This month I had a mini writing retreat at home with my cousin. We took a couple of days off work to write, read and visit nearby places for inspiration.
I am lucky enough to live in Brontë country so a trip to the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth was essential.
It’s a museum I have been to many times: as a child, a teenager and an adult but every time I go there is something new to see. At the moment (June 2024) there is an exhibition exploring the Brontë’s childhood and it was fascinating to see how their imagination fed into their later works.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is one of my favourite books of all time, but it’s been a while since I read it. I bought this beautiful copy from the gift shop.
And I discovered a new shop in Haworth that combines my love of books with my love of stationery. Oh La La The Original Bronte Stationery Store is a treasure trove of book-related stationery and posters. I will definitely be coming back for birthday and Christmas presents.
We rounded off our trip at The Cloth Store café which serves delicious hot chocolate. It was fairly quiet, so we spent a happy hour there writing I was inspired by our trip to explore the sibling relationship between two of my characters, and also my main protagonist’s taste in men! I was trying to decide if she would be Team Rochester or Team Heathcliff.
I was on holiday in October so managed to read plenty of books. I read:
The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
The Dive by Sara Ochs
Grown Ups by Marian Keyes
Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift
Who is Maud Dixon? by Alexandra Andrews
The Perfect Holiday by T J Emerson
The Treatment by Sarah Moorhead
Death of a Lesser God by Vaseem Khan
The Family Remains is the sequel (although it can be read as a stand-alone) to Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs, and I enjoyed catching up with the characters. Pacy and with great characters, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
Where better to read Sara Ochs’ book The Dive than a small island in Thailand? I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological thriller which centres around a group of young people working or staying at a dive site on (you guessed it) a small island in Thailand. The setting was perfect, and the book was really fast paced and engaging. If you enjoyed my book, The Trip, then you would love The Dive.
The Perfect Holiday by T J Emerson has to be one of my favourite holiday thrillers of all time. You know from the start that the main character is too good to be true but it’s one of those books where you can’t stop reading as you need to know he gets his comeuppance! Utterly compelling, a great setting and brilliant characters, I couldn’t stop reading this book. This is the first time I have read anything by this author, but it won’t be the last.
Turning to dystopian fiction, I really enjoyed Last One at the Party by Bethany Clift. I struggled to engage with the main character at first, but I thought her reactions to being the last person on earth were quite funny. As the novel progressed though I really started to engage with her, and I thought the ending was particularly poignant.
The Treatment by Sarah Moorhead centres around crime and punishment. A pioneering new treatment promises to prevent re-offending, but a clinical psychologist soon finds herself embroiled in an ethical conundrum when she tries to save a childhood friend from the dreaded level four programme. The author raises some very serious questions about the causes of criminality and the impact of trauma with this fast-paced dystopian thriller.
It was a welcome return to me to Malabar House, but I am gutted that this is the last in the series. I have thoroughly enjoyed these four police procedurals set in post-partition India and starring the country’s first female detective, Persis Wadia. In Death of a Lesser God, Persis is given the controversial task of re-investigating the murder of an Indian lawyer by a white man who is about to hang for the crime. She soon uncovers a web of corruption that leads her into very dangerous waters indeed. The book also features a crocodile which has to be the best murder weapon going!
I haven’t read Vaseem Khan’s other series so I am looking forward to turning my attention to them, although I am sure I will reread the Malabar House series.
I went through a strange, and very unusual, period in September 2023 when I didn’t feel like reading! Fortunately, I’ve got my mojo back now and more than made up for it in October.
I did finish four books in September:
The Guilty Couple by C L Taylor
Being You: A New Science of Consciousness by Anil Seth (non-fiction)
The Apartment Upstairs by Lesley Kara
A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab
Both Lesley Kara and C L Taylor are favourite authors of mine and I have read everything they have written. I really enjoyed The Guilty Couple. A woman comes out of prison determined to get revenge on the husband who framed her and win her daughter back. Although I did guess the reveal, I enjoyed all the twists and turns of the plot and loved the characters.
The Apartment Upstairs wasn’t my favourite book by Lesley Kara but if you love a well-written psychological thriller with a strong plot then you can’t go far wrong with this author. However, if you haven’t read any of her books before, I would start with her first novel, The Rumour.
I won’t lie, Being You by Anil Seth is a very difficult read. Consciousness is a complex subject and as a lay person, I probably only understood about 10% of this book! It did raise some very interesting questions though and made me re-evaluate what I thought I knew about the nature of consciousness.
Lots of people have recommended V E Schwab to me and I enjoyed immersing myself in this fantasy world across four parallel Londons. I will definitely read the others in this series. Really strong, interesting characters and vivid world building made for a propelling read.
