Close To Home ....About Naomi Jacob by Ian Skillicorn

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Today I'm delighted to welcome Ian Skillicorn - publisher of Corazon Books to talk about

Northern Writer, Naomi Jacob

Naomi Jacob

These days, anyone under forty-something may not have heard the name Naomi Jacob. But for most of the twentieth century it adorned the spines of books on countless shelves in libraries and homes around the country. Readers loved her tales of romance and village life, as well as her family sagas and moving historical novels.

Naomi Jacob was as fascinating as any of her fictional characters. During her long life, she was a teacher, an actor, a political activist, and a broadcaster (often appearing on BBC’s Woman’s Hour). She entertained the troops during the Second World War, and helped Jewish refugees in Italy after the conflict.

But it was as an author that Jacob was best known. Her first novel, published in 1925, became a bestseller, and over the next five decades she wrote over forty novels, as well as plays and a series of autobiographies.

Jacob was a proud Yorkshire woman born and bred, and although she spent much of her life in Italy, she never forgot her northern roots. Many of her books are set in Yorkshire, and her love and respect for its people are clear from her writing. These novels feature romances between couples who have to overcome obstacles such as differences in age or class. They are full of wit and kindness, but also describe the poverty and petty prejudices of years gone by. Jacob delights in the Yorkshire people’s dialect, words of wisdom, and their no-nonsense way of looking at the world. And she isn’t afraid to deny her readers a neat, happy ending!

Another aspect of Jacob’s identity that was very important to her, was her Jewish roots. While her mother’s family had a centuries-old connection to Ripon in Yorkshire (her grandfather was the town’s mayor twice), her paternal grandfather was a Jewish refugee from Prussia. Although she was brought up in the Church of England, Jacob was proud of her Jewish heritage. In fact, arguably her most famous novels are the seven-volume Gollantz Saga, which follows several generations of a Jewish family from nineteenth century Vienna to England after the Second World War. This gripping family saga vividly describes the historical period the family lives through, but in essence it is about the universal themes of love, the importance of family and friendship, and the unintended consequences of loyalty and ambition.

Ill-health forced Jacob to move to the gentler climate of Lake Garda in Italy, where she wrote most of her novels. A very disciplined writer, she published one or two books every year of her career. She wrote until lunchtime or early afternoon, and then sat with friends in local cafés, where she would smoke cigarettes and drink grappa, speaking fluent Italian with a Yorkshire accent.

One of the main passions behind my publishing imprint, Corazon Books, is to introduce today’s readers to authors who were once household names, and to make their stories available for a new generation. While much of Naomi Jacob’s work was set in the era in which it was written, the passing of time means these novels now take on an extra layer as, to us, they become historical fiction. Jacob has much to tell us about the human spirit, and we can find the same entertainment, comfort and escape in her novels, that meant so much to her original readers, all those decades ago.

Ian Skillicorn

   

About Corazon Books

Ian Skillicorn

Corazon Books publishes bestselling fiction, specialising in romantic fiction, historical fiction and family sagas, and medical fiction. I am proud to have published new editions of works by acclaimed authors such as Catherine Gaskin, Sophie King and Naomi Jacob.

Many Corazon Books titles have reached the top of the Amazon Kindle charts, including The School Run by Sophie King (Amazon Top 10 – over 100,000 copies sold to date), The Property of a Gentleman by Catherine Gaskin (Amazon Top 25) and bestsellers in a number of genre charts; including medical (The Country Doctor by Jean McConnell), nursing (the Jane Grant series) and romantic comedy (Your Place or Mine? by Sophie King).

Corazon Books also supports new writing, with exclusive publishing competitions such as The Sophie King Prize and The Write Time competition, in association with Mature Times newspaper. In 2015, Corazon Books has published work by debut novelists Sue Shepherd (Doesn’t Everyone Have a Secret?) and Cath Cole (Home from Home).

Find out more about Corazon Books on their website by clicking here 

Follow on Twitter @CorazonBooks or @ian_skillicorn

Huge thanks to Ian for this fascinating post about Naomi Jacob and for all his support of Jaffareadstoo.

Close to Home is taking a break over Christmas and New Year. The feature will return on the 

7th January.

Close to Home Author will be : Paula Martin

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Close To Home .....J Carmen Smith

As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.

Today I'm delighted to welcome Northern writer

J Carmen Smith 


Talking about how her Spanish grandmother influenced her north of England roots

I know why my Spanish grandmother left her home in Santiago de Compostela, but not why she chose to emigrate to Liverpool, England, rather than Spanish-speaking Argentina, the direction many of her fellow emigrants chose. Whatever her reasons, I am grateful for her choice – otherwise I wouldn’t be here to tell the tale!

Micaela arrived in Liverpool in 1904. Looking at photographs of the city taken at the time, I wonder what her reactions were. She was 27 years of age, widowed, and had left behind parents, grandparents, and younger siblings, to make a new life in a city whose language and culture were completely alien to her. Looking at Liverpool’s magnificent – and world-renowned – waterfront now, I have to remind myself that when Micaela arrived the Three Graces were yet to be built and it would be many years before the awe-inspiring Anglican Cathedral would dominate the skyline. The concept of an ‘Anglican’ Cathedral would also be beyond her understanding and she would not live to see the Metropolitan Cathedral rise at the opposite end of Hope Street. 

Growing up knowing very little of my Spanish grandmother’s life before she arrived in Liverpool, it has taken me sixteen years to piece together Micaela’s story. Over many visits to Santiago de Compostela I have traced the houses she lived in; the churches where she and other members of her family were baptised and married; the shop where her grandfather had his hatter’s business; even the building where her artist father exhibited his paintings in the 1920s. Micaela would still recognise the city streets, except for the traffic; the houses she lived in would be just as familiar. This is not the case in Liverpool, where in the aftermath of bombs, bulldozers and modern planning, the city she lived in until her death in 1950 has changed beyond recognition. 

This is a recent photograph of the house in Santiago de Compostela where my grandmother was born in 1887 – the one with the two balconies. Of course it must have been updated internally, but the structure looks as sound today as it would have been over a century ago.

This is a recent photograph of the church – the San Pedro Apostol – where many of my ancestors were baptised and/or married:

In contrast, the church in Liverpool where my grandmother married my grandfather, a Spanish seaman, in 1907, was bomb damaged in 1941, rebuilt in the 1950s, closed in 2001 due to diminishing congregations, and finally demolished in 2004.

A photograph of Micaela and José taken after their marriage

It seems ironic that the places connected with Micaela’s life in Spain still exist, but not those in Liverpool. Contrast the street where my grandmother was born, with the one where my mother was born in October 1908; this photo was probably taken in the 1930s.

And this is a recent photograph:

The street name is still there, but most of the street has been demolished. It is one of the few areas where the original cobbles remain and I couldn’t resist walking on them – following in my grandmother’s footsteps!

A couple years ago, the Hispanic Liverpool Project was formed by Dr Kirsty Hooper, at that time head of Hispanic Studies at The University of Liverpool. The aim of this project is to ‘gather, preserve and share the forgotten stories of Liverpool’s Hispanic community’. Becoming a member of that community, meeting others with a similar background to mine, sharing family histories, enjoying social occasions, heritage walks, etc, has become an important part of my life. It has given me an insight into my Spanish roots and into the tightly-knit community of Spanish immigrants who made Liverpool their home.

Although I now live 20 miles outside Liverpool, I still have strong connections with the city and visit regularly. Great changes have taken place even in my lifetime, some for the better – of course slum housing needed to be swept away – some to be regretted, we have lost too many architectural gems in the name of progress. However, I like to think that my grandmother would have appreciated the vast improvement to the Albert Dock area, a big tourist attraction, and also the attractive Liverpool 1 shopping complex. She would still recognise St George’s Hall, the Walker Art Gallery, the World Museum and The Central Library, an area which still takes my breath away however often I visit. The river may be less crowded with ships than it was in her day but it is just as vibrant – and you can still catch a ‘Ferry Across the Mersey’!

My book Chasing Shadows is testament to the fact that my heritage is deeply rooted in two very different, magnificent, northern cities.

What a fascinating story !

Huge thanks to J Carmen Smith for her guest post about how she came to have her northern roots in the city of Liverpool and how her grandparents were such a wonderful inspiration for her book Chasing Shadows.

Thanks also to Ian at Corazon Books for his help and enthusiasm for my Close to Home Project.

Hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I have.. 

Coming Next Week :  Ian Skillicorn from Corazon Books will be talking about

Northern Writer : Naomi Jacobs

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My guest author today is ...Sue Shepherd

I'm thrilled to be able to welcome best selling author, Sue Shepherd back to the blog 

 Sue's Latest novel, Love Them and Leave Them is out now

Corazon Books
27 September 2016

A bit of blurb..

Love Them and Leave Them: Sometimes you have to leave the one you love … sometimes you’re the one who’s left behind. The new heartwarming and heartbreaking romantic comedy from the No.1 bestselling author of Doesn’t Everyone Have a Secret?

On his way home, Ed makes a split-second decision that changes the lives of all those who love him.

Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessie, is stuck in a job with no prospects, her dreams never fulfilled. It will take more than her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, and temperamental best friend, Coco, to give her the confidence to get her life back on track.

But what if Ed had made another decision? It could all have been so different …

Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessica, has a successful career, loving boyfriend, Nick, and a keen eye on her dream home. But when new clients, a temperamental Coco, and her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, walk into her life, Jessica’s perfect world soon starts to unravel.

