Author Archives: Jane Cable

SUNDAY SCENE: SUZANNE SNOW ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM SNOWFALL OVER HALESMERE HOUSE

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Inspiration for me often begins with the setting and I knew I had found my characters’ home when I visited this gorgeous house and garden in Cumbria. Soon I could envision Ella and Max here and picture their story unfolding around me. The scene I’ve chosen to share is set on a Sunday evening when Ella is feeling tense and alone in the house on her first weekend at Halesmere. Active by nature, she heads out into the frosty night for a walk in the grounds to settle herself before bed:

 

Not a thing seemed to be stirring when Ella reached the empty lane; she felt like the only person awake and watching the world at this hour. She really ought to go back to bed; midnight would soon be past, and she couldn’t spend the night marching up and down the drive.

She heard Prim before she saw her as she neared the house. She saw the dog freeze, then her tail shot up and Prim barked once, cautiously, then let out a volley of noise that had Max running after her.

‘Prim, shut up, there’s nothing there,’ he hissed. ‘Be quiet, you’ll wake the kids up.’

Ella had been looking for a tree or convenient spot where she might hide, but it was too late. Prim had found her and immediately swapped the barking for a madly wagging tail and a desperate wish to put her paws on Ella’s shoulders.

‘Who’s there?’ Max called sharply.

‘It’s me.’ She stepped forward, offering a quick smile she wasn’t sure Max would see through the dark. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to set Prim off like that.’

‘Ella! You had me worried for a minute, Prim’s never barked like that before.’

‘Just doing her job, aren’t you, girl.’ Ella stroked the dog leaning against her legs.

‘I suppose.’ Max was wearing a T shirt over lounging trousers, and he shivered. ‘It’s pretty late to be out for a stroll. Couldn’t sleep?’

‘No,’ she admitted. ‘Walking usually helps.’

‘I work rather than walk when I can’t sleep.’ He wrapped his arms across his body. ‘Not so easy for me to leave the house.’

‘Of course.’ She thought of his children, cosy in their beds. ‘But doesn’t working too many hours late at night just make you more tired?’

‘Yeah.’ She saw the gleam of his smile. ‘But I’ve got two excellent alarm clocks who like crashing on my head first thing, so there’s not much danger of me sleeping in.’

A gorgeous new image jumped into Ella’s mind, one featuring Max being woken with cuddles and love every morning by Lily and Arlo tumbling over him. ‘You’re not still working?’

‘Just finished. I let Prim out last thing before I head up.’ Max stamped his feet, blew out a breath. ‘It’s freezing. You don’t fancy a hot drink, do you?’

Not wise, Ella, she told herself. Not wise at all. But exactly what she wanted and quite possibly just what she needed. ‘I’d love one. Maybe not coffee though.’

‘No problem. I do a mean hot chocolate, and I could throw in a shot of brandy to warm us up.’

‘Perfect.’ It was, and Prim seemed delighted to be escorting Ella safely into the cottage instead of seeing her back to the silent house.

 

I loved writing this scene as it marks a change in Ella and Max’s relationship as they begin to understand one another and the circumstances which have led them to Halesmere House in search of new beginnings.

 

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Devika Shallivan’s tips for readers who would like to dip a toe into the erotica genre

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Understand erotica genre: Erotica is literary or artistic work that deals with sex and physical descriptions. There is a thin line between vulgar, raunchy, sensual and sexual. There is also a thinner line between pornographic and erotica.

Erotica genre is not for everyone: The characters will be adults and young adults now. Readers would be 16+ or 18+ depending internationally on the country’s age limit. The sex will be integral to the plot and/or the development of the romance. There will be no fade to black sex scenes. The sex scenes in the book will be explicit and frequent, as in recent Netflix TV series like Sex Education and Fifty Shades of Grey. We are just starting to get used to talking about sex in an easy to understand language.

Desensitized by violence, guns, bombs, cheating, rape and sex: Many Hollywood movies we see have such high stakes which sometimes isn’t true. It makes us desensitize and make us think this all is “normal”. The difference between fantasy and reality is grave.

Be sympathetic to erotica writers: Despite erotica writers trying very hard to not offend but there are so many words that can be used for penis and vagina. Many erotica writers struggle to put the right words as they do not want to offend their readers and even books from E L James were criticized.

Be open to rude words: Some writers write to please a different audience and leave lots to imagination or use words that some regular readers of erotica may find outdated.

