When I read her diary, I knew. Everything. It had the effect of pulling the plug from under the life I had known up to then, changing it completely, so that everything was sucked down into a dark and narrow vortex. Yet when I eventually came up for air, choking and struggling, I realised it… Read More
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When Vikki Met Niall
(prequel to A House Full of Secrets) If she was to go back to the beginning of it all, Vikki knew that if it hadn’t been for the party in Shoreditch, she might have never spoken to Niall. Only for the moment of chance that drew her out onto the balcony at the same time… Read More
A HOUSE FULL OF SECRETS – CHAPTER ONE
The lough is still out of bounds. The forest track leading to the beauty spot where Gabrielle met her untimely end has become impassable. Fallen tree trunks, shrouded with clusters of vegetation and thick tentacles of ivy, block the entrance. Where prisms of sunlight pierce the leafy canopy, clumps of untrammelled nettles, tumbleweed and briars… Read More
A HOUSE FULL OF SECRETS – Excerpt
Excerpt – Vikki has arrived in Lynes Glen, Niall’s childhood home, hoping to become more than friends over the weekend. She has just finished her unpacking and is on the landing about to go downstairs to join Niall and his sister Lainey when… She heard voices coming from below her. Quiet tones, as if anxious… Read More
What’s in a genre? *
I know I’m not the only one who spent a childhood reading under the bedcovers, caught up in the escapism of a good mystery story. I binged on the entire Enid Blyton collection, moving on to devour the Nancy Drew series, and soaking up every page of my brother’s Hardy Boys collection, almost ruining my… Read More
Writer’s dilemma: Tackling issues that affect friends and family
There is a lot of commentary at the moment about the question of including trigger warnings for books concerning the subject matter and content, lest they upset some unwary reader. But long before this question hit the social conscience, I had concerns far closer to home – misgivings about friends and the members of my… Read More
Thank You
It’s hard to believe that novel number nine – A House Full of Secrets – has now hit the shelves. It wouldn’t be there, on those shelves, without the wonderful support I receive from family and friends, who allow me to disappear into my writing room for long stretches at a time, and with patience… Read More
A Sense of Place
Switzerland in September, the panorama of Lake Lucerne, an irregular shimmer of silvery blue paint on a canvas as old as time, thick green forests plunging down to the sparkling water’s edge. Beyond that the mountains, and the deep, still calm of snow-topped peaks that drift silently on the horizon. Even for the most… Read More
Quitting the Day Job
Something good happened this week, something I’ve been dreaming of and working towards for a long time and I feel I’ve leaped into open space. After years of juggling a busy day job with my writing career, I am now a full time writer. Yes, I will miss my pals in the office, the layers… Read More
Book Signing Day, Friday 15th April
In the realms of exciting authorly events, coming hot on the heels of Publication Day is book signing day. For Someone New, this is planned for Friday 15th April. This means that I will spend the day being whisked in and out of some of my favourite places in the whole world – bookstores –… Read More