Love Them and Leave Them is a story of love, families, friendship and a world of possibilities. Whichever decision Ed makes, the same people are destined to come into his daughter’s life, sometimes in delightfully different ways. And before they can look forward to the future, they will all have to deal with the mistakes of the past.

Another Us by Sue Shepherd

My second novel, ‘Love Them and Leave Them’ explores two possible outcomes of one split-second decision. I have to say, I am rather gripped by the concept that when we make these choices, we somehow create a parallel. It’s intriguing to think that there may be another me, living a different life.

As a family, a few years ago, we chose to up sticks and move to the Isle of Wight. It was a huge decision for us and it changed our children’s lives forever. But what if (yep I said it, I’m sorry, but sometimes it’s just the best phrase available), what if somewhere in a parallel world there are two other boys who didn’t move here? A different version of our children who are still growing up in our old house, who have different friends, who go to different schools, and who know nothing of our life by the sea.  I wonder - are they happy too?

Equally thought provoking is the possibility that somewhere there’s a version of me who simply never finished writing her first novel. God knows I put it down and picked it up a million times when my children were younger and time was short. Is there a me somewhere who doesn’t know the joy I now know of finishing a book and presenting it to the world? (Actually that bit is damn scary, but … you get the idea.)

George Michael sang of turning a different corner and never meeting the right person. How fascinating, how frightening. Are our lives really that fragile? My husband and I met through a similar chance, a decision made by someone I didn’t actually know caused me to change my plans. Those plans ultimately lead to me meeting the man who has loved me (and snored next to me) for 20 years. Surely that’s nuts, isn’t it? If I hadn’t met him, would I be with someone else right now? Would I be saying, ‘I can’t imagine my life without Fred in it!’ You can tell I’ve really given this whole phenomenon some thought, can’t you?

Ultimately, we are who we are, and we do our best. As much as I’m rattling on about it, and inviting you to think about the possibility that there could be another you, living an alternative life, in another part of the world, it really wouldn’t do to spend every moment wondering what we could’ve done differently. Regrets are pointless, they don’t allow us to move on. So I guess I’m saying we have to simply do what feels right at the time and then live with the consequences. We can rest assured that’s probably what the other us is doing right now too!

© by Sue Shepherd

More about Sue can be found on her website by clicking here

Follow on Twitter @thatsueshepherd

Find on Amazon UK

My thanks to Sue for this lovely guest post and also to Ian at Corazon Books

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Animals at Weddings by Sophie King ~ Guest Post and Competition

I'm delighted to welcome Sophie King  back to the blog

Animals at Weddings by Sophie King

He was the star of my first wedding in his grey top hat and smart whiskers. The photographer couldn’t get enough of him. “Any chance of another ear nibble?”

No. It wasn’t an over-enthusiastic groom.

He was a small little black puppy called Tramp. And I was madly in love with him. My then-husband’s secretary had given him to us as a wedding present and she’d brought him along to the wedding. How sweet was that?

Amazingly, Tramp behaved himself impeccably. Perhaps he knew he was setting a trend. Because back in those days (I was a very young bride!), it wasn’t as fashionable as it is now to have animals at a wedding.

Snakes, cats, tortoises, fish , hamsters and even a monkey ... All these are apparently “common” guests in the audience when a couple seals the knot. At least, that’s what I discovered when doing my research for my novel “The Wedding Party”.

But they can cause chaos as Tracey, a shop manager from London, found out. “My fiancé is obsessed by his pet snakes. They’re not dangerous but it took me a while to get used to them. When he said he wanted them to come to our wedding, I thought he was joking. But he wasn’t. I said I’d only allow it if they came in their travelling cage. But his brother took one out jsut after our vows, to show it to another guest. She screamed and then everyone began to scream. We had to stop the service until he took it out of the church.”

Maybe the happy couple should have got married outside like Jill and George, a farming couple from Yorkshire. They were hitched in a field, surrounded by their sheep. “We didn’t want them to miss out on our big day,” said Jill. “Mind you, it took ages to get the sheep poo off the bottom of my dress.”

Too much information!

In the United States (where else?) exotic animals are a must for any couple who want a wedding with a difference. One couple from Florida got married with a pair of llamas next to them as they said “I do” on the beach. And in Las Vegas, there is even a lion ranch where couples can tie the knot as close to the lions as safety permits.

Elephants are considered to bring good luck according to some cultures. Perhaps that’s why one groom arrived on top of a large Dumbo – again in Vegas.

But before you start making a list of your must-have pets, you need to think about whether it’s fair on them, say the experts. Animals aren’t like wedding guests. They can’t be expected to be quiet during a service and hang around afterwards for the photographs. They need the right conditions – including the correct temperature and food. You also need permission from the wedding venue. Remember that snake wedding I mentioned earlier? It turns out that no one had told the vicar. Snakes might be part of the Adam and Eve story but that doesn’t mean they make good wedding guests.

