Tag Archives: Kitty Wilson

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: NOVEMBER

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Kitty

Our Story – Miranda Dickinson

How I loved this book and Otty and Joe. Miranda Dickinson writes with such heart that it spills over into her characters and I fell a little in love with both of them, was desperately willing them to get together and getting a little cross when they were making poor decisions. I love reacting this way, it means the author has completely pulled me into her world. Our Story is a wonderful novel to escape with. Fun, empathetic and engaging, it was delightful reading and an absolutely perfect rom-com.

Christmas Island – Natalie Normann

I have been so excited about this book. I read Summer Island earlier this year and fell in love with Natalie Normann’s writing style and the setting and could not wait to read this second in the series (which can easily be read as a stand-alone). As with the first, this book truly delivers on the cosy or Koselig and as Holly and Tor’s romance builds from their first meeting the reader is taken on a whirlwind tour of Norwegian Christmas food and traditions. I loved so much of the detail of this book and it provided me with the perfect Christmassy escape.

The Single Dad’s Handbook – Lynsey James

This book is the story of Evan – a widower bringing up his small daughter – and how his grief has, understandably, upended his life. He discovers a book of letters written by his wife before she dies to help him deal with the issues she anticipates once she is gone. The letters are poignant and witty, which is a fair summary of the book itself. I read it very quickly, fell utterly in love with Evan’s daughter Violet and thought the way that Lynsey James manages to combine this story of loss with comic moments and the hope that a new romance can bring was very skilfully done.

 

Susanna

The Ferryman’s Daughter by Juliet Greenwood

Wow! What a book. I was utterly caught up in this enthralling family saga set in rural and coastal Cornwall in the early part of the 20th century. In Hester, Juliet Greenwood has created an exceptionally strong and appealing heroine and I loved and admired her as she fought to follow her dream in spite of numerous setbacks that occurred thanks to the conventions and expectations of the day. This is a thoroughly engrossing and satisfying book, packed with drama and emotion and enhanced by a strong sense of time and place, all served up by a gifted writer.

 

Jane

Glynis Peters’ The Forgotten Orphan is about as far away from a traditional orphan story as it’s possible to be. For a start the protagonist, Maisie, is an older teenager, and secondly, she is in the middle of a world at war. That said, it is a story of friends, family and loves lost and found, and it doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of life and death in World War Two.

From a personal point of view I loved the fact the book was set in Southampton, a city I know well. It was well researched and well written, with a host of characters I came to care about. Family saga, wartime tale, love story – this book was all of these and so much more than the sum of its parts.

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ GUEST: ALISON KNIGHT ON WRITING A VERY SPECIAL BOOK

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Alison Knight is a writer, teacher and editor living within sight of Glastonbury Tor. She is a member of the Society of Authors and The Romantic Novelists’ Association. She carries the dubious distinction of having introduced Kitty and Jane at an RNA conference.

I’ve always found entertainment, wisdom and solace in reading. When times are tough, it’s good to be able to escape into a story that takes you away from your everyday life and worries. So I suppose it was natural for me to become a writer.

Creating a legacy

My latest book, Mine, which is published by Darkstroke Books, is my fourth novel and a project that is very close to my heart because it is based on real events that happened in my family in the late 1960s. I’m the only one left who can tell this story and it was important to me to wrote it in order to introduce my children, nieces and nephews to people that have gone before. It’s my legacy to them, helping them to understand that the world was very different fifty-odd years ago and the people I portray in Mine were driven by the attitudes of society at that time. If the same things happened today, the outcome would be very different.

Understanding why

I also wanted to write Mine for myself. My memories of that time were stuck in the mind of a ten-year-old child. By putting myself into the minds and shoes of the main characters, I was finally able to understand what happened with an adult’s perspective.

I’ve written it as a novel rather than a memoir because I didn’t want it to be all about me. Instead, I wanted to explore how ordinary people made decisions that led them into an extraordinary situation. I was also aware that I would never be able to find out exactly what happened as the people who could tell me are not longer here. Instead I used my memories, conversations with family members, newspaper reports and official documents to piece together the story. Where there were gaps, I used what I knew and took into account the culture of the times and used my imagination to fill them. It soon became clear that the guiding themes were class, ambition and sexual politics.