Erotica genre is sometimes going to trigger:  When a writer is trying to tell a story they might trigger readers, so be aware of trigger warnings where they exist. Alternatively these stories could resonate with the reader and they would be able to empathize with the writer or characters.

Writer voice shouldn’t be shushed: We live in the diverse world. Just because readers haven’t experienced it doesn’t mean it becomes taboo.

Erotica genre isn’t for glamourising sad stories or to encourage bad fantasies: There are sometimes stories about violence, sexual harassment, sex trafficking, coercion, rape, make up sex, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, sexual fantasy, BDSM, fetish, etc. These stories need to be read and be heard rather than being labelled as pornographic or too rude.

Readers should be open to Erotica Genre for all the aspects of sex rather than limited written in the traditional language of romance.

Devika Shallivan Services: https://www.facebook.com/rgrprt/services

 

Resources

Wikipedia: Erotica Genre
Game of Thrones – George R. R. Martin (1996) Books
Bridgerton – Julia Quinn  (2000) Books
Nymphomaniac Volume I (2013) Film
Nymphomaniac Volume II (2013) Film
Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) – E L James
Sex Education (2019) TV Series

As with all articles in Frost, the opinions expressed are the contributor’s own.

SUNDAY SCENE: COLETTE DARTFORD ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM THE MORTIFICATION OF GRACE WHEELER

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At the heart of my novels are relationships at a point of turmoil or crisis, because that is when they are most interesting. In Learning To Speak American, Duncan and Lola Drummond try to celebrate their twentieth wedding anniversary in sun-drenched California, while still grieving the loss of their daughter two years earlier. In An Unsuitable Marriage, Geoffrey Parry loses his business, his family home and his dignity. He is forced to move in with his elderly mother, testing their relationship, while his wife Olivia, takes a position at houseparent at their son’s prep school, testing their relationship too. In my third novel, The Mortification of Grace Wheeler, Grace is faced with a lonely empty nest when her only child, Josh, goes to university. For eighteen years they have been a family – Cal, Grace and Josh – but now Grace and Cal are a couple again, and she can’t see how that will work. The story begins the day before Josh – a keen fisherman – leaves home. Grace has taken him to one of his favourite fishing spots and watches wistfully from the grassy bank.

In many ways it was a perfect day. Late summer sun, buttery and low, showered gold dust on the river as it rippled over shallow rocks. A riot of insects flitted over the deeper water, tempting unsuspecting fish to the surface. Josh stood knee-deep in his waders and cast out with a long swish of his rod.

Grace sat on the riverbank, a tartan blanket spread out beneath her. The book her mother, Ruth, had given her lay face down on the picnic hamper – The Empty Nest: A Survival Guide. Ruth meant well, but even the title troubled Grace. It foreshadowed the vacuum Josh’s absence would create, and the spotlight it would shine on her marriage. From tomorrow, Grace’s own nest would be empty, and reading about it wasn’t how she wanted to spend this last day with her son.

Grace misses Josh terribly and is upset that Cal doesn’t. For him it’s a case of ‘job done’, an attitude that only highlights the distance between them. When she is advised to take up a hobby, Cal suggests she join his golf club, but she wants to spend less time with him, not more. Instead, she has fly-fishing lessons as a surprise for Josh when he comes home. Her instructor is a chilled and charming millennial, a complete contrast to Cal, more than twenty years her senior and unrepentantly set in his ways. Despite having always been true to her marriage vows, Grace finds herself drawn into a brief affair that has devastating consequences not just for her, but her entire family.

Rivers and lakes are the setting for some of the book’s more poignant scenes. As the story began by a riverbank, I wanted it to finish there too. ‘Bookend all the bad stuff’ is how Grace put it. I can’t say any more about what happens between these two excerpts, or how this particular day’s fishing will end.

Josh strode out into the gin-clear water and made his first cast. Grace watched from the bank and remembered the empty-nest book Ruth had given her. She had dumped it into the recycling, unread. No great loss, she told herself. Nothing could have prepared her for the trauma of her empty nest. Even now, she could hardly believe everything that had happened.

 

 

A SAFE PAIR OF HANDS

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Jane Cable reviews three books from authors from whom quality is a given

The Rising Tide by Ann Cleeves

I love it when you pick up a book and you know you’re in safe hands; seamless writing you cease to notice within minutes, credible characters, a beautifully bound together plot. I know it sounds strange to say so for a writer of Ann Cleeves’ experience, but not every author stays on top of their game in such an emphatic way.