Maybe it’s safer to stick with a rabbit. “Our Floppy is very domesticated,” says Holly, a bride from Devon. “I carried her down the aisle instead of a bouquet. She loved it.”

Really? But how did she know?

Meanwhile, if you’re thinking of proposing and are still summing up the nerves, you could always ask your dog to do the deed for you. That’s what Martin did after living with his partner for five years. “One evening, our Labrador padded into the kitchen with a note attached to his collar,” said Sandy from London. “It read 'Will you marry me'?”

Did she say “yes”?

Of course. In fact, she didn’t even paws (get it?) for thought ...

NOTE: Some of the names in this post have been changed!

©Sophie King

Sophie King’s popular romantic comedy is published in a brand new e-book edition. 

Shortlisted for Love Story of the Year by the Romantic Novelists’ Association in 2010.

Great Stories With Heart

'An absorbing, feel-good novel ‒ I really enjoyed it.' Penny Vincenzi

When Monique and Geoff decide to tie the knot they soon discover that love second time around brings special challenges. And not just for them. There are ups and downs for family, friends, the wedding planner, and even the vicar as the big day approaches.

Geoff’s ex-wife can’t accept that he has moved on. Could a chance meeting help Helen come to the right decision about her future?

Their daughter, Becky, doesn’t approve of her dad’s bride-to-be. But as she juggles motherhood and a high-powered career, will she realise it’s her own marriage that needs most attention?

Janie was sacked from her last job as a wedding planner for being so disorganised. Is she really the right choice to help the happy couple get hitched without a hitch?

Mel swapped a job in advertising for a new life as a vicar. But can she keep her faith after an accident which turns her family’s world upside down?

Family and friends learn that the course of true love never did run smooth, and there really is no such thing as a stress-free wedding. But can they each still find their own happy ever after?

Amazon UK

Follow Sophie on her website
Twitter @sophiekingbooks

**AND HERE 'S A FABULOUS COMPETITION**

***WIN AN £80 WEDDING GIFT EXPERIENCE VOUCHER FROM TINGGLY.COM!***

To celebrate the publication of "The Wedding Party", thanks to the lovely people at gift experience company Tinggly, we have a voucher worth £80 for any one experience worldwide from their Essential Collection. The ideal present for friends or family who are about to tie the knot!

To be in with a chance, simply email your answer to the following question to sophie@greatstorieswithheart.com by midnight BST on 10th August 2015.

Question: What is the name of Geoff's daughter in "The Wedding Party" by Sophie King?

See the full range at www.tinggly.com. Voucher must be used by 25/6/2017. Entry will be chosen at random. Emails and contents will not be shared with any third party and will be deleted after the competition. Competition run by Wyndham Media Ltd. Judges decision is final. 

Good luck!

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Today my guest author is...Ali Chrisp

I am delighted to welcome Ali  to Jaffareadstoo

Ali Chrisp

IS YOUR PET A GOOD WRITING COMPANION?

From the age of three I have always had pets, and when I started writing Home Comforts I couldn’t contemplate creating the characters without including a few furry friends. In the book, Jo and her son, Tom own a large ginger and white cat, a border terrier, a three-legged rabbit and two guinea pigs, which are based mainly on pets that I’ve owned.

Since joining Twitter I’ve noticed that many authors state in their  profiles that they ‘love cats’ or ‘love dogs’; a few others declare a passion for guinea pigs and rabbits, and it made me wonder how these much-loved animals affect their owners’ writing habits.  Are they a help or a hindrance? Last year we bought our first dog, Lola the labradoodle, and we also own a feisty tabby cat called Winnie. Both of them are valued members of the family and, in my experience, have a very positive influence on my writing as well as other areas of my life.

Every morning, whatever the weather, Lola has to have a long walk, so lounging around in my dressing gown and procrastinating are not on the agenda. Instead, I get plenty of exercise and fresh air to kick-start my day and improve my motivation. Writing can be a bit isolating so a quick natter with other walkers is fun and gets my thoughts flowing. Sometimes I have my most creative ideas when I’m out marching through the fields and have to scribble them down as soon as I get home.

When I’m writing, Lola is great company and cocks her head on one side attentively when I am muttering to myself or reading parts of my manuscript out loud. Unlike Winnie, she has a short attention span and wants to be let in and out a lot more.  I think of this as a positive, however, because it forces me to get up and move around as recommended by my back surgeon! Always the clown, Lola can certainly relieve any boredom, but can also be distracting if she keeps plonking a slobbery ball or other toy in my lap. Unfortunately, I can’t think of any positive aspects to the bad smells she makes but it’s a small price to pay!

