy party-goers. Thanks so much to all the staff, who organized such a happy, fun and memorable event. I signed many books and heard and enjoyed some very personal and uplifting stories. If it wasn’t for Connie Rothman and her wonderful team and Medi Bernard I shouldn’t have had the opportunity to hear them. Thank you guys, for bringing books alive in today’s world, in a very special way! Love CarolX

This month I read that one of my childhood heroes, Marshal Matt Dillon, played by James Arness, had died. I remember James from his role in the Gunsmoke series of the 60′s and 70′s. He was a cowboy of few words, but had a smouldering screen presence. I couldn’t wait to get home from school and turn on the amazing new TV, that Dad had bought to sell in his electrical shop. Here in the UK, US Westerns became part of our culture. TV opened up a new world for me. I was cowboy crazy; Wells Fargo, Wagon Train, Cheyenne, Davy Crockett, Gunsmoke, Little House on the Prarie – couldn’t get enough of them.  Being a tomboy, I aspired to be like gutsy Gunsmoke heroine  ‘Kitty’, played by Amanda Blake. In one episode, Kitty drove a stagecoach in a bid to escape trouble. That was it, I was hooked. And in every book I now write there is a ‘Kitty’ – full of bravado, guts and true grit. It’s these early heroines who inspired me to write gritty novels, as my publisher Simon& Schuster call them. So, reading the news of James Arness departing this mortal coil for greater adventures,  I have to thank all the cast of Gunsmoke. Amongst them the still sizzling Burt Reynolds and the late Dennis Weaver who played Chester. As a kid, I’d limp up and down our back yard, mumbling, Yessur Misser Dillon, then swiftly change character to Kitty, making eyes at her marshal as he strode, all 6’7″ of him, into the bar, deadpanning the bad guys, before they had chance to draw. Adios, James, hope you’ll be seeing Kitty – and enjoying yourself the other side of Boot Hill.

Cheryl and Ashley! Who hasn’t read the headlines lately, or speculated on their relationship? Allegedly they are to reunite after a very painful divorce. You can’t help wondering what it is that draws this couple together; chemistry, yes, but what kind? In my novel EAST END ANGEL I deal with a break-up of a very close marriage. Pearl and Jim have a love that should last forever. They are passionate about each other and yet, their bond is broken by something bigger and more powerful, a blast from the past in the form of an ex-lover. And not just any ex; Ricky is drop-dead gorgeous. Complicating the situation, is the fact that Pearl’s sister, brings Ricky back into their lives, on Pearl and Jim’s wedding day.  For Cheryl and Ashley’s love to survive, they’ll need to have something very special gluing them together, as do my own hero and heroine. Many have speculated that Taylor and Burton were soul mates, inextricably linked in this life and perhaps in other lives before and after? But the common denominator for all couples unable to separate is perhaps, an overriding thirst for each other’s company, a thirst that simply can’t be quenched.  Writing EAST END ANGEL took me back to what is was like to feel such a thirst and how life gradually steers most of us away from that state. Whatever it is that Cheryl and Ashley have between them, it’s for them alone to pursue. Fascinating for us as bystanders. But what a rich enchantment for two people to experience! And how powerless anyone else is, to alter its course.