Getting published

It has been an interesting journey to publication. At first, the book was far too long at 140,000 words for any publisher to take it on. A rewrite reduced it by over 20,000 words. Some agents and publishers suggested I give it a happier ending or turn it into a psychological thriller. If Mine had been pure fiction, I’d have considered these suggestions. But because it is based on real events, there were some things I simply couldn’t do.

The question of genre was a problem too. It’s a love story, but not a romance with a happy ever after. It was turned down several times because publishers weren’t sure how to market it. When asked to categorise Mine, I describe it as a family drama, or domestic noir.

But then I found Darkstroke Books, an excellent small publisher with a reputation for hard-hitting fiction. After years of rejection, Darkstroke’s acceptance happened quickly and Mine is finally being launched in November 2020. The editing process was fairly painless – my brilliant editor totally ‘got’ what I was trying to do and Darkstroke have been wonderfully sensitive and supportive.

So, how do I feel about finally sending this story out into the world? I’m excited, but also slightly terrified. It’s not often a writer is featured as a character in her own novel!

 

Find out more about Alison at www.facebook.com/alison.knight.942

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: OCTOBER

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Jane

The most incredible thing about Joe Heap’s When The Music Stops is the way it mixes the ordinary with the extraordinary. In one way it’s a version of David Nicholls’ One Day, but set over a longer period (the protagonists meet in childhood) and in the world of jazz music; the parts of the book that happen in the present day are very surreal indeed.

The clever structure gives the book rhythm. It’s very much tied to the music, so rhythm seems like the right word. It makes for very long chapters (sections, really) but that’s fine, because I didn’t want to put it down. At first you wonder what’s happening in the present day but then it begins to make sense and you expect each section to have a certain chain of events. You even know what will happen in the end. But that’s comforting when the boundaries of your imagination are being stretched in other ways.

The love story running through the book is compelling too and each decade incredibly well researched so you feel each period, rather than words being wasted describing it. Ella and Robert meet as children in pre-war Glasgow and have so many near misses you wonder if they will ever get together. I would have enjoyed it on its own, and have appreciated the quality of the writing, but adding the extra dimension makes this a standout book.

Kitty

Anne O’Brien – The Queen’s Rival

I have long been fascinated with the Neville sisters and Cicely in particular so I was excited to read this book. Anne O’Brien is reliably one of my favourite writers of historical fiction and took the brave decision to write the story of Cecily through letters sent largely to family members but also to some of the major players in the turbulent story of her life, Margaret of Anjou for example, who literally held the life of Cecily’s family in her hands. This form must have been so hard to write but I really enjoyed it. It reinforced how hard life must have been without the immediacy of contact we are so used to nowadays. Writing letters to children and a husband that may or may not be alive or dead, knowing that your words could be the ones that help carry them to the scaffold. It reinforced the dangers and uncertainties of the times and all through the mouthpiece of a woman underrated for the role she and her family had to play in the development of Plantagenet England. Very well done.

Kirsten

What with publicity for Book One, final proofs of Book Two and starting to bash out the first draft of Book Three (and a fab new idea – I hope! –  for Book Four) I haven’t had much time to read this month. But one book I have finished and really enjoyed is People Like Us by Louise Fein. This is the coming of age story  – I’ve learned this month that this this can be called a Bildungsroman  – of Hetty who is brought up in a Nazi household in Leipzig in the years building up to the second war and who falls in love with a Jewish boy. It’s beautifully written and is – by turns – fascinating, poignant and heart-breaking with, I think, a lesson for the times we find ourselves in today. Highly recommended.

Interestingly, I’ve just been sent an ARC of a love story set in lockdown. It’s the first story I’ll have read with Covid-19 as a backdrop and I’m not sure how I feel about reading it. Having had quite a difficult year personally, the jury is out on whether it just too soon to read a story set in the time of Covid. I’ll keep you posted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: SEPTEMBER

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Kirsten

The first book I read this month, was the winner of the 2020 Joan Hessayon award, The Rebel Heiress And The Knight by Melissa Oliver (published by Mills and Boon). The award was open to any writer whose debut novel had been through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme was published this year and I am immensely proud and honoured that Another Us was also a contender. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the Rebel Heiress And The Knight. It is set in the reign of King John – a period of history I really love – and is just a rollocking good read with twists and turns aplenty. It is also a proper romance – the chemistry and tension between the main two characters is fabulous and I loved the fact that Hugh is kind and honourable from the start. A marvellous debut and a worthy winner of the Joan Hessayon award.