Winnie tends to fulfil a slightly different role because she is so relaxing. Who needs meditation when you can listen to the loud, steady purr of a contented cat or stroke its soft, silky fur? Whatever mood I’m in, I’m always cheered up by her miaowed greetings and her small furry body weaving around my ankles. Once I settle down to write, she curls up into a beautiful little ball and stays like that for several hours; I only have to glance at her to feel at peace. Sometimes it can be a bit too relaxing and I have to fight the urge to nod off! On the other hand, I soon liven up when she wakes up and pads across my keyboard, typing gobbledegook and causing me to lose any unsaved work.

At times she can be distracting, especially when she paddles defiantly at the window until I get up and let her in.  I wouldn’t mind, but she’s got a perfectly good cat flap. Her unexpected absences can also affect me - if she hasn’t put in an appearance for breakfast, I find it difficult to concentrate until I see her trotting across the front lawn and hear her announcing her arrival.

I have only scratched the surface of whether Lola and Winnie make good writing companions, but in a nutshell they certainly have a positive impact on my physical and mental well being, and provide me with entertainment, comfort and inspiration.  I’d be interested in hearing about your own experiences, whatever type of animal you own.

Lola and Winnie

Home Comforts 

Corazon Books
May 2015

A laugh-out-loud comedy about families, friendship and romance.

Jo Longford's life takes an unexpected turn when her bosses wrongly accuse her of stealing from a client. Suddenly, she needs to find a new job and a new home for herself and ten-year-old son, Tom. Not to mention their small menagerie of badly behaved pets.

Her selfish mum isn't much help; obsessed with keeping up appearances, nothing her daughter does is ever good enough for her. But at least Jo can rely on best friend Val for support. They've been getting themselves into mischief since they were teenagers, and that includes joining a cringeworthy dating agency and an eventful school reunion. Some things never change!

Life certainly doesn’t get any easier for Jo. Will she be able to fend off her sex-mad landlord – a retired businessman who struts around in Lycra and thinks he’s God’s gift to women? Are her new employer and quirky clients at the Handy Jobs Domiciliary Care Agency all they seem?

And will Jo ever be able to sort out her chaotic love life when two equally unsuitable men gatecrash her world?

Home Comforts is a heart-warming tale with a cheeky twinkle in its eye.

My thanks to Ali for this charming guest post
and to Ian at Corazon for his help with this interview.

Great Stories with Heart

~***~

Happy Publication Day ~ Hush Hush by Gabrielle Mullarkey

I am delighted to introduce

Gabrielle Mullarkey

Author of

17th November 2014
Corazon Books

Hush Hush by Gabrielle Mullarkey

Widowed a year ago, thirtysomething Angela has retreated into her shell, reluctant to dip a toe back in the job market – let alone the dating game. Between them, her bossy mum and her best friend gently nudge Angela back to life, persuading her to find a job and even try a solo holiday – which ends with a luggage mix-up and an encounter with a rugged Irishman called Conor.

Back home, Angela resolves to take her new romance slowly, particularly as Conor’s (non-holiday) baggage includes the original ‘child from hell’ and a temperamental ex-wife with Pre-Raphaelite hair. Since Angela’s never liked winging it, is a future with Conor too uncertain to contemplate?

But as she’s about to discover, her old life was far less secure than she thought. And the past won’t let go until she confronts its long-buried secret.

Gabrielle ~ welcome to Jaffareadstoo.....

What makes you want to write stories?

There’s an impulse that comes from deep within, and I’ve often heard other people say the same about their own great passion, whether it’s baking, walking, gardening, raising a child … we’re engaging all the time in these fulfilling creative acts. I’ve understood that impulse a little better while studying for my MSc in creative writing for therapeutic purposes. The course showed how creative writing can release one’s inner voice, whether it’s refugees telling stories that no one has wanted to listen to before, or people who pick up a pen for the first time since leaving school and discover they can write a poem or a story! 

Do you write for yourself or other people?

A bit of both. That urge to spill characters, their voices and dilemmas onto paper is partially cathartic. Equally, a story is something the teller wants to share, as opposed to confiding innermost thoughts to a journal. That means I take the reader into consideration, which in turn affects how I shape the writing. You want to be entertaining, clear, and you want the reader to turn to the next page!

Where did the idea for Hush Hush come from?

In the book, thirtysomething widow Angela meets Conor on a holiday flight from Morocco, buttonholing him about a contact lens she might have lost in his in-flight meal. It was loosely inspired by my own encounter an Irishman with a hint of russet, three years earlier. I met my swain in a crowded pub in Co Kildare one hot August night when he approached me with the classic line, ‘is this your jumper? I found it on the seat next to me.’ Twenty-two years later, ‘our song’ isn’t People Will Say We’re In Love or Because You’re Mine. It’s the Sultan of Pings FC classic, Where’s Me Jumper? He also went about for a decade harbouring the misconception that I’d deliberately chucked my jumper onto an adjoining seat, a variation on the coyly dropped hanky. Which got me wondering – how much do we know about each other, and how readily do we find evidence to endorse our own preconceptions and first impressions?