This year we lost Gilda O’Neill, a prolific writer of stories about the East End of London, my neck of the woods, though Gilda’s turf was Poplar, whilst I’m more Millwall and Cubitt Town. My family are costermongers, dockers, bird fanciers, dodgy dealers, marketers and shop-keepers. The Isle of Dogs is a horseshoe of land jutting out into the River Thames, comprising West India Docks, Millwall Docks, Blackwall Basin and South Dock basin. The island was once so poor, Gilda’s Poplar was regarded as posh. She’d laugh at that! On the island, no one ever had new clothes, shoes or furniture. Everything was begged, borrowed or stolen. And then of course, there were the markets. But even these sometimes, were regarded as rip-offs. The Isle of Dogs was the Luftwaffe’s first port of call in World War 2. It was the docks the planes went after, but Mum’s house was razed to the ground. My Nan and aunties finally fled the Doodlebugs, the eternal brick dust, the night and day catastrophes and deaths, depleting almost every family on the island. Mum survived the night of the worst raid. She didn’t like the Anderson or the underground, so she hid under the table. The front door of our house blew in and met the back door, then Mum got out before the whole lot caved in. Granddad was blown off his bike and into the docks, but he was a strong swimmer. Dad shimmied down from the control box on his crane, ran through the foot tunnel from Greenwich, and stood staring at our terrace in Chapel House Street. My Nan and aunties had survived. Mind you, they left pretty quick, bundling aboard a bus to Oxfordshire. The little they had was left behind and for the next six months they were shuttled around the country. Mum returned to the island to wait for Dad’s call-up. When the buff envelope came, she refused to let him go. I wouldn’t mess with my mum now, at 92, and I don’t think Dad fancied it much then. But he had aspirations. He was a good man, an intelligent one. And he did his tour of duty for the next five years. Goodness only knows how he survived. But he did. So, no need for me to wonder what I should write about, then? And now, well, the world is changing again and I’m still here to be part of it. What a privilege! This time, it’s the Digital tsunami! So exciting! All of us are in awe of Freda (Lightfoot) – who has paved the way for self-publishing digitally. And much to our surprise, we can hear the bombs dropping in the publishing world.  Writers are confident enough now to take more control of our futures. Rejections? What the heck! We’ll publish ourselves! Not quite the Blitz, but then, some elements seem familiar – the human spirit is so resourceful – and brave! In a great fighter’s words, “You know what I mean ‘Arry?” Yes, I think we do!

My nine-year-old granddaughter has learned the script of the movie, Titanic, by heart. She has studied this DVD until she knows every movement, every word and breath the actors take. Her favourite scene is on the bow of the ship, where Kate and Leonardo hold their dramatic pose together. But I noticed as I watched, that the central romance was what kept my granddaughter captivated. Kate is the perfect heroine – refusing to give up her true love despite both nature and nurture being against her. No wonder the movie is such a success. What a fabulous clue it gives to writers about the power of the heroine to fulfill her destiny. Create the same courage and honesty in our heroines and we can harness untold power for ourselves and our stories. The ending of the Titanic may be tragic (can’t watch as I’m a bit of a wuss) but in this case, the power of love is demonstrated as continuing forever. What a wonderful message for the younger generation – and for writers to write. Gutsy, courageous heroines are the perfect models if we want to study storytelling. Time for another classic DVD, perhaps someone like Lauren Bacall in Key Largo? Don’t know it? Lucky you – you’re in for a treat if you hire the DVD. One of the best thrillers of all time, with chemistry to die for!

A Titanic heroine in EAST END ANGEL

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A special blog for my latest book

born 4th August 2011.

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER published August 2011, and sold for a very reasonable price of £10 on Amazon considering once upon a time hardbacks were real luxuries to purchase. Plus, the libraries will be stocking the hardback – and some bookshops, awaiting publication of the paperback in two months time. My publishers, Simon&Schuster, have chosen this blurb for the back cover. “Shivering a little in the cold, Birdie paused to watch the boats tied up along the jetty. ‘Stay where you are!’ A sharp command brought her out of her thoughts. ‘If you want to see your brother alive, you will do as I say.’ Birdie’s heart raced. She turned, only to jump half out of her wits as she saw a woman standing beside her. A pair of dark, fierce eyes were almost hidden under the peak of a cloth cap. Then with another sickening lurch of her heart, she saw the glint at her side and felt the tip of a blade as it pressed into her.” It’s 1918, the East End of London, and the war is just over. Millions have died, as many are left crippled. There are other casualties too, bearing emotional scars that will never heal. There are young men who are unjustly accused of cowardice by their own commanders and Birdie’s brother is one of these. Birdie is my resilient half-Irish heroine, who quarrels with the British legal system and an equally unbending gang of terrorists, biding their time to kill. Birdie is one gutsy lady, facing two massive Goliaths. Will she achieve a victory, or none? Has one woman the power to change the course of her family’s history? I like happy endings, but the odds seem overwhelming against Birdie. And yet…there is always the power of love to be reckoned with. Love, the greatest power of all. Happy birthday  Birdie!

