Actress Phina Oruche whose show Identity Crisis was a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe and on UK tour, has graced our screens for years – and now she has turned her hand to storytelling.

During the Covid-19 crisis, Oruche has been learning to home-school and find creative ways to teach and motivate her son. The result is her debut children’s book, Jacopo Jacopo Football Star.

Writing in response to the challenges faced by many parents during the Covid-19 lockdown, she’s created an accessible and fun read for children.

Jacopo Jacopo follows a mixed heritage 10-year-old boy on his journey from grassroots football to signing with a Premier League team. This is an endearing story about a dream, a fragile family, and friendships while getting your game on. A native of Liverpool, Oruche brings to life this incredible city in her new book. Locals can see themselves and their city in this inspiring story which accurately and invitingly presents Liverpudlian culture to a wider audience.

Penning a story about one boy’s footballing journey, Oruche aims to motivate children, particularly young boys, to read more now and in the future. Phina Oruche comments, I love reading and books and the flight of the word imagined. Stories have changed my life, kept me company and everything in between. I would love to foster a love of reading real books in my son and other children. I would much prefer the glow of a night light and a cheeky read than a hidden screen any night of the week.

Jacopo Jacopo Football Star Writer Phina Oruche Age Guidance 7+

Available at Amazon.co.uk

Annie Clarke is the author of Wedding Bells on the Home Front

With, magically, time to spare now a manuscript is in, and before the edits come winging back I finished the wonderful  Philip Kerr A Man Without Breath, but then what? I seldom re-read a book, but there it was, Murder your Darlings by Mark McCrum which I have reviewed before. It was such a romp and what’s more, an excellent detective story the first time round I wondered if it would ‘hold’ for another lap?

I felt drawn because, you might remember,  it is set in gorgeous Umbria at a villa hosting a creative writing course. The ‘ring master’  is the tutor, the hosts Stephanie and Gerry. I ached with laughter, or was it recognition as the ‘performers’ the students milled, chatted, worked whilst the tutor, in this case Francis, observes, bites his tongue and oh, oh, staying neutral. Be still my beating heart… Yes, I’ve been there, taught these – by turn  – wonderful, infuriating and fascinating writers.

I do remember one incidence, but no, I mustn’t, not even with  the nom de plumes Mr A and Mrs B.

But another is repeatable. At ARVON, where I taught one particular course the students had to take turns to cook the evening meal. I joined in, as usual, with the first night’s team, chatting, learning more about them, until as one, the little domestic team disappeared. Was it something I said? It wouldn’t be for a quiet nip of something strong, for there was wine aplenty in the dining room.

They said they’d be back to serve, while all I had to do was stir the pot. Phew.

They did indeed return, as we sat around the large dining room table, tottering in, wearing high heels, and bunny girl outfits they had somehow mashed together. Glorious. Though I do wish they’d asked me to wear a fluffy bunny tail, fishnet tights but perhaps it would have been a tad too much to see granny dolled up, when people were eating. …

But back to the lovely scrumptious Murder your Darlings. So, into this course, set atop a hill with views of the Umbrian countryside, a swimming  pool, a sauna – all mod cons, bursts a murder,  of one of the writers. Or is it a murder? Perhaps an unfortunate accident?  And here they all are, corralled at the villa by the police, all the various branches of the police it seems, under investigation it appears, because – was it an ‘inside’ job?. When into the mix, another murder and no-one has been in, or out. It doesn’t take a genius to realise it was ‘one of them.’  Arghh.

The police turn to Francis for help to ferret about and discover what exactly is going on under the surface .

Why are some of them really there? Why do those who have been coming for twenty years return?  What secrets abound?

I defy anyone to put this book down,as the secrets emerge until – all is revealed.

All I can say is that it’s a blessing the tutor was there, as  I often feel like telling my students – not that anything so dire has occurred, though at times, with the myriad of personalities there is always the chance of blood on the floor.

Bravo, read it once, then go back. Feel the sun on your face, observe the view, ferret amongst the students yourselves, have a snigger, wonder if you could write a book because there are so darned good tips for writers in these pages.

