Leanne and her daughter-in-Law Nichole are both coping with the aftermath of divorce and decide to compile a guide to help them move on. Two years on both Leanne and Nichole have pushed forward with their careers and have found new relationships. Just as they feel life is good, people from their past try to spoil their new happiness and bring difficult family challenges which they must overcome to secure their bright future.
Debbie Macomber is a bestselling author in the USA with over 200 million copies of her books in print worldwide. It is said she is a master of feel good stories, ones which raise the spirits of those dealing with relationship problems.
So how much of a master is she?
A Girl’s Guide to Moving On is easy reading and it certainly does bring raise the spirits in our hum drum world, especially as we wait for spring to be sprung.
The pace is brisk, the emotive thrust draws us in, and it is one of there rare things these days, a wholesome and satisfying read.
Another few million sales on the way it would seem. Great stuff.
Debbie lives with her husband, Wayne in Port Orchard, Washington. As well as her best selling fiction Debbie has published two cookbooks, numerous non-fiction works and two children books. Debbie is a devoted grandmother and works for several charities. Debbie and Wayne spend their winters in Florida.
Published by Arrow in paperback on 10th March 2016 at £5.99
Great excitement – Words for the Wounded which raises funds for wounded troops and veterans by creating opportunities for aspiring writers and readers is holding its annual LitFest again on April 16th.
The WforW LitFest Day will be held as always at the lovely Downley Community Centre, School Close, Downley, High Wycombe HP13 5TR
10.00am to 5.00pm.
As everyone knows by now, the three grannies, Margaret Graham, Jan Speedie (both Frost Magazine writers) and Penny Deacon absorb all the costs of the charity and therefore 100% of everything they raise goes to where it should.
The speakers this year are: Sunday Times No 1 bestselling author and a patron of WforW – Elizabeth Buchan talking about her work.
Jemima Hunt, editor and literary agent, and director of The Writers’ Practice with advice on editing your work and attracting an agent.
Tracy Baines, successful women’s magazine short story writer with tips about getting published.
Further excitement as Catherine Balavage, blogger and editor of Frost Magazine will be joining the day to talk about blogging, running a magazine, and her various successful books.
Paul Vates, the brilliant actor, and friend of Words for the Wounded, will be reading from the work of our speakers.
Sharon Bennett will be displaying her art.
Cost £35 (which includes lunch with wine, morning coffee and afternoon tea)
For Tickets, send a cheque or postal order to: (cheques payable to Words for the Wounded)
Words for the Wounded
12 Woodcote Green, Downley, High Wycombe, HP13 5UN
Please include a SAE
Trains from London are frequent, and there are taxis for the 10 minute journey.
A story of jealousy, secrets, heartbreak and love – read and enjoy.
Beaufont Hall, ancestral home of the Tempest family, lies empty, crumbling and the family feel cursed. Will the future glitter for the younger members of the family as their lives take very different paths?
Eliza is bored with life in small council flat in Tottenham and school. Fuelled by thoughts of glamorous parties, night clubs, late nights and freedom Eliza heads for the electric pull of Soho in the 1980s. Eliza feels the world is at her feet, fame and fortune are within her grasp – can she grab it?
Cassie fascinated by her family history and Beaufont Hall and jumps at the chance to explore the abandoned Hall. Cassie finds Eliza’s diaries in the library and from them discovers the hidden truth about her family’s past.
Ilana Fox has woven a fascinating story about Eliza and Cassie who are separated by a generation but linked by the diaries. She paints an evocative picture of life in Soho in the 1980s and Cassie’s determination to find the truth about the past.
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Ilana Fox lives in East Dulwich and is a supporter of Save Soho whose aim is to preserve iconic music venues in Soho from developers. This is Ilana 4th novel and before turning to writing fiction she worked as a journalist for several leading newspapers.
Published by Orion Fiction
In Paperback on 18th February 2016 – £7.99 – eBook £4.99 Available from Amazon.co.uk
Ellie Deane has produced another heartwarming story in her Beach View Boarding House Series.
Sweet Memories of You is set in 1943 in Cliffhaven, a small town on the south coast of Britain. Peggy Reilly runs the Beach View Boarding House and is determined to give her lodgers and evacuees a homely, happy place to live.
Peggy’s husband, Jim, is away with the Army in India and she is reliant on his regular airgraphs to know he is safe. Doreen, Peggy’s younger sister, has at last found happiness after her divorce from her adulterous husband but fate changes this.
