Welcome to my blog if you’ve found it for the first time, after
spotting my piece in the April issue of SURREY LIFE. This is the first of a new
series on people who put life into villages and bring a small community
together. Editor, Caroline Harrap, came
up with the series title ‘Notes from a Small Village’– apologies to Bill
Bryson!
I may have met you at one of 40 or so book signings over the years in various Surrey Waterstones bookshops. If so, hello again! Either way, if you have time, feel free to browse through my 'ramblings' – going strong since 2009! Just click through titles listed lower down in right-hand column. And, please send me a comment below if you want to make contact now!
Those who follow me on Twitter will know of other characters
I have ‘discovered’. Take a look here:
LoveaHappyEnding Lifestyle magazine Real people, real unsung heroes and heroines.
My novels are, of course, filled with fictitious people who also do unusual things, but real life does rub off on my fiction. For
one thing, I live smack bang in the middle of my imaginary Appley Green world,
although my dreamed up village has less traffic than most real Surrey
villages! I think a busy road cutting
through many a village mars what would otherwise be perfection. Would you
agree? More about my Appley Green books on Amazon – just click
on book covers.
In my next post here I will be looking at how life
experience and real people have helped me in the writing of my four novels. I do like to mix fact with fiction so that
the reader can not only escape but also grab hold of some
social realism. Love story there may be, but romance comes with a twist.
I must say how lovely it is to be a columnist for SURREY
LIFE, a magazine that always cheers me up and reminds me of what a beautiful
county Surrey is, with so many things to do and see. Who knows where I may end up next? It could be
a village near you!
And not forgetting – my books have all been reviewed in SURREY LIFE! Juliette Foster met me
briefly at the first Surrey Heath Book Festival and contacted me to review my first two books and the rest, as they say,
is history!
Here are
the links to Book Corner in SURREY LIFE digital archive:
March 2014, Page 130 Gypsies Stop tHere and No Gypsies Served
November 2014, Page 70 Shades of Appley Green - a modern village novel
January
2016, Page 72 Secrets in Appley Green - a 1960s village novel
Until next time! And look out in May SURREY LIFE for the next Surrey village and the next amazing person!