In Other Worlds: Science Fiction and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood (non-fiction)
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
The Butcher of Berner Street by Alex Reeve
Lasting Damage by Sophie Hannah
The War of the Worlds by H G Wells
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
End of Story by Louise Swanson
Maddadam by Margaret Atwood (audio book)
The highlights for me were The Maid by Nita Prose and Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler.
What really stood out for me about The Maid was the voice of the main character, Molly. I loved her naivete and the way she wanted everything done properly. The back story was very believable, the romance subplot was very touching, and the main plot line kept me guessing. It was everything you want from a classic murder mystery. I’m really looking forward to the next in the series.
Parable of the Sower was very harrowing. I’ve been reading a lot of dystopian fiction recently and this is one that will stay with me. It’s very uncomfortable reading in places but again the main character, Lauren, is very engaging and the plot line was gripping. Written in 1993, it imagines a future heavily affected by climate change and social inequality. Again, I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.
I love Cara Hunter’s books and always find I can’t put them down once I start reading them. Murder in the Family is very different in that the format is scripts for a TV true crime drama, evidence from the investigation, emails and WhatsApp messages between the characters, etc. but no actual narrative. Once you got used to the format, it’s very easy to read. The characters were great, and the first plot twist was brilliant, but I found the resolution disappointing.
I haven’t read Stephen King for a long time, and I found Fairytale very immersive. I particularly liked the relationship between the main character and the dog he inherits. King weaves a horror out of familiar fairy tale tropes and takes inspiration from Jack and the Beanstalk and The Wizard of Oz. It was quite a strange book overall, but I did enjoy it.
Maddadam was the conclusion to the Maddadam trilogy. Listening to it on audio book was quite disjointed and I felt like I missed bits so I might read the trilogy again in paperback. The second book, The Year of The Flood, was my favourite of the three books but I liked all the backstory in this book and the ending was very poignant. I feel like I miss the characters already!
I am so excited to read Cate Green’s debut novel, The Curious Kidnapping of Nora W. It has such a great title and the premise sounds fantastic. Cate and I met a long time ago when we were both shortlisted for the Jericho Writers’ Friday Night Live competition, so it was good to catch up with her and find out all about her forthcoming book, which will be published on Thursday, 20 July 2023.
Hi Cate, welcome to my blog!
Firstly, please introduce yourself and your debut novel.
Hi Sarah, thanks for having me!
My debut novel, The Curious Kidnapping of Nora W. will be published on 20 July 2023. It tells the story of Nora Wojnawski, a 122-year-old Holocaust survivor who is about to buck history and become the oldest person in the world – ever. As the novel begins, Nora is 18 days away from her world record and her family are determined to celebrate in style. But Nora isn’t your average supercentenarian and she has other ideas. When she disappears with her carer, Syrian refugee Arifa, on a trip down memory lane in the East End of London, a wartime secret, buried deep for over 70 years, will finally be revealed.
Although the novel’s main character is a Holocaust survivor, it is not a historical novel about the 2nd World War or the victims of war and injustice. It is a novel about survivors of war and injustice and their lives as ordinary people with an extraordinary past. And although it deals with serious themes, I’ve tried to bring a light touch, with plenty of humour.
As for me, I’m a broadcast and print journalist and copywriter with over twenty years’ experience in international radio, television and corporate communications. I am based in Lyon, France, which I love and where I’ve been living for thirty years now – although that wasn’t the original intention! Lyon is the gastronomic capital of France and when I’m not writing or running around after my three daughters, I’m often sampling the fabulous local food and wine or swimming lengths to make up for it. I’m also a fairly recent convert to snorkelling which I find incredibly relaxing, so I’m very lucky that the Mediterranean is only a couple of hours away down the high-speed train track!
When did you start writing? Can you tell me about your route to publication?
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I loved it when I was at school and I’m one of those people who always wanted to write a novel. I also write every day for my day job, so I can’t imagine not writing.
Even so, it took me a long time to finally start writing a novel. I decided when my third daughter was born that it was now or never. And I did it! The Curious Kidnapping of Nora W. is in fact my third finished novel, but the first to be published. And the road to publication has also been long and fairly winding, involving three different agents – one for each novel so far – and coming very close to a publishing deal with novel number 2. Along the way, I was lucky enough to win the Best First Chapter Prize at the Festival of Writers in York and a few years later my debut novel won the Exeter Novel Prize. That was a huge boost and led me to meeting and being signed by my wonderful agent Broo Doherty, who I hope will also be my last and who it has been a joy to work with. Broo’s passion, skills and tenacity led me to me getting a two-book deal with Harper Collins imprint One More Chapter, and The Curious Kidnapping of Nora W. will be published in paperback, ebook and audio book this summer.