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We’ve all seen the photo of David Beckham and his beautiful baby daughter, Harper Seven. David’s wife, Victoria, has her family complete, as well as a creative, burgeoning career in fashion design. We now expect to see her image on the pages of the glossy magazines and on the web, looking slim and elfin, much like Audrey Hepburn of the 50’s, who radiated style and elegance with a dash of  impish mystique. But it’s only recently that Victoria has become accepted for what she truly is; a creative and talented independent woman of her own means. True, she has a famous and wealthy husband at her side, but that didn’t stop her from becoming an icon in her own right. She came from humble beginnings, was thrown into the deep end of the entertainment world at a very young age and in the middle of the Spice Girls whirlpool, she identified her mate. And more, has stood by his side for the entire length of their marriage. I can’t help likening Victoria’s character traits to the lead character in my current book, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER. Though the story begins in 1918 just after the Great War, my half-Irish heroine, Brigid, Birdie for short, has a flare for fashion design. Twenty-one-year-old Birdie supports her father and two brothers, by her sewing business, running it from home. She adores fabrics, materials, patterns and style, even though she has little money. Birdie has this thing we call class. And class is very sexy. Even in those days, there was something about a woman who knew how to dress. And so every time I read about Victoria I can only think – respect! Much has been ignored about her strength of character. And yet, this woman has survived by her own steam, and refuses to allow the world to threaten her marriage and family. Same thing with Birdie in my book. She seeks justice for her family and fights tooth and nail to achieve it. So good on you, Victoria. Congratulations on your expanding family and career. And I shall continue following you, my inspiration for a certain novel. And a woman given far less credit than she deserves.

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER out now in hardback. Amazon.co.uk

Paperback October 2011. Amazon.co.uk

High-flying business woman, fashion icon, executive producer, perfumista  and movie star, are just a few of the titles that have been given to the ubiquitous Kim Kardashian.  I have followed Kim in the media since 2008, when the Brits only really began to understand the universal power of the Kardashian family through the reality series, “Keeping Up with the Kardashians”. We became mesmerized by the family upheavals and celebrity lifestyle that soon became replicated in shows like “Jersey Shore”, “Kendra” and the “Housewives”. As an observer this side of the pond, I love the glamour, intrigue and dynamism of the American way of life. American entertainers are not grungy or downbeat or depressing, but exciting and fabulous! For me, the common denominator between these central characters is the women’s determination to pursue life according to themselves. They know what they want and go out to get it. Even our own royal wedding with Kate Middleton as the beautiful princess and star of her own dream marriage to her prince, seems long forgotten in the approaching excitement of Kim’s wedding to her stunningly handsome hero, Kris Humphries. This star-studded union will give us all so much more to get our teeth into! Babies, careers, relationships, intrigues, the list is endless. But one thing we know for sure. Kim is a survivor – and a fighter. No matter what happens, this feisty heroine is the inspiration for those who relate emotionally to her ups and downs in life. In both of my most recent books, EAST END ANGEL and EVE OF THE ISLE, though  of another historical era, the leading ladies possess Kim/Kendra/Carrie/Victoria/Paris/Britney elements, common to all untameable, irrepressible, single-minded women who are prepared to challenge any convention this world has to offer, in their search for love, independence and happiness. Even the Brits will be sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the next episode in Kim’s life to fire our eternally hungry imaginations!