Doreen returns to Cliffhaven to the love and comfort of her family but her past cannot stay away.
There is however a protector in Ron Reilly and his faithful brindle lurcher, Harvey. Ron watches over everyone at Beach Villa and with his Irish charm, mischievous ways and network of friends, keeps trouble at bay.
Read and enjoy this charming story of ordinary people coping with the hardships of air raids, rationing and the heartaches of a war which feels as though will never end.
Ellie Dean has lived in a village in the heart of the South Downs for many years. She has raised 3 children and this is her tenth novel in a successful writing career.
Katie Flynn has so many successful titles already but we must add this gentle readable story to her successful list.
The story starts in 1938 in Liverpool. Rosheen Clarke and her lively, strong willed twin daughters have no idea how their world is going to change with the advent of war.
After war is declared the twins are evacuated to Wales. The prospect of living in the countryside does not appeal to them.
Rosheen joins the WAAF and meets a fellow Liverpudlian Cassie Valentine. The two become firm friends and support each other through – trouble with the twins, the bombing of Liverpool and Cassie fighting her love for a childhood friend Andy.
When peace is declared in 1945, Rosheen, Cassie and the twins are all changed by the events that have happened in their lives – hopefully all to their good.
Read and enjoy this well presented tale of life during World War 2.
Katie Flynn lives in the north-west of England. Her short stories were often broadcast on Radio Merseyside. Hearing her family reminiscing about life in Liverpool in the early twentieth century she was prompted to write her Liverpool series. Katie has always loved to write and continues to although she has had to cope with ME for the past few years.
The Food of Love, Book 1 Laura’s Story by Prue Leith
Reviewed by Jan Speedie
Prue Leith has had 5 novels published and has now embarked on number 6 which is to be a trilogy of stories about the Oliver family: Book 1 Laura’s Story. Prue Leith is well known as a cook, restaurateur, business women and judge on the television series Great British Menu. Having published 12 cookery books she decided to turn her writing skills to fiction.
The Food of love is the story of the Oliver family and their lives during and after the Second World War. Donald Oliver has moved his family to a Cotswold farm where he hopes to be accepted by his aristocratic neighbour but his domineering attitude makes this impossible.
Laura Oliver has always doted on her father. She is beautiful, spoilt and tempestuous so when she falls in love with Giovanni, an Italian POW, her father is outraged.
Laura and Giovanni flee to London to start a new life together. They struggle with poverty, hardship and destitution but their love for each other remains strong. Slowly they realise their dreams but not without consequences to other lives.
Prue has woven a story about food and survival during wartime rationing and the introduction to the British nation of Italian themed cooking in Giovanni’s restaurants. The smell of garlic, pasta and tomatoes rises from the pages.
Who will feature in the next episode of this trilogy about the Oliver family?
Prue Leith has played a key role in changing our eating habits in Britain. She lives in London and Oxfordshire.
‘OK, let’s get down and dirty, then.’ The decision was made. We’d do the military assault course Mud Challenge at www.actiondaysout.co.uk to round off charity Words for the Wounded’s 2015 fundraising activities.
We? Margaret Graham, Jan Speedie and Penny Deacon, are the grannies who run Words for the Wounded. We choose to conduct strategy meetings at The Wellington on the Strand, and decisions seem so easy over the second glass of wine. ‘Yes, there’ll be a bit of mud. Yes, we’ll get the families involved. Yes, it’ll be a bit of fun – and easy peasy.’
Easy peasy? For goodness sake.
On the whole our charity, Words for the Wounded, raises funds by offering opportunities to readers and writers: the annual Independent Author Book Award, the LitFest Day. But we also like to do something different. Last year was the sky dive, this year MUD.
With our long-suffering children and grand-children on the team we met up at Action Days Out, Henfold Lakes, Dorking, in the rain. Ah well. Ian and Callum Marshall briefed us, which is when ‘easy’ and ‘The Wellington’ seemed a million miles away, and teamwork was emphasized as crucial to the escapade. Off we trooped, to the warm up obstacles.
Ho hum. Warm up, indeed. Then it was 1,2,3, and off we went. Mud? Oh yes. Water? Oh yes? Small obstacles? Oh no. BIG obstacles.