The Curious Kidnapping of Nora W features a Holocaust survivor. What research did you need to do to make Nora’s experiences feel authentic?
The novel as a whole and the main character, Nora, were inspired by my late mother-in-law, who survived the Lodz ghetto in Poland and the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Ravensbruck and later became a refugee, first in Sweden and France and later in Montreal, Canada, where she and her husband raised their two children and ran a corner shop, very much like the one in the novel. So, a lot of my research on the Holocaust strand of the novel came from family stories and memories, as well as from the harrowing written account my mother-in-law left of her time in the ghetto. I also read widely on the subject.
The character of Arifa was inspired by two refugees, from Syria and Iran, who lived in my family home with their family for several months after arriving in France. Hearing their stories and, even more, seeing their resilience in building a new life for themselves and their family was also essential research.
And I also spent a lot of time on Google, to be honest. The novel is set in North West London, which is where I was born and which I know pretty well and in the East End of London, which I know less well. But I wrote most of the book during lockdown, so I had to make do with photos, websites and so on for the details of the old Jewish cemeteries in the East End, for example, or the way the Brick Lane area has changed since Nora and Henry ran their shop there. All the locations and sites are based on real places, including the café that features prominently in the book. I’ve since been back to the East End to check that I got things right and, thankfully, I think I did.
Who are your favourite authors? Are there any that particularly inspired you to be a writer?
I’ve always loved 19th century British novelists like the Brontës, Thomas Hardy, George Elliot and Mary Shelley. They were definitely part of why I wanted to write novels and, in some ways, I had to tear myself away from their omniscient narrator approach and pages of description so that I could write in a more contemporary style. I also love Bridget Jones creator Helen Fielding and am a sucker for Taylor Jenkins Reid, especially Daisy Jones & The Six. But I think my favourite contemporary novelist is Ann Patchett, and especially her book Bel Canto, which, in terms of plot and action is about a high society party in a fictional South American country which is hijacked by a band of guerrilla fighters who take all the guests hostage, but which is really about what people have in their heart, what separates them and what brings them together, and how they find inner strength. I wouldn’t say it inspired me to write Nora W. as such, but some similar things definitely run through it.
What advice would you give to other people wanting to write?
I would say, take your time, write at your own pace, depending on how it fits around the other constraints in your life (full-time job and three children for me!). Try not to feel under too much pressure or compare yourself with all those other seemingly more successful, more dedicated writers on Twitter or Instagram. But do reach out to them. I’ve learned so much from the people I’ve met – virtually or IRL – on Twitter especially and most Book Twitter people are really supportive and kind. And do keep on writing until you’ve finished that first novel, and then write some more!
And read, as much as you can, in your genre and in others. Don’t compare your style with other writers’ but do take inspiration from them.
Finally, what are you working on now?
I’m working on book two of my two-book deal. I can’t say too much about it, other than that I’m aiming once again to bring a light touch to some serious subjects. And this time, Gemma, the main character is much younger, in her thirties, with a biological clock that’s ticking loudly and a very dysfunctional family life. Oh, and I’m behind on schedule, so I’d better stop here and get back to it!
You can buy The Curious Kidnapping of Nora W. from:
My guest today writes spine chilling horror, page turning crime fiction and fast paced spy fiction. If you’re looking for your next great read, then look no further!
Hi Sam, welcome to my blog!Firstly, please introduce yourself and your books.
Hi everyone, I’m Samantha Lee Howe and I am the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Stranger In Our Bed, The House of Killers, Kill Or Dieand Kill A Spy.I’m a novelist and screenwriter. I also write Horror, Fantasy, SF and Supernatural fiction under the pen name Sam Stone.
When did you start writing? Can you tell me about your journey to publication?
I’ve always been a writer since a very young age. I had some poetry and short stories published in the mid to late 1990s (which seems like a very long time ago now!). And on the back of that I earned a place at Bolton University to do my English degree which was joint Writing for Performance. When I qualified, I gained a place at Manchester University to do a PGCE and I became an English teacher in 2003. But my dream to be a writer didn’t go away and so I took an MA in Creative Writing – specialising in prose – at Bolton part time and I ended up writing my first novel for my dissertation. My professional writing career began in 2007 when I was published by a small press called The House of Murky Depths. After that it was an uphill climb, where I’d write before and after the school day while I was teaching. Murky Depths published the first 5 of the Vampire Gene Series with a great deal of success.