This is the tenth Vera book and the first I have read. I don’t like crime books in general as I find them terribly formulaic and predictable, but, encouraged by my husband, I hoped for more. And The Rising Tide delivered in spades.

Fifty years ago a group of teenagers spent a retreat weekend on Lindisfarne and although their lives diverged, most of them return every five years, even though the first reunion was blighted by tragedy.  Now they are in their late sixties and make unlikely murder suspects, but when one of their number is killed they are all in the spotlight. Their backstories make them fascinating characters with so much depth, which is one of the things I enjoyed most about this fabulous book.

 

A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale

It’s a long time since I read Notes From on Exhibition and I had forgotten what a convincing writer Gale is. His characters spring quietly from the page and somehow seep into your life so that you believe in their existence almost without knowing it. And for this book the setting was my adopted county of Cornwall and the author’s own home; the real Cornwall too, and not the sugar-coated touristy one.

The book opens with a young man’s suicide, and it isn’t hard to guess there is more than meets the eye to his relationship with the priest he calls to pray for him as he dies. Their stories, and the stories of those close to them, are then unwound, backwards and forwards, forwards and back in time, in a way that could feel disjointed, yet in fact makes perfect sense. This is a book I will remember for a long time.

 

Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

This was a book club pick and not the sort of thing I normally read. But that was my reason for joining a book club – to try new things. And guess what? I loved it.

A thriller set in the underbelly of London that most of us hope not to see, it follows the world of middle class academic Adam Kindred from the moment his world unravels when he’s accused of murder. At first one poor decision follows another and within days he is homeless and hungry, pursued not only by police, but by a ruthless hitman.

The story is told from multiple points of view that weave seamlessly together. Adam, the hitman, the boss of a pharmaceutical company that may be at the centre of it all, a policewoman and a prostitute. An unlikely cast of compelling characters who create a faultless narrative only a really skilled an experienced novelist could pull off.

 

 

SUNDAY SCENE: CAROL THOMAS ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM A SUMMER OF SECOND CHANCES

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Ava Flynn, the heroine of my novel, A Summer of Second Chances, feels the clothes donated to the charity shop she manages have seen more life than her. Yet maximum dedication is what it takes to keep her late mother’s beloved wildlife charity, All Critters Great and Small, running.

But when Ava’s first love, Henry Bramlington, returns to the village, life suddenly becomes a little too eventful. As the heir to Dappleburry House and estate, Henry, has the power to make or break the village he left behind – All Critters Great and Small included.

In the scene I am sharing, Ava is running with her spaniel, Myrtle, in the grounds of Dapplebury House. Unaware that Henry has returned, but well aware she is trespassing (especially as she was banned from the estate many years ago), Ava is releasing the tension she has felt building inside as she encounters Henry for the first time in over a decade.

 

The trees went by in a blur. The sensation was freeing. Ava was running too fast for rational thought. Too fast to think about all that she would like to say to her mum; too fast to think about the weight of burden she felt at keeping All Critters Great and Small afloat; too fast to think about the never-ending mountain of donations at the shop, and – Oh God! – too fast to do anything to avoid the man stepping out from the line of trees just feet ahead of her.

With the deft agility that came from being half a metre from the ground, and in possession of four paws, Myrtle darted out of the way, while Ava braced herself for impact. Seeing the alarm in the man’s green eyes as if she were registering the situation in slow motion, Ava slammed into him, knocking him to the ground as the breath left them both.

Shocked at the abrupt stop as much as the fall, cushioned only by the fact she had landed on top of the man, it took Ava a moment to regain her faculties. Embarrassment taking over, she cursed and began scrabbling up from the horribly awkward situation. Myrtle ran around the unexpected scene in a frenzy of excitement as Ava and the man disentangled their bodies.

Ava stood. ‘Are you crazy? What are you thinking just stepping out like that?’

Slowly getting to his feet, the man laughed, the unexpected response doing nothing to ease Ava’s anger.

‘Seriously?’ She felt the beads of sweat on her temples prickle.

‘I’m sorry—’ The man, still doubled over with his hands on his hips, sounded winded. ‘I heard a scream … and came to see if everything was all right. I had no idea you were about to come … like a banshee, hurtling along from nowhere, on what is …’

‘Private property, I know,’ Ava retorted, flailing her arms in the direction of the woods.

She inhaled in readiness to continue, but as the man stood to his full height, flicking his fringe from his eyes, and offering the hint of a smile, no words came. Instead, Ava stood transfixed – recognition slowly dawning upon her.

