A BIT ABOUT ME
In 1981 I wrote Walnuts. I was forty years old and fascinated by the relationships and goings on of my contemporaries. All coping with marriage, children, careers etc. I had no computer at that time and wrote the whole book in long-hand.
Twelve years later, in 1993, I woke from an incredibly vivid dream which would not leave my mind and eventually it became the prologue for my book Keyne Island. By now I had an old Amstrad machine and was able to write it on this and print it out, but there was still no internet available, so to send it to agents or publishers was a costly and time-consuming business and with four children and a busy career as an actress in television it was put, with Walnuts, into a bottom drawer to await resurrection at some later date.
My writing came to the fore again in 2006 when I co-wrote a non-fiction book with my daughter Tara. Our Way was our year long journal chronicling the ups and downs of our journey to lose weight together.
Fast forward to 2014. Finding myself living on my own after the death of my husband, Jeremy, after 50 wonderful years together, my eldest daughter Amanda suggested I should look at both books again, and make a digital copy of them for posterity! I re-read them and decided I really wanted to re-work them. I found myself working on a new version of each of them, and thoroughly enjoying it! It was great to complete unfinished business from so many years ago.
Bitten once again by the writing bug, and loving the creative satisfaction of bringing characters to the page and discovering what they had to say, I started my third novel, Best Way Out as soon as Walnuts was published. Set in 2030 in a euthanasia clinic in South West London, Best Way Out tells of a future where assisted death is a legal right to anyone over the age of seventy-five.
My latest novel Through a Crack in the Door is a psychological thriller which follows the effects that a violent crime has on the victim’s family. While the police are searching for the killer, many secrets and revelations come to light.
Recently published by my daughter Amanda, who was also responsible for publishing my first three novels, Through a Crack in the Door has been a fascinating journey, and I do hope you enjoy it!
January 2019
Keyne Island
Published in 2014 – Available in hardback, paperback and ebook
Walnuts
Published in 2015 – Available in hardback, paperback and ebook
Best Way Out
Published in 2016 – Available in hardback, paperback and ebook
Through a Crack in the Door
Published in 2019 – Available in hardback, paperback and ebook
Books
Through a Crack in the Door
Through a Crack in the Door is a psychological thriller which follows the effects that a violent crime has on the victim’s family. While the police are searching for the killer, many secrets and revelations come to light. When five-year-old George witnesses a terrible crime ‘through a crack in the door’ in his own house, what follows is a mix of suspense and surprises; family loyalty and betrayal; and some tender moments of new beginnings springing from the most tragic of losses.
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Best Way Out
What if it were legal to die with dignity for anyone over the age of seventy-five? In 2030, in South West London, Dr Alan Fordyke welcomes six guests who have chosen to end their lives in style and comfort at Leeway Lodge, the euthanasia clinic he has worked so hard to establish. Childhood memories, past loves and losses, triumphs and challenges, are interwoven into the events of their final evening. Will they all have the courage to go through with it when the crunch comes?
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Walnuts
Who can resist temptation when it catches you unawares. You would think you’d be safe in a place like Princeton Road but scratch the surface and all is not what it seems. Which marriage is under threat, how does innocence cope with tragic loss and what does an age difference matter if you make each other laugh? People are like walnuts, most of them look the same until you break the shell…
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Keyne Island
On a remote island off Cornwall, Clive is persuaded to masquerade as his half-sister by his father, in order to get their hands on her inheritance. What effect does this have on the boy? We follow his journey as he boldly explores his sexuality in the context of a repressed Victorian society, with little regard for the repercussions felt by all those who cross his path …
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