First Review of Shades of Appley Green

First lovely review of Shades of Appley Green - Famous Five Plus review by Sue Fortin
Excerpt from Sue's review :

Miriam Wakerly has a lovely, easy style of writing that draws you into the story and keeps you there at a nice pace.  The story touches on difficult issues in a sensitive manner and in a style that is not uncomfortable for the reader.  The end, for me, was very emotional and did, in fact, bring a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes.  A lovely story of one woman’s journey to understanding and accepting her past and ultimately finding an inner-peace  and happiness.

Shades of Appley Green is my third novel and this time has nothing to do with Gypsies.

Shades of Appley Green  available on Kindle now Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com 

Steph is a special, but troubled young woman. Chosen by the most venerated man in Appley Green to fulfil his mission, she feels publicly admired rather than privately loved. She certainly does not trust men!

In helping a once famous, elderly architect with Parkinson's regain a social life, she finds herself taking risks, fending off objections, blind to danger. We wait for the moment when it dawns on Steph what is driving her deep-seated obsession; for only then can she find the happiness she deserves.

Appley Green is a charming English village. Everyone says so. But people are still people. With the emotional turmoil that comes with love, birth and death, a close-knit community can harbour betrayal and guilt, as well as joy and laughter.

What shall I call it?

The title, cover, blurb on the back, author’s name, opening sentence or first page – all these elements can seduce or repel!

Titles may intrigue or even mystify; define the essence of the book; or may seem a little tired or well worn. A title might declare its ‘genre’ and above all should help any potential reader decide if this book is for them! Whether it's on the table or shelves in Waterstones or the Amazon screen, we want those book-loving browsers to stop and look at it.

My first title Gypsies Stop tHere is odd. Yes, I know it is and it’s meant to make people do a double take. The printer thought the file had not been proofread and apparently said, ‘I don’t think we can work with this’. We did laugh about this afterwards but, until I realised what the problem was, my stomach was doing somersaults.

‘Gypsies Stop tHere’ is possibly the shortest synopsis ever! What it means, of course, is the nub of the book – Gypsies are always told to stop over there, never over here.

Its sequel/prequel No Gypsies Served was called many things before I settled for this title. I wanted them to be a pair, to show they belong together although they can standalone. You could read either one first.
I was at a meeting in London with the Irish Traveller Movement, taking notes. The speaker was harking back to hard times when signs such as ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs,’ were commonplace in B&Bs and so on. Another such shocking sign was ‘No Gypsies Served’. I wrote this down and it jumped back at me from the page. I circled round it several times with my pen – I had found my title.

Shades of Appley Green is set in the same village but nothing to do with Gypsies or Travellers. Initially I wrote this in three sections that became A Light Shade, A Darker Shade that went back 16 years into a troubled time for the main character, and finally A Bright Shade. I played with the word ‘Green’ – this being arguably the essence of the British village – and a colour, and colour can reflect mood. This is perhaps over analysing! I was advised that this kind of book should have a chronological sequence of events. Good advice to follow? Not sure. In the end I did and I didn’t! But I kept the title.

I think my mother would have been pleased with this book. We lived in the Cotswolds, she often had her head in a Miss Read village book and green was her favourite colour – I think it must be mine too, it comes in so many different shades.

A new novel for the New Year!

UPDATE! Of course Shades of Appley Green is now available as a paperback too! From Amazon

Waterstones Book Launch in March

'Steph is a special, but troubled young woman. Chosen by the most venerated man in Appley Green to fulfil his mission, she feels publicly admired rather than privately loved. She certainly does not trust men!

In helping a once famous, elderly architect with Parkinson’s regain a social life, she finds herself taking personal risks, fending off objections, blind to danger. We wait for the moment when it dawns on Steph what is driving her deep-seated obsession; for only then can she find the happiness she deserves.

Appley Green is a charming English village. Everyone says so. But people are still people. With the emotional turmoil that comes with love, birth and death, a close-knit community can harbour betrayal and guilt, as well as joy and laughter.'

Launching an eBook prior to the printed version is rather odd. I can but sense your best wishes and imagine the audible cheers as you raise a glass of wine or two! (or cup of coffee ...)

Shades of Appley Green is my third novel and, unlike the first two it has nothing to do with Gypsies or Travellers. It is, however, set in the same village; people seemed to like this place. Readers also told me that they enjoyed the storytelling with lovely clichés like ‘couldn’t put it down’ ‘page-turner’ ‘riveting’ ‘I tore through them’ ‘compelling’ and so on … (happy with comments like that!)