So far you have written 27 novels, three novellas, three collections, more than 60 short stories, an audio drama, a Doctor Who spin-off drama as well as the screenplay for The Stranger in our Bed. How do you fit it all in? What is your writing routine like?
I’m lucky enough these days to be able to write full time and I do treat it very much as job. I start almost as soon as I wake at 7.30am. I write until mid-morning, then, I shower etc. I do this because I set the tone for the day and I get my best work done in the morning if I don’t allow anything else to be a distraction. I write all day with a few breaks and usually stop around 3-4pm. At which time I switch to editing mode and I work on books I’m editing for Telos Publishing or sometimes for friends I’m helping or mentoring. By doing this I structure my day and don’t waste any time. I work until 5pm usually, then I go and make dinner!
My evenings are always resting watching TV with my husband and cuddling our very demanding cats!
Sometimes my day is different, it depends on other factors, such as what I have to prioritise. At the moment, I’m working on two different projects simultaneously, a new Crime collection of short stories and a first book of a potential series with another writer – but I can’t say more about that as it’s all NDA’d!
How I work this is I choose set days when I’m writing stories and set days to work on the other project. I will work 7 days a week when I need to, but I try to get Sundays off to spend with my husband. And sometimes we are attending events at weekends so that’s an enforced writing rest of sorts!
As well as writing crime fiction, you also write horror fiction under the name Sam Stone. How do the two genres compare and have you ever been tempted to combine the two?
I think that horror and crime do work very closely together. Looking back now, I realise that most of my horror, fantasy and SF books were all mysteries but usually with some supernatural explanation. Writing mainstream thrillers, crime and mysteries is actually a lot harder for me than supernatural fiction. You have to get your facts and research right and you can’t solve the problem with a supernatural excuse, it has to be plausible. Having said that I do love writing thrillers, especially exploring the psychological aspect of characters as I’m fascinated with the way psychopaths, narcissists and sociopaths think and what motivates their actions. When you study people there is a wealth of stories you can tell. Besides, I think real people can be far more dangerous and frightening than supernatural monsters!
Your book The Stranger in Our Bed has recently been made into a film which must have been very exciting. How was the experience of adapting your own work for the screen? Would you do it again?
It’s quite rare that the author of a book gets the opportunity to write the screenplay, so I was very lucky to have the chance to do this. Fortunately, I had written for screen before and my BA specialism was screenwriting so I did have knowledge of how to approach it. I was also aware that you do have to make changes in order for somethings to work on screen that might work differently in a novel.
This was a very pleasant and positive experience for me, particularly because actress and producer Terri Dwyer made it so. She was incredibly supportive throughout the process and I was really willing to work with everyone and listen to their opinions and suggestions as I’m not precious at all. I just wanted the film to work in its own right as a great thriller because that was what was really important.
I would definitely do it again, given the chance and I am also working on original screenplays too, that I might one day do the reverse and novelise.
My favourite books of yours are The House of Killers trilogy. One of your characters is an assassin and the other an MI5 operative. The research must have been fascinating! How did you go about it?
Wow! The research I had to do for these books was fascinating. I had a consultant who worked for the government that helped me a lot. And I also reached out to a weapons manufacturer who was incredibly helpful. There were somethings I learnt that I wished I could unlearn but spies and spying and assassins are always fascinating material. Hiding in plain sight is one of my key take aways and I’m very observant in my every day life. Is the person wearing a construction orange jacket and carrying a clipboard, who we often ignore, really meant to be there? We often taken official-looking people on face value but …
What advice would you give to other people wanting to write?
Firstly, you never see half-finished books in bookstores. So always finish everything. This will give you the mental stamina needed to keep writing. I always liken the creative muscle to any muscle. You don’t go into a gym and lift heavy weights on the first visit – you have to build up to it. And the writing stamina is exactly the same, the more you practise though, the easier is gets. People often say start small, short stories perhaps? But I must admit I always swayed more towards novel writing initially than stories. So – the most important thing is write what you like. Write what excites you. Write what you’d really like to read. Write from the heart and you’ll always engage with your readers. And of course, read a lot, always.
Finally, what are you working on now?
I’m currently in the middle of writing a complete short story collection called CRIMES OF PASSION which is hopefully going to be published later this year. The collection can be pre-ordered from Telos Publishing and all pre-orders will be signed by me and receive a thank you in the dedications page of the book. For more information you can visit https://telos.co.uk/shop/crime-mystery-and-thriller/criminal-pursuits/crimes-of-passion/
Sam’s books are always a great read and her first novel Killing Kiss is available for just 99p at the moment (2 June 2023) on Amazon.
Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood (short story collection)
The Cloisters by Katy Hays
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood (audiobook)
The Silence Project by Carole Hailey
Scary Smart by Mo Gawdat (non-fiction)
Why We Dream by Alice Robb (non-fiction)
Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
The Book Share by Phaedre Patrick
I was lucky enough to get tickets to see Margaret Atwood in Liverpool in March. She is such an inspiration, and I could have listened to her all night! Intelligent, passionate and funny. One of my favourite actresses, Maxine Peake, also performed one of her short stories which was wonderful.
The trip sparked a binge read of Margaret Atwood’s books. I am (slowly) reading Burning Questions, a collection of essays, but this month I also read Oryx and Crake, Old Babes in the Wood (a short story collection) and listened to The Year of the Flood on audiobook. I am particularly enjoying the Maddadam trilogy and finding it more accessible than The Handmaid’s Tale which I read a long time ago.
Another highlight this month was The Cloisters by Katy Hays. A young academic spends her summer interning at a secret museum in the heart of New York with a medieval garden and enigmatic colleagues. I loved the setting of this book – it was like stepping back in time. The comparisons to The Secret History by Donna Tartt are well deserved.
The Silence Project by Carole Hailey was also a brilliant read. It’s written like a memoir and sometimes it felt like you were reading real events. Narrated by her daughter, a middle-aged woman vows to stay silent and listen more which spirals into a global movement with tragic and alarming consequences. I loved all the moral dilemmas this book raised.
I read Scary Smart for research, and it really opened my eyes to the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. There is lots in the news about it at the moment so I would recommend this book if you’re interested in the subject. I wasn’t 100% sold on the solutions offered in this book, however.
Finally, Blood and Sugar is another recommended read. It’s a historical thriller set in the 1780s. It is highly immersive and very detailed. I really enjoyed the book, but I did find it quite complicated towards the end and it was hard to keep track of who all the characters were and how they related to each other. I am looking forward to reading the next in the series.
I’m a big fan of Roz Watkins’ novels so I was honoured to be sent a proof of her next book. Brimming with tension, The Red House is a fast-paced thriller with an intriguing premise and a contemporary twist.
Watkins uses her intimate knowledge of the Peak District to produce an atmospheric and gripping novel which features a sinister house surrounded by marsh land, a young woman desperate to leave her past behind her, and a constant search for justice.
The Red House will be published on 22 June 2023.
Babel by R F Kuang was one of my favourite books this month. This fantasy adventure takes us to an alternative history where scholars are able to weave magic through translation. Robin, the hero, is at first overwhelmed and excited when he is accepted into the elite Royal Institute of Translation, nicknamed ‘Babel’, but quickly realises the devastating power the institute yields. The book explores the relationship between language and colonialism. It was a wonderful, thought provoking and challenging read.
My other favourite book this month was The Change by Kirsten Millar. The menopause brings about the emergence of dormant powers for the heroines of this novel: Harriet, Jo and Nessa. The women team up not only to hunt down the killer of young women in their neighbourhood, but to avenge their deaths. The novel delivers a powerful message about the way women are treated in society wrapped up in a satisfying and pacy thriller.
Talk to me about when we were perfect by Amanda Huggins (poetry collection)
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
The Girl Upstairs by Georgina Lees
Playing for Love by Jeevani Charika
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (re-read)
I was lucky enough to be sent a proof copy of Amanda Huggins’ new poetry collection.
talk to me about when we were perfect is a stunning collection which transports the reader from Yorkshire, London and further afield to Japan.
I particularly enjoyed the nostalgic poems in which Huggins takes us back to her teenage years, encapsulating the awkwardness of meeting boys, making plans for the future, sporting the latest fashion trends, and the flush of first love.
The Talented Mr Ripley is a classic for crime fiction fans and it’s not hard to see why. Tom Ripley is such an intriguing character. It’s incredible how Highsmith can have your rooting for him all the way through the book, even though he is very much the villain. It also made me really want to go to the Italian Riviera!
My favourite book of the month had to be Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. It’s an incredible book exploring the stories of different women and their experiences of race, gender and sexuality in contemporary Britain. There are no full stops in the book which creates a fluid style that absolutely works for the stories the author is telling. I loved it and would highly recommend it.
I don’t read many love stories, but I make an exception for a few favourite authors, and Jeevani Charika is one of them. I loved the premise of Playing for Love – two people who know each other online and offline but don’t know about each other’s alter egos. The love story is told from both Samadhi and Luke’s perspectives and I enjoyed all the near misses as the relationship between the two protagonists developed. The way the game they were playing brought out their personalities was deftly done and I liked the poignancy of how Samadhi’s business venture was inspired by her mother.
Sarah Linley Author 