According to John Lennon, life happens when you’re busy making other plans – or in Angela’s case, when you’re deciding not to make too many at all. But who knows what impact a forgotten jumper or missing contact lens can have on someone’s destiny?

What was the most difficult aspect of writing the story? How did you overcome it?

I underestimated the cathartic elements of the story, which became more obvious as I was writing it. My own background, growing up in suburban Kent in an Irish family, seeped unwittingly into my writing, if only through comedic asides – such as the time I printed hundreds of clock cards upside down in a factory job I did after my A-levels! I realised I was using humour to deal with memories that were actually quite raw, but that was no bad thing – it allowed me to distance myself from painful episodes, while also ensuring I wrote for the reader. On a practical note, I was living beside noisy neighbours as I drafted the book, and evolved a routine where I had to make the most of hours they were out. It was beyond frustrating at the time, but probably helped me just get on with it! 

Do you write the type of books you like to read and which authors influence you?

I think I have to write the sort of book I’d read myself or I’d quickly get bored and risk my voice coming across as inauthentic. I devour a couple of novels a week, time permitting, and my tastes are quite catholic, although as soon as I discover someone who makes me think, ‘wow!’, I try to read everything in their canon. At the moment, I’m very taken with Laurie Graham for her characters’ dry prose, F G Cottam’s supernatural mysteries – which treat the reader as an intelligent, deductive being – and Douglas Kennedy for his evocative dialogue. This week, I’ve read Joseph O’Connor’s Ghost Light, in which an ageing Irish actress looks back on her love affair with the playwright Synge. The language is wonderful, almost Joycean. 

What's next?

My second novel, A Tale of Two Sisters, is due out in spring, and recounts the fallout from an ongoing feud between two siblings with nothing in common – except an overlapping taste in men! I’ve also nearly finished a novel about a man whose life is thrown into turmoil when he finds a letter that his birth mother wrote to his adoptive mother years earlier, telling the story of why she ‘abandoned’ him. I love inhabiting different characters – and I hope that love comes across in my writing! 

***

Praise for Hush Hush:

"A gentle, funny romance." Sarah Caden, Sunday Independent

"A witty and irreverent insight into the nitty gritty of life." Helen Murray, The Irish News

Praise for Gabrielle Mullarkey:

"Readers love Gabrielle’s fiction for its range – whether atmospheric mood pieces or contemporary slices of life, all revolve around imaginatively twisty plots packed with sassy dialogue, characters you feel you know and ‘I didn’t see that coming!’ moments." best 

www.amazon.co.uk/Hush-Gabrielle-Mullarkey-ebook/dp/B00PCLGF9W/

www.gabriellemullarkey.co.uk

Gabrielle - thank you so much for spending time with us . It's been a pleasure to host this interview. Jaffa and I wish you much success with Hush, Hush and look forward to seeing what you do next.

***

My thoughts about Hush Hush

There is much to enjoy in this gentle, romantic story, which looks at the unpredictability of love and life, and focuses on the overshadowing effect of long buried secrets. 

Told with wit and humour and fine attention to detail, Hush, Hush, takes a very ordinary character and imbues in Angela all those characteristics we find in ourselves. Recently widowed, and long out of, both the dating game, and the adult job market, Angela is reluctant to open up her life to the scrutiny of others but bossed around by her mother and her best friend, Angela is encouraged to take charge of her life again. However, from the offset this is not going to be easy, as Angela has lots of obstacles to overcome and panic is never far from the surface. Over the space of the novel, I enjoyed getting to know Angela, sometimes she irritated me, but overall, I  wished her well.

I read the story over the space of a couple of afternoons. It’s a light read, easy to pick up and put down and filled with nice observations about life in general. I enjoyed it.

 My thanks to  Ian Skillicorn at Corazon Books for my e-copy of this book.


*~*~*

Review ~ Sara Dane by Catherine Gaskin

Corazon Books
September 2014

Sara Dane is the story of an eighteenth-century young Englishwoman who is unjustly sentenced and transported to the penal colony of Australia. The novel follows Sara's struggle to raise herself from the status of a convict to a position of wealth and power. She faces many challenges, from the savage voyage aboard a convict ship to the corruption and prejudice rife in New South Wales. Life in the Colony is harsh, and Sara has to contend with natural disasters and convict outbreaks, as well as the snobbery of the high society she wishes to enter.

When I clicked my e-reader to start the story of Sara Dane, I was instantly taken back to my teenage years when I devoured Catherine Gaskin novels and could hardly wait until my mother had finished with her copy before I grabbed it from her.