A book is esssential  for whiling away the luxurious hours of lock down. And this one must be first in the queue, and a Philip Kerr.

Then – why not write your own memoir, or novel? This lock down has given some of us time for reflection, time to find the germ of an idea. Go on a writing holiday to – well, maybe not the Villa Giulia – but somewhere. Make sure you keep your wits about you though.

If you are one of the key workers, the time for reflection will come later. But write down your experiences, then, when time has allowed you to process this taxing, draining experience. The family will want to know, perhaps the libraries in their local history section Perhaps a publisher. Or put them in a blog. Writing can order your thoughts, and experiences, it can allow you to take control again.

I work with ill or injured veterans, editing and steering their writing. It is a great  way of talking things out, shaping the mess. Fiction in particular allows you to  throw around those experiences, use them as you see fit, and not allow them to overtake and control you. Or so I’ve found. OK, OK, lesson over.

This is the third of Mark McCrum’s Francis Meadowes mysteries. Beautifully written, and kindly but sharply observed. They really should be televised. Bagsy me to be one of the writers.

Loved it. Must read the others. Thanks a bunch Mark McCrum for a great read.

Murder your Darlings. Mark McCrum. pub Severn Kindle and hb. Available here.

Annie Clarke is the author of Wedding Bells on the Home Front:  pub 14th May by Arrow in  e-Book

Pb due in July  courtesy of Covid easing.

Here’s your chance…

Why not  stage one in your own home is the call from Rebecca Atkinson-Lord whose Cautionary Tale is an exciting new musical which was in development when Covid-19 came calling. Doom and gloom, the workshop performances had to be cancelled.

Nothing daunted the writers want Cautionary Tale’s incredible journey to go on,  so are giving people the opportunity to stage it in their own homes and share their recordings online.

For five weeks, they will release sheet music and backing tracks, Tik Tok choreography, character sketches and script extracts. In week six, the best of these recordings will be used to create a live Zoom version. Record the weekly section by yourself or with your friends and family, share it online using #CautionaryTaleMusical and help make this a reality.

This new musical is about growing up and growing glum with book and lyrics by Rebecca Atkinson-Lord (Founder of Arch468; Director of Theatre at Ovalhouse, 2010 – 2016), music by Rebecca Applin (Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Award holder at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, and Mercury Theatre, Colchester), and choreography and additional material by Mark Iles (The Brook Under Siege for Medway Council and as performer: Elf the Musical, Dominion Theatre; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Theatre Royal Drury Lane) could be a story about many different things.

Cautionary Tale could be a West-End style musical about learning to live authentically. It could be a modern parable about liberal values triumphing over authoritarianism. It could be a mash up of Roald Dahl, Tim Burton and Hilaire Belloc about overcoming grief set in the landscape of a painting by LS Lowry. At its heart it’s a story about finding hope when all seems lost.

OK< so what’s the plot?

Cautionary Tale is the story of Gloaming, a town filled with perfectly ordinary, yet perfectly remarkable people. The inhabitants of Gloaming all have special talents and interests; the Hamingtons, for example, know the answer to any question you can think of, the Bittingworth 2 sisters are so strong they can lift an elephant and the Trockles can make pretty much anything you like out of knotted string. Some talents can be pretty dangerous and it can be tricky to manage a town filled with such interesting people. One day, in the mists of time, the town elders decided that the best way to keep the town safe was to forbid anything that might be a bit too dangerous. The adults of the town have to suppress their talents and conform but it’s hard to live a life of stifled potential. There is one place where they can go to remember what it’s like to feel human – The Black Dog, an ordinary pub where it’s OK to be extraordinary.

But there are consequences to breaking the rules and there are consequences to living lives without fun. One day, the children of Gloaming wake up to discover that all the adults have turned to dust and blown away overnight; there just wasn’t enough joy left in them to hold them together. The children set off on a quest to find all the joy and talent and curiosity that was forbidden for so long so that they can rebuild their town with joy at its heart.