Another book I have enjoyed this month is If I Can’t Have You by Charlotte Levin (published by Mantle). This is a real page turner and exquisitely written and explores themes of obsession, heartbreak and unrequited love. I was expecting our protagonist, Constance, to be simply bonkers – and can’t love make us all thus?! – but she is also variously vulnerable, lovely and hilarious. This book really stayed with me and I highly recommend it.

And, finally, I am rather late to the party with Hamnet, written by Maggie O’Farrell (published by Tinder Press)  – but, just, WOW! Staggering beautiful and heartbreakingly poignant, this exploration of love and loss deserves every accolade and award …

Jane

I do love a dual timeline novel, and since writing one myself am even more in awe of writers who make them work. Clare Marchant’s stunning debut, The Secrets of Saffron Hall, is one such book. The level of research the author has undertaken shines almost as much as her gorgeous prose, and put together they make the book a thoroughly satisfying read.

I normally enjoy the historical strand of a story more, so wasn’t remotely surprised when I became more and more lost in Eleanor’s world at the cusp of the dissolution of the monasteries. That I read it on holiday while visiting ruined abbeys was undoubtedly a factor, but Tudor life in rural Norfolk was so richly drawn I just loved falling into it. I felt the chill winds sweeping across the fens, saw the saffron swaying gently in the dawn.

It took me longer to relate to twentieth century Amber although in the end I was rooting for her happy ending. The fact hers isn’t a traditional boy-meets-girl love story was brave for a debut and I loved it. Credit must also go to Aria for not dumbing this book down, as sadly seems to be so fashionable in romance publishing at the moment.

Kitty

Cornwall: Misfits, Curiosities and Legends
A Collection of Short Stories and other scribbles

This anthology combines all sorts of storytelling in the one book, with the spirit of Cornwall infusing each piece. It moves from moor to coast, from past to future and covers a multitude of genres including historical, fantasy, romance, magic realism and sci fi. Additionally, there is poetry and a script alongside the short stories and with such a wide variety of styles, I defy any reader not to be able to find a piece that resonates with them. Cornish history and mythology are bought to life, illustrated and built upon and I greatly enjoyed reading this anthology from a group of writers whose love of Cornwall shines through their work.

 

SISTER SCRIBES: KITTY WILSON ON A TIME TO WRITE

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I thought I’d write about what I do to help me get my word count done, particularly when it’s being tricky, as it is today!

Writers all give different advice, some feel that writing when you’re in the mood is best otherwise you can lose the joy, the spark of creativity. I am in the opposing school. For me, strict deadlines and real life mean that writing has to be a discipline as well as a pleasure and I am a great believer in writing every day or every day I am able.

Being a bit of a control freak, I do not allow myself a weekend if I haven’t hit my weekly wordcount during the week. It isn’t always easy but I swear by self-discipline and using timers. I find that on those days the words aren’t coming it is important for me to sit at my laptop and stare at that blank page. To make sure I don’t find an excuse not to write I set a timer – only for ten minutes – and I do not move, go online or look at my phone in that time. I usually have something pop into my mind before the ten minutes is up, just to quell the boredom if nothing else. It may not solve the current plot niggle or stay in the final manuscript but it gets me started and more often than not leads somewhere useful.

Even on the days I know what I want to write I have a butterfly mind and constantly seek distraction so again I use a timer at the start with spurts of ten minutes and a little reward after each – a quick check of social media, a scroll through my news app, a cup of tea etc. I usually find I can turn the timer off after a couple of blasts of ten because by that point I’m so involved in the story the words fly out and hours fly by.

