Author Interview: Rosie Millard
Hello Rosie, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us a little bit about your route to publication? Had you always wanted to write a novel?
I think every journalist longs to write a novel, not least because our work is fish and chip paper the next day! I signed up for a Fiction Writing course with the University of East Anglia which I did every Tuesday night in London for six months, and The Square came out of that.
Can you tell us a little about your book, The Square and how the idea originated?
I wanted to write a satirical novel based in the present day and the garden square where I live in London seemed to be a very fertile starting point! I also wanted to make it a bit racy and fun.
What’s your favourite word?
Babies.
If you were to enter a talent show, what would you perform?
I would sing Any Dream Can Do from Joseph.
What song best describes you?
You Never Feel Happy, Until You Try, by c2c.
If you were only allowed to own three books for the rest of your life, which three would you pick?
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray. Middlemarch, by George Eliot.
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Blog Tour: My Sister’s Secret by Tracy Buchanan
Tracy Buchanan
I am VERY excited to be part of the blog tour for Tracy Buchanan’s new novel, My Sister’s Secret. The e-book was released by Avon on 21st July 2015 and the paperback is due for release on 13th August 2015.
About My Sister’s Secret:
Willow’s memories of her parents are sun-drenched and full of smiles, love and laughter. But a mysterious invitation to a photographic exhibition exposes a secret that’s been buried since a tragic accident years ago.
Willow is forced to question everything she knew about her late mother, and the aunt she’s lived with since she was a child.
How was the enigmatic photographer connected to Willow’s parents? Why will her aunt not break her silence?
Willow cannot move forward in her life without answers. But who can she really trust? Because no one has been telling the truth for a very long time.
I’ve reviewed the book below but first, to celebrate the release of My Sister’s Secret, Tracy and Avon have shared an extract with us. Enjoy!
Chapter One
Willow
In the middle of the Aegean Sea, Greece
August 2016
My friend Ajay reckons the Aegean Sea is named after Aegea, queen of the Amazons. My aunt Hope disagrees. She says it’s named after a famous sea goat. I know which one I prefer. In fact, I feel like I’m channelling a female warrior when I do dives like this, all swaddled up in my diving ‘armour’, ready to do battle with the sea and unearth its treasures. I feel it now as the dive boat we’re on bounces over the waves, the sea spreading out around us, the island of Rhodes just a shimmer of land behind us.
by Review: A Little in Love by Susan Fletcher
Paris, 1832. A street girl lies alone in the darkness, clutching a letter to her heart.
Eponine remembers being a child: her swing and the peach tree, and the baby brother she loved. But mostly she remembers being miserable. Taught to lie and cheat, and to hate the one girl, Cosette, who might have been her friend.
Now, at sixteen, the two girls meet again and Eponine has one more chance. But what is the price of friendship – the love of a boy.
I am only familiar with Les Misérables as far as the Hollywood film version (with Hugh Jackman.) I know, I know. The book has been on my to read pile for so long and now, after reading A Little in Love, I might have to get around to reading it.
The story of A Little in Love begins when Eponine is sixteen and it then goes back to when she was a child. Out of all the characters in Les Misérables, Eponine is the character I have always been intrigued with the most. She wants to be a good person – decent and kind but the circumstances of her life conspire against her.
She does not have the best start in life and in trying to gain her mother’s love, she turns her back on the one girl who may have been her friend – Cosette. I found Eponine’s story so heartbreaking. Anyone who has an idea of the story knows what happens to her but that did not stop me from willing it to end differently.
by Book Haul: Five Books For June
It is time for another book haul. I have brought and been sent some great and interesting titles this month and I wanted to share five of them with you. The five books below have been sent via publishers. What books have you received/brought this month? I’d love to know in the comments box below.
The first book is The Astrologer’s Daughter by Rebecca Lim.
I am loving this cover. This is the first book I will have read by Rebecca Lim (she is the author of the Mercy series) and I am looking forward to reading this book. It sounds very interesting. It is published by Text Publishing on 25th June 2015. It’s available in paperback and also as an e-book. Here’s the blurb:
The Astrologer’s Daughter is the story of Avicenna Crowe, whose astrologer mother has suddenly gone missing. Avicenna Crowe’s mother, Joanne, is an astrologer with uncanny predictive powers and a history of being stalked. Now she is missing. The police are called, but they’re not asking the right questions. Like why Joanne lied about her past, and what she saw in her stars that made her so afraid.
The second novel is The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon.
This book is one I am particularly looking forward to reading. It sounds very intriguing and I very much like the sound of the premise. It was one of those ideas that, when I read the blurb, I said to myself ‘I wish I had thought of that idea.’ Available in paperback and electronically, it’s published by W&N (18th June 2015.)
by Review: Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher
Penguin, 18th June 2015
Dream a Little Dream is the third novel from Giovanna Fletcher. It’s released today (18th June) by Penguin and is available in paperback and as an e-book.
I have to say, I absolutely ADORE this cover. It reminds me very much of Lisa Jewell’s earlier covers – beautiful and romantic. Love, love, love!
Here’s the blurb for Dream a Little Dream:
Sarah is doing just fine. Sure she’s been single for the last five years, and has to spend an uncomfortable amount of time around her ex-boyfriend and their mutual friends, and the rest at her tediously mundane job, but it’s fine. She’s happy(ish).
But it’s not surprising that when Sarah starts dreaming about a handsome stranger, she begins looking forward to falling asleep at night. Reality isn’t nearly as exciting. That is until her dream-stranger makes an unexpected real-life appearance, leaving Sarah questioning everything she thought she wanted.
Because people never really find the person of their dreams… do they?
I was a big fan of Billy & Me and I recently read You’re The One That I Want and loved that too so I was really excited when the review copy of Dream a Little Dream got delivered.
by Book Club