Rebecca Atkinson-Lord comments, ‘I wrote Cautionary Tale at a time when I was really unhappy because I felt trapped in a life that didn’t feel authentic. It’s a show about finding joy in the darkest of circumstances and right now it feels like we all need a bit of help to be happy, so it seemed like the right thing to do to share it with people. The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that we can’t finish making and staging the show as we’d planned and to see years of work come to nothing has been incredibly sad for the whole team. I hope that people will help us make it happen anyway by staging bits of it in their own homes and sharing them online – and maybe we can all remember how to find a bit more joy.’

With the help of ordinary people taking to the stage at home, the team are hoping to bring their new British musical, Cautionary Tale, to life during lockdown.

They will be releasing a weekly downloadable learning pack including sheet music and backing tracks, Tik Tok choreography, character sketches and script extracts for people to get involved, record and share their musical staging. In week six, the best of the recordings will be collated to create a live Zoom version of the performance. It’s a chance for musical theatre lovers to come together, be creative, and keep the light on in these dark times. Download from www.cautionarytalemusical.com

Twitter #CautionaryTaleMusical, @Arch468 @BexAtkinsonLord, @beckyapplin, @jturnerdesign Instagram #CautionaryTaleMusical, @arch468theatrestudio @rebeccaatkinsonlord, @beckyapplin, @jamesturnerdesign, @markchalkiles

Download from www.cautionarytalemusical.com

Because of You I Am is not only Alice’s story, but a fabulous title.

Now, a title is tricky. It has to identify the genre, and spark the browser’s curiosity – all in tandem with the jacket. 

So, look at the title again. Complex, surely a thriller, but a straight forward Jason Statham type, or psychological? With the help of the jacket  would you say psychological? Then you’d be correct.

Alice grows up with her mother, Eileen, and her part-time father, Tom, who she adores. Tom has another family and a wartime secret. When we first meet Alice she is a eleven year old hunting rabbits with  Tom, and is already different – she is the only kid in The Street to go to the Grammar.

Then calamity, because at the age of 14 Alice,and her mother, are abandoned by Tom. Two years later Alice, driven by the need to find him, and the Beatles,  leaves her northern hamlet for London. 

Lost and alone she embraces 60s London: the drugs, the squats and a boyfriend. Twenty one years later, she meets Jake Oldfield, the man who makes her real. She finds love, at last, with him and and their son, Adam, born in 1985. Alice is 37.

Adam is an odd boy, brilliant in some areas, backward in others and obsessed with the stars.

He is accidentally killed outside the school. Rosamund Beresford, a successful barrister, is the driver of the car. It is something that ruins Alice’s relationship with Jake because Alice blames herself, but why?

This accident is  pivotal,  in Alice’s relationship, and her fragile psyche.  What path will she take now? How can she ever find her way back to peace? 

A compelling drama about guilt, revenge and  perhaps redemption? So yes, definitely a pyschological thriller and one that lives up to its title. Bravo …

eBook. Troubador. £3.99.  And Amazon.

As you know, Frost Magazine has been on the hunt for local heroes and have struck gold  near Northallerton, which is close to Thirsk:  the Rounton Coffee Roasters.

Rounton Coffee Roasters is an independent coffee roastery based in Yorkshire, providing coffees, equipment and training to customers across the UK

Recently, at Chez Graham, we seemed to be devouring far too much coffee, and were almost swinging from the lights with the ‘hit’ of it all. So ordered decaff beans, chemical free, from a nearby  small coffee roasters, Rounton Coffee. The beans arrived quickly, and have an  extraordinarily good flavour. We now mix the beans with our existing full frontal beans and grind them up together. Calm has descended.

I was intrigued to see that the sparkling water decaf beans, with a hint of chocolate, nuts and toffee, were made the clean way, with no chemicals. It made me want to know more about Rounton Coffee, and to thank them for their delivery service.

I found more than I bargained for when poking and prying to find out more for Frost Magazine. Not only is Rounton Coffee an ethical and forward thinking  Roastery, the two guys who created the firm, found a practical way to show their appreciation  of the NHS at this fraught time, above and beyond clapping.