 

I greatly enjoyed writing all of the scenes between Henry and Ava. While this marks a new beginning for them, all does not run smoothly, especially as Henry inadvertently leaves a donation at the shop that reveals secrets with far reaching consequences for them both.

EVA GLYN’S HIDDEN CROATIA: AFTER THE MONKS LEAVE…

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As so often happens when you’re researching, I stumbled across Lopud 1483. Strange name for a monastery now turned event space and high end holiday let, but not when you discover that was the year the Franciscans started to build Gospa od Spilice, or Our Lady of the Cave.

Perched on an outcrop overlooking the main harbour on the island of Lopud, just fifteen kilometres from Dubrovnik, the monastery and its fortifications have been a landmark for generations. After the 1820s it began to crumble, the monks having decamped back to the mainland leaving a local man to open the church for anyone who wanted to pray.

It was a tiny and often forgotten slice of the monastery’s history that fascinated me originally. I was researching what happened to Dubrovnik’s Jewish community during the Second World War and discovered that some of them had been interned on Lopud for a period of about six months. This was done under the strict instructions of the German occupiers, but the soldiers guarding them were Italians who up until that point had avoided imprisoning the Jews under their jurisdiction.

What fascinated me was exactly where on the island the unfortunate Jews had been interned. There didn’t seem to be very many buildings big enough, which left me thinking about the monastery. It might have been a ruin, but it had stout fortified outer walls and in many ways was an obvious choice. So imagine my surprise when, watching a documentary about the monastery’s restoration, I saw the words ‘il duce’ painted on a wall. Italian fascists had definitely been there.

I really, really wanted to visit this beautiful place, as my characters do in the book I was writing and researching. They would have been there in 2010, quite early in the restoration programme, but I knew from experience that walking around the building and grounds would enable me to recreate it so much better for my readers.

I knew I couldn’t afford to rent this iconic property (recent guests include the Beckham family), so I emailed the general manager with the dates of my Croatian trip and kept my fingers firmly crossed. The answer was yes; they had a small gap between rentals – basically a Sunday morning – and their security officer would show me around.

First let me say that Lopud 1483 is a little slice of heaven. Its restoration took the best part of twelve years, but in 2018 it opened its doors for cultural events and private rentals. The project was masterminded by Francesca Thyssen-Bornemizsa, and it now houses her family’s extensive collection of renaissance art, furniture and artefacts.

Our guide was keen to tell us about the art, but also about the property’s history, including the physic garden and the monks’ pharmacy which have also been restored. To walk through the gardens is a wonderful sensory experience and I could have lingered there for hours, but of course I needed to find out about the Italian connection in World War Two.

Standing in the master bedroom looking at the fascist graffiti from eighty years before sent more than a shiver down my spine. The monastery had certainly been the Italians’ headquarters on the island but, as I discovered that day, not where the Jews had been interned. That dubious honour went to a hotel that had been built in the 1930s as a beacon of modernity, something I would never have found out had I not visited Lopud.

And I can always dream that the book, due out in summer 2023, is an international bestseller so I can afford to go back to Lopud 1493 and stay!

SUNDAY SCENE: LYNN JOHNSON ON HER FAVOURITE SCENE FROM THE POTTERIES GIRLS ON THE HOME FRONT

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Would you have been ready to leave home to become a live-in servant in a posh country house – when you were twelve? That’s what happens to Potteries Girl, Betty Dean. She knows her life will be very different, but is she ready for the loneliness of being in two worlds and not being settled in either? In the following extract, Betty is about to leave home and all her sister, Mary-Ellen is worried about is taking over the housework.

 

‘I’m glad I’m going.’ Betty jumped to her feet. ‘You’ll all have to do some things for yerselves and about time too. I’ll come back to see yer on me day off each month, like I said.’ She glared at Mary-Ellen. ‘But I’ll not be coming back to do the washing, ironing, cooking or anything else, I’ll tell yer that for nowt.’

There was silence round the table. The faces looking up at her brought home the enormity of what was happening. Betty had to take a stand right from the outset.

Her annoyance soon fizzled out. It was beginning to hit her – from this point onwards, she wouldn’t know what her brothers and sisters were up to, whether someone was ill, happy, or sad. All she would have would be letters, if they could be bothered to send them. They would live in different worlds, with different things to talk about, and she would be a train ride away. She would come to know less and less about her own family, be the odd one out, living alone. She had wanted space to be herself in their crowded home, but it came with a heavy cost. When she put it like that, it sounded lonelier than she had ever imagined.

