Tag Archives: Carol Thomas Author

A New Feel Good Friday Read from Kirsty Ferry.

Blog Tour, Feel Good Friday, Writing & Reading, , , , , , ,

It Started with a Wedding: An uplifting and fun romance for the new year from Kirsty Ferry.

I am always in awe of fellow Choc Lit author Kirsty Ferry as, as well as being a talented artist, she is also a prolific writer; And neither of these things are her day job! Her latest novel, the fifth in her Schubert series is released later this month (22/2/22 – what a memorable date). As she prepares for the launch, I thought I would share a little about her latest fabulous, feel good read.

The blurb:

It’s one thing to be asked to plan your sister’s wedding; it’s quite another when your sister is Nessa McCreadie …

Alfie McCreadie wants his twin sister Nessa to have the best wedding ever, but he’s not happy at being roped in as wedding planner – especially as, unbelievably, his main assistant seems to be Nessa’s cat, Schubert. Anyway, Alfie is a scientist. He might know his protons from his neutrons, but what does he know about weddings?

It’s Nessa who points him in the direction of Bea’s Garden, just outside Edinburgh, where he’s tasked with picking a “very-relevant-bouquet”. It’s there he meets Fae Brimham, who might be prettier than any bouquet bloom but doesn’t seem impressed by Alfie’s sensible, scientific side.

But when Nessa and Schubert are involved, surprises are bound to happen and, despite less-than-perfect first impressions, perhaps something new and beautiful can still blossom for Alfie and Fae …

This is Alfie’s story in the Schubert series. They can all be read as standalone stories.

Currently available for preorder, release date 22nd February 2022.

What folks are saying about It Started with a Wedding:

  • “Entertaining fun.”
  • Great for fans of magical powers, mythical spirits and the belief that cats are minds readers (of course they are)!”
  • “A quirky light-hearted romance.”
  • “I was very happy when this book was announced, and even more while reading it.”

Best of luck with the new book Kirsty. I hope it will be a huge hit. xx

About the author:

Kirsty Ferry is from the North East of England and lives there with her husband and son. She won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing competition in 2009 and has had articles and short stories published in various magazines. Her work also appears in several anthologies, incorporating such diverse themes as vampires, crime, angels and more.

Kirsty loves writing ghostly mysteries and interweaving fact and fiction. The research is almost as much fun as writing the book itself, and if she can add a wonderful setting and a dollop of history, that’s even better.

Her day job involves sharing a building with an eclectic collection of ghosts, which can often prove rather interesting.

You can follow Kirsty, and find out more about her work here: Facebook | Twitter | website | blog

Meet three characters from The Forgotten Maid.

Book Review, Guest Post, , , , , , , ,

I am delighted to welcome my good friend, Jane Cable, as my first guest for 2022. Jane joins me to introduce three characters from her novel, The Forgotten Maid. 

THE DANIELL FAMILY –  BLENDING FACT AND FICTION by Jane Cable.

As soon as I decided the main character in my 1815 timeline for The Forgotten Maid was a ladies’ maid I needed a family to place her in. A wealthy family with a kind mistress – the conflict in the story was going to be hard enough without her working for a witch!

Now I do like the historical background to my stories to be as authentic as possible, so I thought I would choose a real family. The good and great of Cornwall had been made wealthy on the back of copper and tin mining (think Poldark!) so there were plenty of likely candidates. (Note to Jane from Carol, I am always thinking Poldark! ;-))

I almost fell across the Daniells. A few years before I had been to an exhibition at Trelissick House, their former country home, which is now a National Trust property. And there I’d learnt most of their wealth had come from a copper mine called Wheal Towan, which was very close to where we were then based. When I started to write The Forgotten Maid I wanted to set it in exactly that area, and the connection was screaming at me to be recognised.

Researching the Daniell family tree was not difficult. Ralph and Elizabeth had married young, when Elizabeth was nineteen, and proceeded to have 16 children spread over the next 22 years, although of course not all of them made it to adulthood. Therefore in 1815 I was able to reconstruct the family precisely in terms of who was married and who was left at home. In that respect the book is entirely factual.

But how do you learn about someone’s character? The answer is that you don’t, although the Daniells were generous with local causes and I found out about Elizabeth’s visits to help the destitute miners from the local parish records, so they were real enough.

Elizabeth is my main Daniell character. Middle-aged, comfortable with herself, loving yet strict with her children and still very much in love with Ralph. She is delighted to find a French maid who is actually French (particularly in the provinces most just pretended to be) and values Therese’s skills. She is kind, almost motherly to her and trusts her implicitly, and Therese repays her with loyalty and faithfulness.