This works for me most days but sometimes I get to a sticky bit and I truly can’t think. In which case I sit in water. I know this sounds weird. But I am the clumsiest person in the world. I cannot trust myself to take my phone or laptop in the bath, or the paddling pool on sunny days (yes, I work in a paddling pool!) but I can just about trust myself with a notepad and pen. Then I am truly free from distractions, there’s only so long I can swirl water about dreamily before my mind focuses and inspiration follows. I always end up with a couple of pages of notes for my next scene/ chapter and they are often far more developed and thought out than when I am just in front of the computer.

So, in a nutshell, I use timers on a daily basis and sit in water when I’m stuck. But I want to add that I truly believe in the power of the mind as a sort of super computer and in being kind to yourself. So, if you are really struggling, I think it’s okay to feed your mind the details of what you need resolved, take yourself off and do something different for a bit and somehow, magically, I’ve found the answer always pops up. I just really hope today that my mind hurries up!

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: AUGUST

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Kitty

The Shelf – Helly Acton

I loved this book, it was a whirlwind of a story picking the reader up and whizzing them through the chapters much as a reality show does with the viewer and it’s episodes. A fabulous debut, it was addictive, quick-witted and I genuinely couldn’t put it down. I loved how the sisterhood of these women shone through as they bonded over their shared experiences regardless of their very different personalities. The book challenged the sexist tropes frequently perpetuated on social media and reality tv and reflected in society today with a clear and necessary message to both our younger and our older selves.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and am really looking forward to this author’s next book.

A Bicycle Built for Sue – Daisy Tate

This book took me through the emotions like you would not believe. Skilfully written, it manages to genuinely combine laugh out loud moments with segments so raw and emotional I had to pause and look away from the book for a bit.

It tackles some serious issues, suicide and self-harm but does so in a way that is both respectful, sincere and empathetic. However, the over-arching nature of this book is feelgood joy. The very opening pages – set in a 111 call-centre – set the tone by being witty, insightful and real.

The story itself is that of three unlikely friends who come together in a moment of adversity and resolve to do something out of the ordinary. They are to do a charity bike ride along Hadrian’s Wall, there are highs and lows, moments of danger and excitement but more importantly our characters learn an awful lot about each other and even more about themselves. This story is about the power of friendship and the characters represent the different stages of life and thus problems and issues we can all relate to, regardless of our age or experience. This book touched my heart and I am more than happy to highly recommend it.

Summer Strawberries at Swallowtail Bay – Katie Ginger

This is a feelgood summer read, with sunshine, strawberries, and a crumbling Manor House. Add a handsome, honourable hero and a heroine who is not afraid to go for what she wants and you have the perfect recipe for a lovely, relaxing read chock full of community and romance. I really enjoyed it.

Jane

Having read all Kitty Wilson’s Cornish Village School books I approached the last one, Happy Ever After, with mixed feelings. While I was looking forward to it I knew it would be my final visit to Penmenna with all those wonderful characters, belly laughs and Cornish sunshine.

Happy Ever After is Marion’s story. Having been the scourge of the PTA – and indeed the village as a whole – for the entire series – finally she took centre stage with a love story quite unlike the ones which went before. I know Kitty is my friend, but her portrayal of a twenty year long relationship rather than a shiny brand new one was sensitive and real, funny and poignant. And for that, I loved this book.

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES: KITTY WILSON ON LETTING BOOKS BE BOOKS

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My latest articles for Frost (with the exception of my last) have all been based around why I write and read romance. I’ve written about the universality of romance and about how I see the genre as one that gives hope. Today I’m going to talk about something a little more controversial, about why I think the romance genre can have a bad name.

When I was first published I had so much support but I also encountered a lot of bias from friends who were unable to understand why I chose to write romance, dismissive of the genre as pure trash (their words). It is not an uncommon view, even people who love the genre often refer to it as such with a self-deprecating laugh.

But why? I can’t help but think this bias harks back to the birth of the popular romance novel specifically written for women a couple of hundred years ago because delicate female minds couldn’t possibly expect to understand the intricacies of politics, economics, science. The world has moved on from such misogyny, yet despite us recognising today that skill in all sorts of arenas is not gender based, society is still struggling to shift the notion that romance books are somehow lesser, that their readers, and writers, lack erudition. We accept in life that you have to be remarkably skilled to make things look easy and somehow we still don’t apply this to books considered easy reads. I know so many people, women and men, who love to escape with a romance novel precisely because it’s an escape. If a book is effectively providing a haven, you are losing yourself in its world, then it is well-written.