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How and what do you write? Most authors reply in generic terms initially, for instance, non-fiction, fiction, historical, novels, sagas, family dramas, crime, thrillers, fantasy, sci-fi and lately with ebooks, there is a great deal of genre mixing, something traditional publishers once discouraged. But now, if it’s a good story and the book will sell well, who cares quite so much about its label? As we’ve moved along the technical route, people have shorter spans of attention and want to get to the nitty-gritty as fast as possible. People want page-turners and so I’m keen to make my stories tense and exciting from the very start. I’ve never been able to write long, descriptive pieces of prose. I write with an emphasis on dialogue. Almost everything can be conveyed by the characters, in their own way, firing the reader’s imagination subtly, giving as much description with a few words as can be sweated over in a long paragraph. At least, this works for me. My East End “inner” voice springs from my childhood, growing up amongst colourful, no-holds-barred, dynamic, lyrical, unforgettable cockneys who to this day, live in my mind as fiercely as they did when I was a child and a teenager. And so, once I am in the vortex of writing, seated at my computer, I hear nothing but their voices and I know it’s my job to record them as honestly as I possibly can. This is not a whacky-type thing – or perhaps it is! Perhaps the voices do come from a collective unconscious linked to my own emotional focus. But whatever it is, the words flow from my fingertips and onto the keyboard. Not that I haven’t given the plotting a great deal of thought beforehand. My last synopsis for my editor ran to nearly forty pages. But the synopsis or outline, is just the general direction of where the story will be going. The real writing comes in the voices – voices EVERYONE can hear from life’s experience. So let’s daydream right this minute. I’ll start us off. What about the day at school when you were lying on the sports field, sweating and breathless, a stitch in your side and painfully gasping in the scent of freshly mown grass and recently churned up earth? You can hear your mate telling you that after school, they’re walking home the long way – for a very special reason. You know you’re being asked to do something, witness something, be part of something you shouldn’t, but at fourteen or fifteen, you don’t care. It’s exciting to do or be part of a risk – you can hear that excitement in the voice persuading you to make a decision that might change your life forever. You can hear the huskiness, the coercion, the lure – and that voice, the tone, the seduction, the words, will translate into every other such moment in your life from here on in. Because that voice and all it contains is eternal. Your material for a writing career. That’s what you put on paper, under the guise of your created characters, the gut-churning feeling expressed very often in only a few words – chosen words – and that’s what a writer writes about.  At the very beginning of this clip of WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND, Alan Bates (the man) who is found sheltering in the barn, utters two words that dominate the rest of the movie. In fact, they ARE the movie. Such a classic! Such a gift to us, as writers!

Lesley Nicol and Sophie McShera, who play the splendid Mrs Patmore and daffy maid, Daisy, are part of a sub-plot in the much-mooted and popular costume drama, Downton Abbey, showing currently on ITV. A young nephew of Mrs Patmore’s has been recorded as dead without much other information given to the grieving relatives. This theme is also the mainstay of my own novel, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, published October 13th   and my most challenging work so far. This hard-core theme deals with the repercussions of a young man, shot for cowardice by his own side, rather than dying a hero on the front line. In Mrs Patmore’s words, what could be worse than death? Without a doubt, it was cowardice. A white feather was given to individuals who were thought to have reneged on their duty or failed to turn up for certain death at the army recruiting office. Similarly, when the troops found themselves waging battle with the enemy whilst experiencing shell-shock, effects from the mustard gas, and horrific injuries that made them vulnerable victims of warfare, such was the feeling between 1914 – 1918, that many young men were shot or imprisoned by their own ranks. Very often too, they were only boys of fifteen and sixteen, having disguised their ages to answer the call of their country. Downton Abbey has included this as a sub-plot involving Mrs Patmore, the cook, but in my own story, I bring the injustice, fear and desperation of my heroine’s brother Frank, into the heart of the novel. His imprisonment for cowardice provokes  my heroine, Birdie Connor, into challenging the British judicial system. Not a common thing to do in those days, even for an aristocratic family, as we see in the TV drama. Birdie is an East Ender and working class. At twenty-one she’s on the brink of marriage to her sweetheart and a happy future after the war. She risks all this in her fight to prove Frank’s innocence. She absolutely refuses to be beaten by her own fears and the pulling together of ranks in Whitehall. My story was drawn from what happened in real life to my grandfather, an infantry man in the First World War, lashed to the gun wheel, flogged mercilessly and accused of desertion. He survived miraculously, but many like him didn’t. I dedicated this book to the Buffs, my father-in-law’s brave regiment. I hope that Downton Abbey reminds us of how proud we should be of any man attempting to fight for his country – for just “showing up” to put his life on the line, as so many of our troops have done and are still doing in contemporary times and indeed, over the long, and hard-won decades of history.

