The Independent Author Book Award has been a revelation. There are just so many good writers out there, which made our task hugely enjoyable, if difficult. At last we decided on commended, highly commended, and then – the three winners. In the end, our decision was unanimous. Great books all three winners. Thank you all so much for entering – rest assured that 100% of the entry fees go to the wounded.

Thank you, Palamedes PR for sponsoring a professional press release for the winner, and the opportunity of a discounted press release for 2^nd and 3^rd. Thank you Frost Magazine for publishing a review of the top three

Roll of drums for the list of winners, highly commended and commended.

1^st The Cheesemaker’s House.  Jane Cable

2^nd No Stranger to Death  Janet O’Kane

3^rd Man, Dog, Stroke Eric Sinclair

Highly Commended

Alphabetical order

The Grown-ups Wouldn’t Like it. Diane Kay

Callum Fox and the Mousehole Ghost. A. C. Hatter

Commended

Alphabetical order

The Roman Citizens from Class 6B Kevin Brooke

Run fast, keep low Eleanor Broaders

Ruby’s New Coat Jane Carling

Chasing the Dark Clouds Courtney Hulbert (Guy Mortenson)

Brandy Row Shelagh Mazey

Orange Juice and Codliver Oil. Peter Morley

Pegasus to Paradise Michael Tappenden

The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumplin Allan Susie Twine

The Labyrinth Year Clare Weiner

The great good news is that Felicity Trew, of the highly respected Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency, is now representing the winner, Jane Cable.

Also we are honoured to announce that Felicity Trew will be our final judge for the 2015 Independent Author Book Award.

Let’s have a closer look at our winner, Jane Cable, with The Cheesemakers’ House that achieved First Place in the inaugural WforW Independent Author Book Award. Congratulations!

First Place: The Cheesemaker’s House by Jane Cable.

Alice Hart’s husband runs off with his secretary, she runs off with his dog to lick

her wounds in a North Yorkshire village. Soon she decides to start renovating the barn next to her house and opens a whole can o’ worms.

Judges’ comments: The Cheesemakers’ House by Jane Cable was the only possible winner. The clarity, structure and story line was immediately inviting, the characters interesting. They weave, twist and develop towards the denouement, always keeping us with them. Cable is adept at peeling back the  layers; the writing is snappy, the tension implicit. She holds back, and you have to keep turning the pages unable to work things out until she wants you too.

There is a paranormal flicker, which can be clumsy, but in this case we found it believable, and in keeping with the book. Alice is the main character, a survivor of a marital breakup, but unembittered. Owen is the secondary character and is complicated; infuriating, almost fey. All this set against a rural village setting, which Cable ‘gets’ perfectly.

The Cheesemaker’s House is Jane Cables’ first published novel, but it is the work of an experienced writer. Has she many discarded novels in a drawer? Or has she worked with writing groups and really learned her craft? We do wish this is the case with more writers, because until clarity, organization and structure is achieved, fiction won’t work. It is only then that characters haul you into their world.

Jane Cable’s biog.

I have lost count of the number of stories I have started over the years but my first breakthrough came when I actually finished one. It was a romance about cricket and completely unpublishable. But it made me a much better writer. A few more followed, before I started The Cheesemaker’s House. I changed to writing in the first person and it felt different – it felt as though I had found my voice.

In May 2011 The Alan Titchmarsh Show announced a competition to find a new author – a People’s Novelist – and my mother persuaded me to enter The Cheesemaker’s House. I did and was shortlisted, and then made it through to the final. Though I didn’t win, it gave me confidence.

Mainstream publishing was becoming so risk-averse it was harder than ever to get a contract unless you were already famous and this was making many very talented writers go it alone. I had already come across Matador at a self publishing conference organised by The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. I like them because they are selective about the books they take and very, very professional.

The Cheesemaker’s House was really well received by book bloggers and readers and at the time of writing has sold around a 1,000 copies. I am absolutely thrilled to have won the Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award (such a good cause) and a professional press release from Palamedes, and publicity in Frost Magazine. My next novel, The Faerie Tree is now finished. Life is good.