Ian and Callum were there all the way, (on the bank). We ranged in age 11 to 70, and everyone helped everyone else. Was it like one great mudlark? Not exactly, one has to say, in fact, just feeling a little faint at the memory.
I found dragging my feet out of the mud was half the battle, but there was the other half of the battle looming as I tried to find somewhere to put the foot that would actually help me hoof up the bank. Frequently it was on some poor soul’s knee. But then I took the weight of a few so all is fair in a mudbath.
So, easy? NO. Fun? Oh yes. I haven’t laughed so much for years, even when Ian asked us to link arms and run across the next few inches of water, which we did. It was actually several feet deep. Then there was crawling through water beneath barbed wire, throwing ourselves through tyres (frantic searching to find one big enough for my bum – oh, the humiliation had I stuck)
Finally the end, and yes, you guessed it: debrief over lunch at a pub down the road, The Royal Oak Stonebridge. Adrian and Beverley Waterworth looked after us like troopers. Try it.
A success? Fantastic day, a great team, we all know one another far too well, having trodden/thrown, tugged one another into and out of obstacles. We surely must have soft skin from the all- over mudpack.
Action Days Out – Ian and Callum are a great team. Boris, Callum’s 5 month old Norfolk Terrier came round with him, and found a false boob from the previous day’s Stag Mud Challenge. Yes, indeed, Stag and Hen parties do it here too. Crikey. It’s fun, give it a whirl, but be prepared to throw your clothes away afterwards. Of course, we’re all looking at Norfolk terrier puppies now.
£1750 raised so far. Remember every penny Words for the Wounded raises goes to where it should, as the grannies absorb all costs. If you fancy helping the wounded. Go to:
Author and Frost contributor Jane Cable shares the first in a series of blogs about organising a charity litfest
“This is fabulous” said my fellow Chindi author Christopher Joyce, reading about the Words for the Wounded grannies’ latest exploit. “Let’s do something to support them.”
I was so pleased. “Perhaps an event?” I suggested.
“Yes – we’ll have a litfest.”
Nothing if not ambitious, is Mr Joyce.
First, let me explain about Chindi; we are group of indie authors from the Chichester area who work together to share information on best practice in publishing and to promote our books. Christopher Joyce, a children’s author, is one of our founders, our chairman and all round powerhouse. And when he sees a great cause like Words for the Wounded, he can’t help himself but get stuck in.
When we put the idea of holding an event to raise funds for the charity to one of our monthly meetings most people supported it so we agreed to go ahead. But our calendar was already crowded with a series of Saturday morning workshops over the spring and summer and two events as part of the Festival of Chichester in June, so it had to be in the autumn. Plenty of time to arrange things then.
The only person I know with more energy than Chris is Words for the Wounded chief grannie and Frost contributing editor, Margaret Graham. I sometimes worry about what will happen when we get them in the same room. But for the litfest, even Margaret exercised words of caution; Chris was planning a whole weekend – she thought perhaps a day would be fine.
We sketched out ideas of a structure and in the end compromised on a full day on the Saturday and a Sunday breakfast. Margaret would give a morning talk, then lunch with a keynote speaker, a family bookish treasure hunt in the afternoon and an informal fundraiser in a pub in the evening. Rounded off by a book-swap breakfast to nurse our hangovers.
For a while we suffered from chicken and egg syndrome; we had the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ – but should we now focus on the ‘who’, the ‘when’ or the ‘where’? Realistically it had to be when so we narrowed it down to a couple of dates when Margaret and her right hand woman Jan could make it.
Next was who: – we had Margaret, of course, but really wanted another writer as a keynote speaker. Once again we turned to Margaret – having read Words for the Wounded’s impressive list of literary patrons – and she suggested Elizabeth Buchan. I have to admit I was nervous emailing such a superstar of the writing world but I received an almost immediate reply – she would be honoured to help out, but she could only make one of the dates – 17th October.
So there you have it… save the day if you’re anywhere near the Chichester area – 17th & 18th October, Chindi’s Words for the Wounded Litfest.
But have we left ourselves too much to organise in too little time? Find out, dear reader, next month.
Leanne and her daughter-in-Law Nichole are both coping with the aftermath of divorce and decide to compile a guide to help them move on. Two years on both Leanne and Nichole have pushed forward with their careers and have found new relationships. Just as they feel life is good, people from their past try to spoil their new happiness and bring difficult family challenges which they must overcome to secure their bright future.