But someone has to disrupt this domestic harmony and the perfect candidate from history was Mary, the Daniell’s sixteen year old daughter. Sixteen was just the age to come out into society and I decided Elizabeth didn’t want a London season for her daughter if she could help it. The queen was ill, so there seemed to be little point as there would be no court presentation, and with one daughter married and living a long distance away, she liked the idea of a local husband for Mary.

Mary was a wonderful character to create. I needed her to be both loveable and charming, but with a real wilful, and even spiteful, streak when she does not get her own way. And of course, going out and about in Truro society she inevitably meets an unsuitable man and will stop at nothing to try to marry him, which has very unfortunate consequences for Therese.

My third Daniell is Ralph himself. Businessman, father, husband. A solid voice of reason. His is a small part, and mostly at the end, but I hope the enduring love story between him and Elizabeth shines through.

The Forgotten Maid blurb

In 2015 Anna Pritchard arrives on the wild and rugged north Cornwall coast to supervise the build of a glamping site. The locals hate the idea and she finds herself ostracised and isolated, so she volunteers at Trelissick, a stately home that was the country estate of the affluent Daniell family in the Regency era. The more time she spends steeped in its history, the more past and present begin to collide.

In 1815, in the aftermath of Waterloo and grieving for her brother, French army seamstress Therese Ruguel arrives in Cornwall as lady’s maid to Elizabeth Daniell. Although her mistress is welcoming, not everyone in the household takes kindly to a foreigner with strange ways who speaks little english. Who can Therese trust? Because her very life could depend upon her making the right decision.

What became of Therese? Can Anna unearth the ghosts of the past? And has she finally found a place where she belongs?

The Forgotten Maid is a beautiful dual timeline romance set in Cornwall between the Poldark era and the present day. It is the first book in the Cornish Echoes dual timeline romantic mystery series.

Thank you, Jane. I greatly enjoyed The Forgotten Maid and getting to know your characters. Here is my review: 

I enjoyed this dual timeline novel set in the present and early nineteenth century, Cornwall. As you might expect from Jane Cable whispers of the past are intertwined with the present. I was captivated by the protagonists in both time periods and their stories, though I was particularly intrigued by Thérèse (the forgotten maid). I was drawn to her character and hoped her strength would prevail over the increasing difficulties she faced. In the present day, however, it was Anna’s love interest who fascinated me. I enjoyed getting to know and understand him more as the story progressed. Cornwall past and present are brought to life by the author’s evocative descriptions of the setting. The Forgotten Maid is an intriguing, captivating read.

About the author:

Jane Cable moved to Cornwall in 2017 and The Forgotten Maid is her first novel set in the county. She also writes contemporary women’s fiction under the name of Eva Glyn.

Discover more about Jane and her work, here: Facebook | Twitter | website | Apricot Plots | Sister Scribes .

Feel Good Friday with Eva Glyn.

Feel Good Friday, Guest Post, , , , , , , , , ,
Today, fellow Apricot Plotter and long time author friend Eva Glyn joins me to celebrate the release of the paperback version of her novel, The Missing Pieces of Us.

 

Tell us about the feel-good moments in The Missing Pieces of Us:

In many ways, it is the ultimate feel-good book because it shows that whatever the depths of grief, loss and mental illness human beings have to suffer, there can be a rewarding and fulfilling life at the end of the tunnel. Robin has his breakdown at a relatively young age when the mother whose carer he is dies and he doesn’t cope at all, but by the time Izzie meets him again twenty years later, although he’s going through another blip, he is a far stronger man with a huge capacity for happiness, laughter and love.

There are plenty of small feel-good moments as the book moves along; memories of munching Jaffa Cakes after spending hours in the sea, fish and chip suppers at the kitchen table, and of course, the wonderful tree in the woods where the children write to the fairies and they actually reply.

Share a review that has made you smile:

I’ve been so lucky and had some wonderful reviews of the book and many of them made me smile, but none more so than this one from book blogger Being Anne:

The story is quite beautifully written and perfectly paced. This is a book that you feel and experience rather than read – the whole emotional content is quite perfectly handled, and there were times when I physically ached for the two central characters. The author really takes the reader under their skin – you might not understand what happened any more than they do, but you feel their hurt and loss with the same intensity.