With my mind very much on VE Day and all that our parents and grand-parents did all those  years ago we are witnessing the herculean effort  of our  beloved and heroic NHS as they strive to save lives, 24/7.  Conscious of this Dave Beattie and David Burton, the two doyens who run the business gave thought to how they could help. Well, for goodness sake, CAFFEINE of course. What better way to restore some well being.

Dave and David therefore pledged back in March, before lock down to give free coffee to NHS staff from their two shops in Middlesbrough.

They set to work, with the support of Drew Rowley of React Nutrition, providing free coffee to NHS staff, from their shops. But then, lock down was upon us all. So a re-think was required. But what ..?

Ah ha: got it. What about giving the NHS  staff at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital a bit of a perk up. So the guys donated a grinder, a brewer and a selection of coffees which would help to provide  a brew.

The next step was to decide what else they could do. Before long another care package made its way to the Friary Community Hospital in Richmond.

Now on a roll, Rounton  Coffee reached out to Falcon Coffees, who are responsible for the sourcing and importing of the majority of the coffees that  Rounton Coffee roasts. Falcon’s Mike Riley, a long-time friend of Rounton Coffee, suggested that they could put together a blend for the NHS, comprised of green coffee donated by Falcon.

The components of the blend were familiar to Rounton: 2 bags from Pedro Gabarra Teixiera (the man behind their Brazilian coffees and who has, with his family gone on to win the title of Brazil’s most sustainable farm, awarded as part of the ‘Fazenda Sustentável’ awards.

 

And 2 bags from Mustefa Abakeno (whose Ethiopian beans Rounton Coffee think the best they have experienced from that region). Falcon’s generous donation meant that they could  now roast enough to make around 20,000 cups of coffee, right on the NHS front line. There was only one choice for the name – Nightingale Coffee.

Now the guys are busy roasting, grinding and distributing as much Nightingale Coffee out as they possibly can.  They’ll be sending it out to local NHS sites like Northallerton’s Friarage Hospital, as well as places like Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital.

They are currently deciding how to tackle the logistics of their mission. If you can think of any NHS sites that would appreciate some Nightingale Coffee, they’d love to hear from you. Likewise, if you think you might be able to help provide some insight or help in further supporting the NHS, let them know.

As David and Dave said, ‘We are a relatively small team, who will always try to do more than we can physically manage, but that won’t stop us from trying.’  I bet it won’t.

Frost Magazine will be returning to Rounton Coffee in a week or so to explore just how they came to set up in the first place,  and  taking a look at their products, which include some interesting teas.

All in all Rounton Coffee is a place of delights, run and supported by heroes.

Contact them at: info@rountoncoffee.co.uk

Or learn more here.   Details of: React Nutrition   Details of Falcon Coffees

Images courtesy of Rounton Coffee

 

Love, strength, family, friends, grit and determination. All are vital components which will ensure that Great Britain  will not be defeated in the darkest days of the Blitz.

Beautiful Francesca Fabriono is doing her bit for the war in a factory in East London as is Charlie Brogan, who has recently married a woman of questionable reputation before being shipped out to North Africa with the Eighth Army.

When Francesca starts a new job she meets a handsome Count …

I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the remarkable story is told from several different larger than life characters rather than one point of view. Fullerton gives nothing away and you can not read this amazing book and claim that it is predictable.

A Ration Book Wedding has clearly been well researched and this is reflected. It is so well written that it could be either read as a sequel to the other Ration book stories or as a stand alone book.

World War two books are an absolute favourite of mine as no two are ever the same and are so fascinating, each offering their own little insight into the worst war this country has ever known.

Perfect for fans of Annie Clarke, Milly  Adams and Kristina Hannah.

If you only read one book this year, make sure this is it.

Available in pb, and  eBook

image courtesy of Nick Rutter

Music, perhaps in particular Opera, brings solace  and  realizing this #OperaHarmony has brought together 19 groups, set to release exciting micro-operitas from May via YouTube, reflecting how creativity can still flourish in these uncertain times.