Reading Sara Dane is like being reunited with an old friend, I knew the story that of the transportation of this feisty heroine into the penal colony in Australia, but what I had forgotten was the overriding charm of the story and the way the author draws you into the period with good writing and fine attention to detail. Of course, the writing style may appear a little dated and there is less reliance on immoral shenanigans but what you get in abundance is adventure on a grand scale and some lovely light and shade touches, which make the reading of this story so pleasurable.

Sara Dane is a great historical romp by an author who was completely at the top of her game. She completed this story 1954 and after its publication Sara Dane became one of her best known books and sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. If you have not been introduced to this fine writer before and you enjoy historical stories on grand scale then you could do no worse than to give Catherine Gaskin a try. Or, of course, you may be like me and wish to meet up again with an old friend, either way, I am sure you will be well entertained.

My thanks to Ian Skillicorn, at Great Stories with Heart, for reissuing this story and for being given the opportunity to read and review Sara Dane for a new book audience.

Amazon UK

About the Author

Catherine Gaskin ~ The Queen of Storytelling

 

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Please join me in a virtual coffee morning.....

I am delighted to be part of this virtual coffee morning.

 Today people will be holding coffee mornings up and down the UK to support the fantastic work of Macmillan Cancer Support.

 Corazon Books are holding a virtual coffee morning. They have interviews and blog posts from some lovely guests, and at the end of each guest blog post you can donate directly to Macmillan Cancer Support.


Do get involved.

You can even read an interview with me 

and other lovely guests

But that’s not all! All day on Friday, Corazon Books will be donating to

Macmillan Cancer Support 

all of our profits from sales of each of our medical fiction titles bought between midnight on the 25th September and midnight on 26th September!



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A Country Doctor by Jean McConnell

Young doctor Linda Ford swaps a busy London teaching hospital for a six month post at a small West Country General Practice. She soon discovers that countryside life is far from uneventful.

John Cooper, the senior doctor, warns Linda not to get emotionally involved in her cases. But Linda can’t help taking a personal interest in her patients, particularly when their problems seem to be more than medical. And as this is the late 1970s, Linda also faces some misgivings about a female doctor. Especially a young and pretty one.

Linda clashes over medical matters with Dr Peter Cooper, the older doctor’s son. But there is an undeniable attraction too. Where will it lead? And as Linda is keeping Peter’s place until he joins the practice as his father’s partner, what will her future hold?

This slice of rural life uncovers the dramas, family secrets and dilemmas which confront patients young and old. Their stories are in turn intriguing, poignant, and heart-warming.

The Country Doctor has recently reached number 2 in Amazon’s Medical Fiction chart!

Read a short extract from A Country Doctor....

My territory!

Linda Ford stopped her car on the hill, got out and leant over a gate staring across the field that sloped down into a maze of orchards and away in a pattern of lush green, yellow and dark red that typifies the western counties of England.

I’m a country doctor now, she thought. It wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she made the great decision at grammar school in London ‒ half expecting to be laughed to scorn; when she’d tentatively mentioned that she wanted to study medicine and been amazed to find that they thought she might try. At that time her ambition had soared.

Linda Ford the new Madame Curie! Shaking the world with a great breakthrough in medical knowledge!

Her parents had hardly subscribed to this dream. In fact it had taken some time to convince them that their wild young daughter was contemplating anything so at variance with the evidence of her bedroom ‒ that confusion of colourful pin-ups, scattered homework notes and non-stop pop. Their only daughter, who was so slapdash when she helped them in their little dairy on Saturdays ‒ yet knew the name of every customer.

They continued in a state of astonishment, although so consumed with pride in her endeavours, that Linda became shy of giving a hand in the dairy, knowing that all the regulars were being supplied with a blow-by-blow account of her examination struggles.

By the time she had passed her finals and taken her place amongst the junior doctors in a teaching hospital they accepted that she really was a budding medical genius....

© All rights reserved.

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My thoughts on The Country Doctor

This is a light and easy read, something non-threatening, when you simply want a story that takes you back to an era when doctors had the time, and patience to look at people as individuals and not as targets on a spread sheet. The writing is gentle with some nice descriptive touches about rural life and the petty foibles and disputes which Linda encounters in her new role as rural GP are done with wit and warmth. But life in the country is not always sugar coated, and there are inevitable clashes when some of Linda’s more progressive ideas are met with cynicism, and the unhelpful comments from the senior colleagues adds another dimension to the story

If you are looking for a gritty, voyeuristic glimpse into the medical world then this is not the book for you, but if you like a gentle story about country life with quirky characters then this book may appeal. It’s something to curl up with on a cold winter’s afternoon, preferably with a cup of  milky coffee close at hand.

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 Cancer is the one of the toughest fights any of us can face and I know  just how special is the work of this fantastic charity.

Do help if you can.

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City Hospital ~ A Competition with a Difference....

Enter the free "City Hospital" competition to be in with a chance to have a character in a book named after you!