The characters are wonderfully handled, but so is the setting. A faerie tree is the perfect central focus to the story – much of the key action in the story takes place around it, near it or focused on it. It’s vividly described – with its decoration and trinkets left by people hoping for a little magic – and I love the box where children leave personal messages for the faeries. There are pagan themes, but nothing that would put anyone off for an instant – none of us can be averse to a little magic at times, and the story itself is very much of the modern world.

This is essentially a story about two people – two people that you grow to deeply care about – and how they deal and cope with trauma and loss, its impact on memory, and the possibility of second chances when hope seems to be gone.

The Missing Pieces of Us, the blurb:

When Robin and Izzie meet again twenty years after their brief affair they realise their memories of it completely different. But who is right? And how can they build a future without knowing what happened in the past? Links to purchase can be found here.

That is a wonderful review. Do you have much time to read, if so, where is your favourite place to enjoy a good book?

I find it hard to read when I am writing a new book because my characters tend to inhabit my mind, but I have spotted a natural down time when they seem to go to get their lunch, so if they do I creep away with a cup of tea and put my feet up on my bed with my Kindle for half an hour.

Fabulous, finally here are five quick-fire questions for fun:

Favourite biscuit?
Not easy as I’m gluten intolerant, but M&S’s GF millionaire shortbread is pretty special.

Swimming pool or sea?
Sea, every time, now I live in Cornwall. I just haven’t been in often enough this summer but the beaches have been so crowded.

Laptop or notepad?
I write using software so it’s my laptop every time. I use notebooks for collecting my thoughts, jotting down ideas, and exploring characters off the page.

Early morning or late at night?
Early morning. I start writing before six most days so I’m good for nothing by about four o’clock.

Trainers or heels?
Trainers. I’ve never been able to wear heels – I just can’t balance on them.

About the author:

Eva Glyn writes emotional women’s fiction inspired by beautiful places and the secrets they hide. She loves to travel, but finds inspiration can strike just as well at home as abroad. Her books are published by One More Chapter, an imprint of Harper Collins.

Although she considers herself Welsh, Eva lives in Cornwall with her husband of twenty-six years. She also writes romance with a twist of mystery as Jane Cable.

Discover more about Eva Glyn: Facbook | Instagram | Twitter | Newsletter sign up 

 

Escape to Normandy with Jan Baynham.

Escape to, Guest Post, , , , , , , ,

This week, I am delighted to escape to Normandy, with my guest Jan Baynham, as she talks about her novel, Her Nanny’s Secret.

Thank you for having me on your blog, Carol. As with all my novels, Her Nanny’s Secret is set in both beautiful rural mid-Wales where I grew up and in a foreign location. In this case, the contrasting setting is Normandy in Northern France. When writing the parts set in France, I was able to escape to a country I love and reminisce about the numerous visits we’ve made there on family holidays.

Although the town of Ville de Roi and the surrounding villages of Collinac and Sainte Marie-Hélène are fictional, I’ve based them on the area around southern Normandy. The Norman town of Avranches is steeped in history and there is plenty to see and do there. One of my favourite places is the peaceful botanic garden, Jardin des Plantes, with its view of a famous landmark in the distance out in the bay. In the novel, we accompany my main character, Annie, on a visit to Mont St Michel as she enjoyed walking through the narrow streets and winding her way up to the Gothic abbey perched on top.

The view from the very top was spectacular and worth the effort. They wandered around the arched cloisters that edged formal gardens.

In summer months, wherever you look in the area there’s an abundance of flowers in towns and villages as they compete in an annual contest started in 1959 after the devastation caused by the war. It was felt that the planting of flowers helped renew and repair communities.

A yellow road sign with three flower symbols proudly welcomed the visitor to a Village Fleuri… Everywhere they looked were tubs of flowers in vibrant colours, edging the cobbled pavements, in front of each shop window…

What’s great about visiting France is being able to sit at the numerous pavement cafés and sample French foods and drinks. This was new for Annie and when she visited La Belle Époque, she was overwhelmed by the wide choice on the menu.

Annie couldn’t decide from the images between a savoury galette filled with ham and cheese, topped with a fried egg, or, to satisfy her sweet tooth, a crêpe, oozing with cooked local apples and whipped cream. Pancakes were only ever eaten on Shrove Tuesday at home and then always with sugar and lemon juice.

The area is full of pretty villages all with their own mairies and central squares. At one, Annie is fascinated by a group of elderly men playing a game she hadn’t seen before.

‘Pétanque,’ said Clara. ‘It’s very popular in this part of France.’