October – a very exciting time of year for me! IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER, my eighth novel is set in 1919. There is, of course, a central romance between my heroine, Birdie Connor and her shop-keeper sweetheart. But Birdie’s loyalties are tested when brother Frank, veteran soldier and accused deserter, escapes from prison. The idea for this story comes from the experiences I knew my grandfather had in the First World War. He was an infantry man in Belgium, judged to be a deserter, tied to the wheel of a gun-carriage and flogged. Many men were not strong enough to survive these merciless crimes of war. By a miracle, my grandfather did. Though unsurprisingly, he returned to Britain, a changed man. After his death in the fifties, my Nan was free to talk about his experiences. Many men couldn’t bear to discuss what had happened to them for the stigma was shameful. And Granddad was no exception. But the truth was, the terrifying shelling and poisonous mustard gas had caused Granddad – and other young boys some only fifteen and sixteen who had lied about their ages to enlist – to become separated from their unit. Granddad was made an example of; a very successful strategy for the army as the shell-shocked and walking-wounded were classified as cowards if they were unable to perform their duty to King and country. I was a very small child during the last part of Granddad’s life. He was racked by coughs and found breathing exhausting. This tall, gaunt, haunted-eyed man with whispered words and heart-felt pauses, tucked a few boiled sweets into a small brown paper bag for me every Saturday. I remember his long, artistic, gentle fingers curling over the paper as though it was something very precious. He did this right up to the end and there was something in his expression that bound me to him in a very special way. So IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER expresses all I have learned about brave men who have been labelled cowards – and the support of their families who deal with post-traumatic stress syndrome. We have a name for it now, but in those days many  just said, “Pull up your socks and get on with it”. Birdie Connor ( like my Nan and aunties), is a fighter. She won’t back down and she believes in her man. It’s stirring stuff and I’m so glad I was, at last, able to write it!

This is paperback publication day for my historical saga/thriller, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER and I’m so pleased to be able to say that Tesco, Asda, Morrison and Makro are just some of the supermarkets who are stocking the book. WHSmith High Street are featuring MIDWINTER in their chart in their larger stores and Asda always does the same. I can’t wait to get down to my local stores and chat to all the people who are either buying the book or browsing – and the wonderful sales teams who always take the time and trouble to set out the shelves and discuss publication. My husband will join me and we’ll take the camera, so that I can post the pics on my WordPress. It really is an exciting day for me, especially as I’m becoming familiar with the social medias of Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads and can reach so many more people personally.  The book has had some lovely reviews already and I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the trouble to comment. Best of all, by the wonderful miracle of technology, I can actually “espeak” with readers and receive their feedback first-hand. I listen to what they say and try to remember as I’m writing, that my aim is to make my story a page-turner, a product they will be eager to read, giving pleasure and excitement. I do hope IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER provides this. If you’re a cutting-edge ereader and want to download the first few chapters to your Kindle, please go to Amazon and click on the right-hand link for a sample.  Or if you want to know a little more about where these novels spring from, then perhaps click on the BIO link of these webpages. To all who buy and read the book – thank you! I love hearing from you, so please send me feedback on the Contact link and I’ll get back to you. Happy day everyone – and remember, a book opens up a new world, taking you away from reality for a short while, so refreshing and enlivening the little grey cells!