                                                                                         

The "City Hospital" novels are written by Keith Miles, who has written loads of scripts and books for primetime TV and soaps. "City Hospital" is perfect for fans of shows like "Casualty" and "Holby City". It follows the lives of five medical students - Suzie, Mark, Karlene, Gordy and Bella - who share a house, and the ups and downs of working in a busy teaching hospital. Each novel mixes their own personal dramas with patients' stories. The series was a huge hit in print, and is now being reissued as ebooks for the first time.

City Hospital Book 1: New Blood by Keith Miles

Join five young trainee medics as they learn about life and love on the wards of City Hospital. Suzie, Mark, Karlene, Gordy and Bella share a house, and the ups and downs of being a medical student in a busy teaching hospital.

In City Hospital Book 1: New Blood...

An accident leaves a young life hanging in the balance. A guilty Suzie holds the key to catching the culprit.

A party goes horribly wrong when an argument has unexpected and far-reaching consequences.

Karlene discovers why it's never a good idea to get too close to a patient.

The City Hospital series is perfect for fans of medical dramas like Casualty, Holby City and Doctors.

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In this excerpt Gordy makes an error of judgement ...

Mark had surprised himself. He’d really enjoyed the party. He was sorry to see their guests drift away, especially the girl who worked as a scrub nurse in one of the operating theatres at the hospital. She and Mark had had a long and intense discussion about their work.

Only a few stragglers remained. It was time to start clearing up. Mark went to the cupboard under the stairs to get out their old Hoover. As he opened the door, he jumped a mile.

Matilda was hanging there, grinning at him.

Suspended from a hook in the top of the cupboard, the skeleton was swinging back and forth. Mark steadied her with his hand. She’d certainly made an impact at the party.

Gordy came up behind him.

‘Leave the old girl there until I get back, Marco.’

‘Where are you going?’

‘I’ve got to drive Lauren home.’

Mark turned and looked at him very carefully. ‘Is that wise, Gordy?’ he said. ‘You had a fair bit of that wine. Is it safe for you to get behind the wheel?’

‘Of course.’

‘You shouldn’t drink and drive, you know.’

‘It’s only a mile or two,’ said Gordy, airily, ‘And I can’t let Lauren down. I promised her a lift back to her flat and that’s what she’ll get.’ He grinned. ‘I’m hoping she’ll ask me in for a coffee.’

‘Have one before you go,’ suggested Mark.

‘And keep a lady waiting? No chance!’

Bella came up to them, holding hands with Damian.

‘We’re ready, Gordy,’ she said.

‘For what?’ he asked.

‘A lift.’

‘But I’m only taking Lauren.’

‘No, you’re not,’ said Bella. ‘Damian lives quite close to her flat. You can take us at the same time.’

‘Us?’

‘I want to say a proper good-night to Damian.’

‘Say it here, Bella.’

‘I’m coming,’ she insisted.

‘Thanks, Gordy,’ said Damian, slapping him on the back. ‘You’re a good mate.’

Gordy’s face fell. His plans had suddenly crumbled. Instead of being alone with Lauren, he would be an unpaid chauffeur for Damian and Bella.

‘You don’t mind, do you?’ said Damian.

‘No, no!’ said Gordy with sarcasm. ‘I’ll drive anyone who wants to come. We might as well stick Matilda in the back seat as well and really fill the car up.’

Suzie came rushing up to add to his woes.

‘Lauren tells me you’re driving her home, Gordy.’

‘Don’t tell me you want a lift as well, Suzie.’

‘I want to stop you getting in a car at all.’

‘I’m fine,’ he insisted.

‘You’ve drunk too much, Gordy.’

‘That’s what I told him,’ said Mark.

Suzie was firm. ‘I’ll ring for a taxi.’

‘No need,’ said Bella. ‘We’ve got one. Gordy’s car.’

‘He shouldn’t be allowed on the road.’

‘It’s my decision,’ argued Gordy.

‘And it’s not far to go,’ added Damian. ‘There won’t be much traffic around at this time of night.’

‘I still don’t like the idea,’ said Suzie.

Gordy was in a quandary. He was very fond of Suzie and didn’t want to upset her in any way. On the other hand, three people were depending on him for a lift and one of them was the girl he’d spent most of a very exciting evening with. It was Lauren who tipped the balance.

She came over to Gordy and slipped an arm around him.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting, darling.’

He made his decision. ‘Let’s go.’

As the four of them went out, Suzie was positively seething. She couldn’t believe Gordy could be so stupid.

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To be in with a chance to have a character in the next "City Hospital" book named after you, simply email competition@greatstorieswithheart.com, with your name and the answer to the question - who writes the City Hospital series of novels?

 The deadline for entries is midnight on Monday 6th October. 

A winner will be picked at random and announced on Wednesday 8th October.

 Good luck!

 My thanks to Ian Skillicorn at Great Stories With Heart for the chance to

feature this competition.

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