… In turn, each player threw a larger silver-coloured ball, a boule, as close to the jack as they could. The men became more animated as the game went on, especially when someone’s boule knocked another’s further away from the jack.

Annie would never forget her first escape to Normandy, the landscape she travelled through, the pretty villages, the language she heard spoken and the warmth of the people she met.

Buying Links for Her Nanny’s Secret, OUT NOW:

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes and Noble

About the author:

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan Baynham joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction.  From then on, she was hooked! She soon went on to take a writing class at the local university and began to submit short stories for publication to a wider audience. Her stories and flash fiction pieces have been longlisted and shortlisted in competitions and several appear in anthologies both online and in print. In October 2019, her first collection of stories was published. Her stories started getting longer and longer so that, following a novel writing course, she began to write her first full-length novel. She loves being able to explore her characters in further depth and delve into their stories.

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband. Having joined the Romantic Novelists Association in 2016, she values the friendship and support from other members and regularly attends conferences, workshops, talks and get togethers. She is co-organiser of her local RNA Chapter and a member of the Society of Authors.

Find out more about Jan Baynham and her novels here: Website/Blog | Twitter | Facebook |

Thank you for the great post, Jan, and for stopping by my blog. xx

 

Escape to Cumbria with Caroline James.

Escape to, Guest Post, , , , , , , , ,

This week, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to Caroline James as she talks about Cumbria, the inspiration behind the setting of her novels.

I write about Cumbria after falling in love with the county many years ago. Also known as the Lake District, it is a creative’s dream and has inspired writers for centuries. My novels have sometimes featured a fictional hotel named Boomerville, popular with guests over the age of fifty. I once owned a hotel in the northern part of the county and knew that one day, it would be an excellent source for stories when I eventually glued my rear to a chair and began to write.

My fictional guests, often older protagonists, like the real guests who came to my hotel, flock to the area to experience the beauty and splendour of the landscape. In The Best Boomerville Hotel, I want the guests to have fun. They enjoy courses such as pottery or art and participate in whacky events where they may get stoned in a tepee with the resident shaman or hold a séance with Queenie, the clairvoyant. As I get older, I embrace my age and want my readers to enjoy the character’s journey as they find themselves experiencing new things too.

For several years I ran a pub, then a hotel in the Eden Valley and was captivated by the warmth of the locals who were so supportive to a newcomer. The hotel had been the principal house in the village and, with an impressive Georgian frontage, was set in three acres of lovely walled gardens with a large Victorian conservatory. Walking along the shadowy ridges of the fells in my spare time restored my spirits after a hard day at work and spurred my creative juices, for even then, I knew that I wanted to write stories based in this special place.

My first novel, Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me, was set in a fictional village, but the market town of Appleby was the location behind the story. Appleby holds an annual gypsy horse fair, often hated by the locals but loved by the thousands of visitors who flock to the town. The fair was an ideal setting for a story. I live in Lancashire now but often travel into Cumbria for an afternoon or evening walk, and being beside the water of the lakes is something I treasure. My favourite lake is Ullswater, and my much-loved time of year is autumn when the leaves, crisp underfoot, turn to scarlet and gold, and there is a delicious chill in the air.

My latest publication, Hattie Goes to Hollywood, is set in a fictional village close to a lake. Ullswater was the inspiration for the novel. The main character, Hattie, a new resident in Hollywood, turns into a Cumbrian Miss Marple when she discovers three suicides in the village.

I write feel-good novels and hope that they uplift the reader. Cumbria has long been my muse, and I owe a great deal to this extraordinary place.

Carol, thank you so much for hosting me on your wonderful blog.

 Happy reading everyone xx

Thank you so much for stopping by and for sharing your lovely blog and photographs. Autumn is my favourite time of the year, too. xx

About Caroline James:

Author of women’s fiction, Caroline James has owned and run businesses encompassing all aspects of the hospitality industry, a subject that often features in her novels. She is based in the UK but has a great fondness for travel and escapes whenever the pandemic allows. A public speaker, which has included talks and lectures on cruise ships world-wide, Caroline is also a consultant and food writer. In her spare time, Caroline can be found walking up a mountain with Fred, her Westie, or sipping raspberry gin and relaxing with her head in a book and hand in a box of chocolates.

Books by Caroline James: Hattie Goes to Hollywood | Boomerville at Ballymegille | The Best Boomerville Hotel | Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me | Coffee Tea the Chef & Me | Coffee Tea the Caribbean & Me | Jungle Rock

Discover more about her novels or contact Caroline here: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Amazon