When we look at the romance genre and remove this bias and examine what romance and its broad range of sub-genres really are, we see that it tends to be fiction that centres around friendship and family life with the thrill of romance and often a dash of good sex thrown in as well. They are books that usually put women at the fore (an exception being MM romances). We also know from what is (or certainly was) on the curriculum in schools that it’s largely male-centric books that society deems worthy of reading. If you examine the syllabi when I was growing up, you will see that predominantly books written by men for men about men were considered literature. This contributes to shaping society’s attitudes about what constitutes a good book. Whilst I genuinely believe this is changing now (hurrah!) and particularly within the last decade – women-centric books are now universally accepted as literature – it seems that easy-to-read books about women having fun or getting caught up in romance are still deemed less worthy.

Romance books frequently examine love and affection, how it’s human to crave it; they open up discussions about love, loneliness, sexuality and so forth which allows for conversations about these things to become normalised. They have done this for centuries, from women gossiping about the latest romance in Regency coffee houses to chatter over the water cooler about Christian Grey. And where there is discussion there is education, an increased awareness of others’ (and self) needs and preferences can only be a good thing. There are always lessons to be learned in life about understanding ourselves and others, improving communication and strengthening the relationships we have with people. If romance helps this and the bias against it harks back to attitudes we know are outdated then surely, regardless of personal taste, it’s time for romance novels to be accorded the respect they deserve.

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES’ READING ROUND UP: JULY

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Jane

Rosanna Ley is one of my favourite novelists, which is the main reason I signed up for one of her writing retreats. That, of course, transported me to Spain, but her novels have taken me all over the world. From Venice with Love is no exception, as I followed Joanna not only to Venice, but to Lisbon and Prague, each city so beautifully described I felt I was really there. But it was Joanna’s sister Harriet’s story that held me, and she doesn’t even leave the Dorset village where they both grew up. She is an exquisitely drawn character, warts and all, and I felt as I was at her shoulder as she made a very different type of journey to her sister. Highly recommended.

 

Kitty

I listened to Candice Carty-Williams’ Queenie as an audiobook and it had me hooting with laughter whilst frantically winding the windows up in the car as some of her more detailed sexual exploits were narrated. The premise initially appears to be typical romcom with Queenie coming to terms with her break-up and with potential suitors popping up all over the place. However, as the book progresses we realise it encompasses far more and that Queenie is in no need of a hero. It takes a real deep dive into mental health and societal pressure and does so in a way that never loses humour or the readers attention. The family relationships had me squeaking with joy. The writing is hilarious, poignant and searingly insightful. Fabulous.

Lindsey Kelk really does deliver on all those descriptions applied to romantic comedy. Hilarious, laugh out loud, devastatingly witty – she hits them all. I have not yet read a book of hers I haven’t loved and In Case You Missed It is another example of her delivering the perfect romcom. It has a truly relatable heroine in Ros, a hero you quite want to bring home yourself, the coterie of well-defined and always amusing friends, the hideous boyfriend from her past, and beautifully described well-meaning but slightly cringy parents.

There is not a page that does not make me giggle and she manages to write comic scene after comic scene whilst developing a fabulous plot and proper romance along the way. Absolutely faultless.

I really enjoyed Clare Marchant’s dual timeline novel, Secrets of Saffron Hall. The book interweaves the story of a grieving mother in the modern day and a young wife in the time of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine Howard. Both were written sympathetically and I thoroughly rooted for both characters. However, it was the historical timeline I found absolutely captivating. I loved being immersed in Eleanor’s story – the fear and uncertainty of living under a capricious king in times of religious upheaval, and the sense of doom contributed to by the reader knowing what will befall the queen, although unsure of how that will impact this particular family. The farming of the saffron itself was also of great interest and whilst aware of the value of saffron, I felt like I was learning something as I read. The authors historical research was clearly well done and she held my attention throughout. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.