Aprhodite’s Tears by Hannah Fielding

Already an award winning author, (Echoes of Love) Fielding looks set to tempt us to join her on the Greek island of Helios which is where Oriel Anderson goes to join an archaeological dive team. It’s not just any team but an all male one, bar her. She is there as their leader.

Dumped by her fiancé she is determined to ‘make it’.

But does she?

There are the usual areas of conflict, the dark brooding presence of her employer, to whom Oriel is attracted, but should she be? Will it all end in disaster? Possibly it seems when strange things start going bump in the night. Well, not bump in the night, but strange things occur which jeopardise not just her, but others who come to work on the dive.

The pages turn, the sun shines, the brooding darkness hovers. What’s not to like. Give it a try as Fielding reworks the Greek myth, Aphrodite’s Tears.

Aphrodite’s Tears by Hannah Fielding. HB £15.00 pub London Wall Publishers.

From sunshine to – snow.

After the Snow by Susannah Constantine, journalist, TV presenter and now debut novelist.

We’ve done the elite in Downton Abbey and now for a trawl of the untold story of the scandalous elite in the sixties.

Is it like a modern day Nancy Mitford as Sir Elton John proclaims?

Sort of, is the answer.

After the Snow follows eleven year old Esme Munroe… who wants as a Christmas present her mother to be on one of her ‘good days’ plus she longs for a velvet riding hat

The assortment of wet towels and dirty plates she finds in her stocking fall somewhat short, but at least Father Christmas has remembered her, after a fashion.

Later in the day her mother disappears in the heavy snow. Only the Earl of Culcairn seems to know where she might have gone. As Esme sets about both protecting her mother and uncovering the secrets of Culcairn Castle the one certainty is that life will never again be quite the same.

Mitford’s writing was tight and pithy, and this is not quite up to that almost impossibly high standard, but with Princess Margaret swishing through the novel there is an elite charm which will satisfy many readers. Give this a go too and it will brighten up the dank weather.

After the Snow by Susannah Constantine. pub HQ. HB £12.99

February is one of those months: dry- January is over, February is promising longer days, but it’s still winter. So time for a night out.

The Moor is coming up at the  Old Red Lion Theatre. So first a drink at the bar, then the play.

418 St John Street, London EC1V 4NJ

Jill McAusland (Call the Midwife, BBC1…), Oliver Britten (Walrus…) and Jonny Magnanti (Three Winters…)will form the cast for the world premiere of Catherine Lucie’s The Moor, a tense psychological thriller set in a place where nothing is as it seems.

Bronagh has lived at the heart of the moor for as long as she can remember, but recently she has started having the same troubling dream. Are the voices trying to tell her something? When a boy vanishes, Bronagh has to tell someone what she suspects, entangling herself and her boyfriend in a murder investigation.

The Moor pits Bronagh against her own past and present, dragging her, her baby daughter and those closest to them into something deeper than the marsh on the moor.

In a play that presents a meaty female character who is emotionally and intelligently charged, playwright Catherine Lucie explores what people are capable of when isolated and under pressure.

Director Blythe Stewart comments, I am delighted to be bringing Catherine Lucie’s thrilling and unnerving play to life – it’s an ambitious and bold work. At the heart of this play is a woman trying to make a difference in her life. I’m thrilled people will have the chance to see more than just a ‘strong female character’. Bronagh is nuanced: acute, reserved, ordinary, distinct, and changeable, and her fight is for herself. We are passionate about making work that gives a space for people usually on the edge of society and of our stories.

The Moor: Performance Dates  Tuesday 6th February – Saturday 3rd March 2018 Tuesday – Saturday, 7:30pm Saturday – Sunday, 3pm

Twitter @ORLTheatre, @riveproductions, #TheMoor

Box Office Old Red Lion Theatre Box Office and www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk or 0844 412 4307.

Tickets £18 (£14 concessions). Preview tickets are available at £12.

Don’t judge a book by its cover—good advice maybe, but, as authors, we experience this unfair and superficial adjudication of our grandes oeuvres every minute of every day.  Whether potential readers are flicking through books in the local bookstore, or library, or scrolling down hundreds of thumbnail-sized cover images on Amazon, the book cover has a far greater influence on buying decisions than we would wish.

So the cover has to be compelling, even when viewed as a myopia-challenging image on an i-phone screen. A good cover design can catch the eye, at least long enough for the viewer to flick to the blurb, but a competition award sticker can bestow instant credibility.  When anyone with a computer can publish—independent endorsement is invaluable. See the unadorned jacket below, and how much more eye-catching the post-award version is.

As a doctor and ex-breast cancer patient, my book guides fellow-sufferers through diagnosis, treatment, and life beyond cancer. However sometimes I struggle to convey to people how much the book can help them. Due to its genre, it is hardly an impulse buy, and a promotion doesn’t usually trigger a scrum in Waterstones, in the same way that a holiday read may.

So when I heard about the Words for the Wounded Book Competition I decided to enter.

I was aware that Words for the Wounded is a very special charity, started and administered by three ‘writing grannies’, including the Margaret Graham – best-selling author with Random House. Raising money by literary-based activities, their charity finds practical ways to help service personnel who have been damaged by war—either physically or through post-traumatic stress syndrome. I was pleased to support such a good cause, whilst taking the opportunity to have my book assessed by experienced literary professionals, in this case, Felicity Trew, of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.

I was astounded and thrilled when my book won first place. Besides my pride that it had been judged best out of hundreds of entries, the new award sticker on my book cover and updated book description, together with social media announcements, resulted in a pleasant upturn in sales statistics.

Fired by my success I entered the same book for the ‘Janey Loves …’ (Radio 2’s Jayney Lee Grace) Platinum awards, and once again won. My book now has two award stickers of which I am very proud.

So, yes, if you believe in your book, enter book competitions – they really help.

Talking of which … The Words for the Wounded Competition is currently taking entries for The Georgina Hawtrey-Woore Award for independent authors in 4 categories: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Fiction for young adults, & Picture Books for Children. See  http://www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk for details.

The charity is also hosting a Lit Fest (details available on the same link) on 21^st April, which is an excellent day of talks for writers and literary enthusiasts alike, held in High Wycombe, just thirty minutes from London. Consider treating yourself – you will not regret it.

And if you are interested in my book …

From Both Ends of the Stethoscope – Getting Through Breast Cancer by a Doctor Who Knows – please feel free to buy a copy http://amzn.to/20Y09pK

www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk