Holiday please read the earlier ones!!

      We’re off on holiday for a couple of weeks catch you in August, hope the sun shines!!

Many thanks

Well that was a satisfying start over a 1000 copies of my book out on the free promotion, all we need now is for people to read them, enjoy them and tell folks about them. But most of all thank you for your interest. It’s always a worry when a new book goes out, was it what people wanted and did it fill their expectations. Especially if it’s a new period for the tale, as The Daughter of Sandstone Manor is, delving into the 1700s a period I have always been interested in but never studied until now. I found it fascinating doing the research thank heavens for the web it saved me many trips to the library and of course being able to print the relevant pages out means now I have a huge reference file for my next book also to be about the same period, if this one proves acceptable that is. So we’ll see how it fares by Christmas and take a rain check then. Again thanks to all who have got a free copy I really hope you enjoy it.

Only 2 Free days to go

My seventh book “The Daughter of Sandstone Manor” was launched last Wednesday. I believe it’s my best book since I wrote Inshallah but you can see if you agree as it’s free till Sunday. Here’s the description -

The Daughter of Sandstone Manor is set in the 1700’s where smuggling and lewd behaviour was common practice.

Lady Isobel was witness to her father’s murder and was threatened by the culprit, an event which led her to leave her family home and take a post as a servant in a hostelry under the assumed name of Jess Newman. The story is a tale of events in her young life from when the she arrives at the Inn and her father’s murderer Edward Grant finds her. Edward Grant wants her for his mistress but the information she has gathered on his future plans, he decides to rape and kill her. Her one saviour is Charles Blake a senior figure in the Riding Officers (later to become Coast Guards) a mystery man to all who frequented the Inn. Charles was a handsome young man and at first she held him in suspicion until gradually he proved himself to be a friend.

The book gives some insight to the life, romance, rape, murder and smuggling that went on in the 1700’s.

The people who have read the manuscript seem to be captivated by the story and you can now try it too as it’s FREE on Kindle till 5th July

Link:- amazon.com/dp/B010IC0T2S

The Daughter of Sandstone Manor it's out and it's free on Kindle

Well the blog is early this week, why? To celebrate the launch of the book “The Daughter of Sandstone Manor” here’s the description

'The Daughter of Sandstone Manor is set in the 1700’s where smuggling and lewd behaviour was common practice.

Lady Isobel was witness to her father’s murder and threatened by the culprit, an event which led her to leave her family home and take a post as a servant in a hostelry under the assumed name of Jess Newman. The story is a tale of events in her young life from when the she arrives at the Inn and her father’s murderer Edward Grant finds her. Edward Grant wants her for his mistress but the information she has gathered on his future plans, he decides to rape and kill her. Her one saviour is Charles Blake a senior figure in the Riding Officers (later to become Coast Guards) a mystery man to all who frequented the Inn. Charles was a handsome young man and at first she held him in suspicion until gradually he proved himself to be a friend.

The book gives some insight to the life, romance, rape, murder and smuggling that went on in the 1700’s.'

The people who have read the manuscript seem to be captivated by the story and you can now try it too as it’s FREE on Kindle 1-5 July

You were right, how about this for the cover?

Those people who wrote in to tell me the picture I’d chosen for the cover of my new book “The Daughter of Sandstone Manor” seen on last week’s blog was an American scene. You’re right of course but it just seemed to have the impact I was looking for however I guess for a book about a Lady living in the south of England in the 18^th century it was a bit misleading.

Now hopefully the one heading this week will prove more appropriate and just as appealing, it is certainly in line with the story. So hoping for your approval I intend to use it. Currently the book is in its final proof reading and should be published in the next ten days, because it is set in the 1700s it has taken a little longer than usual as the facts have to be right as well as everything else. It is surprising how much research I’ve had to do into customs, language, dress, life style and manners, I have now amassed so much information on these I’m thinking of writing more books set in the same period.

The Daughter of Sandstone Manor

Whilst Mike has been recalling our memories of Saudi I have been hard at work on a new book set in the South of England in the 1700s. It has been a fastinating challenge learning the speech and idioms of the age as well as the dress and habits that were current at that time. In the novel the heroine experiences life all levels from Lady to skivvy my researches have had to be widely spread, in fact I learned so much about the age that I am tempted to look to that era as the setting for my next book. But that is jumping ahead I have to publish this one first.

I found it very heartening that my beta reader became so involved in the story that she missed some areas of needed correction towards the end of the book, but I always read a new manuscript many times refining it so they did not escape the needed alterations. The story covers a lot of the trauma experienced by the heroine including rape, threats, kindness and finally love, she experienced life in exalted circles and at the lowest as a servant.

I really enjoyed writing this book which I feel is amongst my best, as a taster I am including the cover picture for your approval.

Mike's Saudi (45) The end

Life was pretty good now, the boss and I became friends and we seem to work well together for about a year then disaster came from an unexpected source. As part of my job I had had a telephone installed in the villa so that I was on call. Naturally we gave the number to our family in the UK. You may recall that Karen my daughter had been repatriated when she was 18 (Saudi law) and had settled down with Syb’s parents in Eastbourne.

However she was having a rough time so much so that I was afraid that she might take her own life. She would phone us maybe once a week in tears her troubles seemed to be growing, Syb and I believed she needed our support permanently. There was nothing to do but go home and help her, so with regret I handed my notice in. First I told my boss who came up with all sorts of alternatives including a 6 month sabbatical, very tempting but I knew if we were to support Karen it had to be permanent or we would be going through the same scenario on our return. So just before Christmas 1983 we came home to our little house in the Lake District. Now it is 2015 now and we still talk about our time in Saudi as though it was yesterday.