Book Extract: Feel-Good Stories by Sarah Swatridge

I’m so excited as we welcome Sarah Swatridge to Novel Kicks and the Birthday Blitz tour for her book, Feel-Good Stories.

An eclectic mix of heart-warming stories, full of memorable, quirky characters.

Read about the heroic postie, the eccentric duke, a spoilt parrot, a true friend and a determined would-be husband.

Perfect bite-sized reading with your favourite drink.

There is a chance to win a paperback copy of Sarah’s book, An Honourable Wager but first, she has shared an extract from Feel-Good Stories. We hope you enjoy. 

beginning of extract

Beside the Seaside – set in 1920. Great if you love costume dramas on TV,  this is ‘Downton’ rather than ‘Bridgerton’. Good if you love to curl up with an historical novel but just don’t have the time. Here’s a short historical story to whisk you back to a simpler time.

Britain 1920

“My goodness Enid, you are chipper this morning,” his Lordship said. He was reading his newspaper in the library while Enid was clearing the grate.

“Shall I come back later Sir?” she asked.

“No, that’s not necessary, you carry on.” He seemed somewhat flustered. “But please refrain from singing.”

“Sorry Sir, I had no idea I was doing it.” Enid did a little curtsey and returned to her chores.

After only a few minutes, he folded his newspaper, sat back and crossed his legs.

“Come here Enid,” he said.

Enid stood, brushed down her apron and presented herself. The Master studied her for a moment or two, and then smiled.

“So, what’s got into you?” he asked. “You seem full of the joys of spring. Have you met a young man?”

“Oh no, Sir.” Enid was shocked by his suggestion.

“What’s put you in such a good mood then?” Enid looked down at her second-hand boots.

“Come on girl, I want to know, because I’ve been in Italy for a month which was supposed to cheer me up, but it didn’t do the trick.”

“I’m sorry Sir, didn’t you have a good holiday then?”

“It took simply ages to get there, and when we arrived, the place was too hot and too dusty. The food tasted odd, even the water didn’t agree with her Ladyship. No one spoke a word of English, and by the time the newspapers arrived; they were at least a day late.”

“Sorry to hear that, Sir.”

“I seem to remember you had a week with your aunt; was that a better experience?”

“Oh, I had a wonderful time Sir,”

“Wonderful? How?” he asked her. “What was so good about it?”

“Well, Sir, it felt so good to breathe in the sea air; sometimes you can taste the salt on your lips. I ate fresh fish every day, I sat on a donkey and I borrowed my cousin’s bathing suit and went in the sea. It was freezing, but somehow it felt good. I felt alive! If you know what I mean, Sir?”

“Oh dear, so now I suppose you’d like to go and live by the seaside?”

“Oh no, Sir,” Enid was quick to tell him. “Truly, I had the best time, but it was even better to come home.”

“I too was glad to get home,” his Lordship agreed.

“I better get on Sir, or Mrs Winter won’t be pleased, she’ll have my guts for garters, she will!”

Enid hurriedly finished clearing the grate, and made up the fire ready to be lit.

Meanwhile, Lord Henley stood and stared out of the large bay window into the distance. Nothing was quite the same since the Great War, and now they had the Spanish flu to contend with. No wonder it was harder to recruit, and then to keep staff, both inside the manor and on the estate.

“Is everything all right?” Lady Henley asked as she entered the room. “You look as though you’ve got the world on your shoulders.”

“I want to expand the farm, to try new crops and rear more cattle, but we’ve barely got enough workers to manage what we have now.”

“It’s the same for me,” Lady Henley told him. “Daisy has been acting as Lady’s Maid but, quite frankly, she’s much more suited to the scullery. Servants are so hard to come by now-a-days.” She sighed. “It was so different before the war; we had people queuing up for work and they were all so loyal. Nanny stayed for three generations!”

Downstairs Enid was set to polish the footwear that the family had brought back from their month in Europe.

“I’ve never seen so many pairs of shoes. I only have these boots, and those are hand-me-downs.”

Mr Reed was busy polishing the master’s riding boots. Enid told him of her strange conversation with his Lordship.

“I don’t know why they bothered to go, if you ask me,” Mr Reed the footman said. “From what I hear, they wanted Cook to do the same meals she prepares here, which was really difficult, because it was hard to get some of the ingredients. They didn’t leave the house they were staying in because it was too hot outside. They didn’t entertain any guests. Her Ladyship worked on her tapestry and His Lordship read old newspapers and complained about the insects and the unsavoury smells.”

“His Lordship didn’t seem to enjoy himself,” Enid admitted. “I felt awful bad telling him what a wonderful time I’d had.” At this, Mr Reed raised an eyebrow. “He asked me what was so good about my holiday!”

Empire Day was fast approaching on 24^th May and Lady Henley had been considering whether she ought to give the servants a half day in recognition of their hard work, and their loyalty.

“The trouble is,” she confessed to Lord Henley. “I don’t know what we would do without them.”

Lord Henley carefully folded his newspaper and looked at his wife. “I do have an idea,” he said…

end of extract

About Sarah Swatridge –

Sarah Swatridge’s name can often be seen in women’s magazines worldwide such as My Weekly, Woman’s Weekly, Fiction Feast.

She also writes novels, mainly historical, which can be found in the Large Print section of your public library. These novels are standalone and the themes vary from – women setting up a co-operative together in response to dishonest traders in the area (United we Stand) to stories set around employees in a biscuit factory (Biscuit Wars, Gentle Annie, Cakes in the Biscuit Factory etc) to the work of pawn brokers (Adam’s Emporium) or a woman in 1900 wanting an adventure before agreeing to marry (Biddy’s Big Adventure – also available from Calibre Audio if you have problems accessing print in the traditional way)

Say hello to Sarah via her website and Facebook. 

Feel-Good Stories was published in 2024 by Bridge House Publishing. Click to buy on Amazon UK, Amazon US, Barnes & Noble and Waterstones. 

Win a Paperback Copy of An Honourable Wager by Sarah Swatridge

Do you live in the UK? If the answer is yes, then we have a chance for two lucky people to win a paperback copy of An Honourable Wager by Sarah Swatridge. 

For all the details on how to enter, click on this Gleam link. 

About An Honourable Wager – 

Lizzie’s badgered by the local paper who want to print a story about her.

They’ve challenged her to be self-sufficient for a year. Eventually she 

accepts – but on her terms. It’s not an easy year, but she does learn 

what’s important.

*Terms and Conditions –

UK entries welcome.

Please enter using the Gleam link above.

The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.

I (Novel Kicks) am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

by

Laura

I'm Laura. I started Novel Kicks back in 2009 as I wanted a place to discuss books and writing - two loves of my life. As someone who has anxiety, these two things give me, and I am sure countless others, a much needed escape.
There is a monthly book club, writing exercises, prompts, reviews, author interviews, competitions and guest posts. I cover many genres and I hope there is something for everyone.
I grew up by the sea in Dorset and currently live in Poole with my husband, Chris and three cats. I love writing and have a BA (Hons) in Creative Writing from Falmouth University. I am writing my first book. If only I could stop pressing delete. Chris has threatened to stop it from working. Haha.
I have always loved creative writing since I was in first school and would very much like to meet my teacher, Miss Sayers, to say thank you for all the encouragement she gave me then.
When not writing, I love reading, cats, Disney, singing (I can't sing but this doesn't stop me,) and falling into a good TV show or film. If I could step into any fictional world, it would be amongst the characters in ABC's Once Upon a Time.
I love reading many genres and discovering new authors.