It would be up to her to make sure she didn’t lose touch. She would insist everyone, even little Tommy, with a bit of help, write her a letter each month. That way she could begin to bear it, she hoped.

 

It’s only when you are parted from the family and friends that you realise how much you have taken them for granted over the years – a hard lesson to learn at so young an age. And it’s difficult to think about others when you are hurting too.

 

 

That night, she lay in bed, curled up with Mary-Ellen and Lily, eyes wide open, unable to sleep.

‘Betty?’

The hiss of a voice came from the doorway. A young voice. Tommy.

Betty sat up, careful not to bump against Mary-Ellen ‘Are you all right, Tommy?’

He let himself into the room. ‘I conner sleep knowing as you’ll be gone soon. Conner get it out of me mind.’

‘I won’t be far away. And I’ll come back regular. I promise.’

‘Why d’yer have to go?’

‘We need the money and now we’re all growing up, there’s no room for all of us here.’

‘I’m going ter miss yer.’

Betty put her arms around him. ‘And I’ll miss you so much. You know I will.’

‘Can I stay in here? Just for tonight.’

‘There’s no room, Tommy,’ muttered Lily.

‘Course there is, just for tonight, said Betty, on the verge of tears.

‘Yes, but you’ll have ter get up early.’

‘Dunner care.’

As he huddled against her, Betty put her arms around her brother and sisters. Would this be the way of it all from now on? Always saying goodbye. She had to be strong. To think for herself. To be herself.

 

Staying in touch – is at the heart of Betty’s story.

 

Website: www.lynnjohnsonauthor.com

CARIADS’ CHOICE: AUGUST 2022 BOOK REVIEWS

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Phil Rickman’s The Fever of the World reviewed by Georgia Hill

This is book 16 in the Merrily Watkins series featuring a beleaguered vicar and “Deliverance Consultant” – or exorcist – and set in the Welsh Marches. There’s a mysterious rockfall death, an examination of Wordsworth and his experiences as a young man in the Wye Valley, the odd Druid (a very odd Druid) and it’s all wrapped around with Covid’s cold, clammy hand. Phil has a cult-like following (I’m one) and his Merrily books are a fabulous and impossible to categorise mix of crime, the supernatural and folklore. Go read!

 

Jen Gilroy’s The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls reviewed by Jane Cable

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time and I enjoyed it so much I’m disappointed with myself for putting it off. It was absolutely delightful to escape to a small town community in the Adirondacks, the kind of place I suspect many of us have a secret hankering to live.

Jen Gilroy draws both the people and the place so beautifully, even the most minor of characters come alive in her skilled hands. I was pulled into Annie and Seth’s stories from the moment we meet them both. I knew they both had journeys to take and I knew how those journeys would end, but that’s the point of romantic fiction, isn’t it? No huge surprises, but a really interesting and emotional story that felt as though it was about real people. A place and a time to lose myself in with characters who become to feel like friends.

Not trying to be anything fancy, this is feelgood romance at its best.

 

Faith Hogan’s The Gin Sisters Promise reviewed by Morton S Gray

I loved Faith Hogan’s novel The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club and that was what attracted me to this title. Having finished this one, I’m off to find her other books.

A story full of love, pathos, family misunderstandings, secrets and laughter. Initially I wondered if I would cope with the three sisters’ storylines, but I soon became absorbed in their lives, loves and losses.

The book made me think about legacies and the family tangles and feuds we get into over the years.

I wanted each of the sisters to get their happy ever after and it seems their father did too. Definitely a thought-provoking novel which made me experience a wide variety of emotions from laughter to tears. Highly recommended.

 

Clare Marchant’s The Mapmakers Daughter reviewed by Kitty Wilson

Probably my favourite book of the year so far. Both timelines fully held my attention and I loved both Frieda and Robyn’s stories. Clare Marchant’s writing is so skilled that she takes you deep into the heart of Tudor London, all the senses stimulated and I really felt if I was there, hearing, seeing, smelling all that was going on around her characters. The detail she weaves though is not merely evocative, her books are so well researched that I learn things that I did not before and she always makes me want to dive into further research the minute I finish reading.

Her writing is taut and deftly woven, everything moves the story on, informs the reader and weaves together a truly spellbinding story. The jeopardy she creates had me gasp out loud, my heart pounding with fear – all whilst safely tucked up in my own bed, such is the skill with which she writes. Honestly, I thought this book was flawless and I suspect it will remain one of my favourites for years to come. Absolute perfection.