Thus encouraged, I decided to begin a new series of Appley Green novels and this is the first. Each one will focus on different characters with a few popping up in each book. If there is a ‘village genre’ then that description fits; not romance, fantasy, thriller or comic fiction – but I think I can fairly claim that Shades of Appley Green does have a love story, a rich mix of people in a desirable setting, suspense, emotion, psychology and a light humorous style. If that is not the case, I am sure someone will soon tell me! 

Shades of Appley Green embraces social realism - motherhood, money worries, marriage, old age, Parkinson's, birth, death and love but all set in a place where the reader might want to live, for there is a strong sense of community. I think sometimes people like to relate to a story where they find themselves saying ‘I know someone just like that’ ‘That’s exactly what happened to me’ ‘This bit describes how I felt’ and so on. Yes, there are problems and heartache, but I hope by taking readers through the main character’s struggle, they will feel the absolute wonder of her ultimate joy. I make no secret of the fact that the ending is a happy one! It is how she gets there that makes the story.

You can already take a peek inside Shades of Appley Green on  Amazon.com Kindle  and also purchase on  Amazon.co.uk Kindle

I hope you enjoy it - and that this story in my sunny English village may brighten up this dark, wet windy January day.

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful 2012.

PS I feature on  The Famous Five Plus blog and for TODAY Shades of Appley Green is the Book in the Spotlight.

My Novels - so far

A reminder of my books; they standalone but are connected, as you can see.

Gypsies Stop tHere

Will uprooting herself from London to live in the country help Kay escape guilt-ridden memories of her husband's death? Far from finding a quiet life, she is caught up in an age-old conflict where passionate opinions on Romany Gypsy Travellers divide the local people.

A young woman, Lena, enters her life, unwittingly putting Kay's plans on hold. Kay struggles to not only come to terms with her emotional past but also to resolve Lena's problems, those of the village and the Gypsies. And another relationship blossoms that she would never have dreamed of ...

No Gypsies Served

Two years have passed since Kay successfully campaigned for the Appley Green Gypsy Site, and four years since her husband was murdered. Life in the village was going so well, until the phone call and letter. Then comes the distrastrous site opening. Worst of all, Dunstan, whom she realises is her best friend and ally, is giving her the cold shoulder for some unknown reason.

Dunstan is taking an emotional trip down memory lane, into childhood as a Gypsy on the road, and his eventual break from his people. Why is he so angry with Kay that he keeps away from her? Chances of a longed for reconciliation look slim ...

Strictly Pics

This may be the saddest thing we (husband and I) have ever done. We actually took photos of the TV screen! - It Takes Two BBC2 6.30 pm, last night. Here are the very seats upon which we sat - practically on the dance-floor, you will agree. This of course relates to my last blog post Strictly Fun The following pics depict Sir Bruce Forsyth leaning over to speak to me and friends and family section, including Nancy Dell'Olio, looking across bemused. What I thought was my bright pink sequinned scarf is actually some imposter's elbow - we think. I was optically deluded.
The last photo shows the reality of queueing.

Please do not be too concerned about our mental state - it is a phase and will soon pass!

Strictly Fun - yes, we got tickets, hurray!

I kept thinking of things that could go wrong: we would be so queue weary that by evening we (husband and I) would be slumped in a corner fast asleep; our car would be parked miles away; it would surely rain and there would be a line of 100 people before we even arrived!

But no! The most unexpected highlight (arguably) comes later, but now the smug bit starts, and I am safe in saying that, since no demons struck us at the midnight hour; we are home and dry.

The sun struggled through mist; absurdly warm for November; my husband dropped me off and I found myself 5^th in the queue at 8.25 am, clad in a black-sequinned evening dress barely concealed by a winter coat. Emma and her daughter Gracie from Leicester had been there from 7.15; it was Emma’s birthday and they had splashed out on a London hotel. Nos 3 and 4, Katy and Tania from Peterborough, had nipped off to fetch coffees and soon rejoined our little group. Husband was soon back, having parked easily in a residential road, introducing himself as another ‘sad person’ and thus, we were 6! If justice prevailed in the Strictly world, we would have good seats.

Another irrational fear I had was lack of facilities. We took a bagful of food just in case there was none available within walking distance of Wood Lane. I might have guessed the BBC had done this thing a trillion times before, so it would all work out. Access to loos was easy in BBC Television Centre reception. No, there were no nearby mobile food or drink vendors, but Westfield massive shopping complex is five minutes walk away, certainly not too far for taking a welcome walk and fetching back some coffee.

Friendly Rory Bremner dropped by to say hello to people in the line. Various dark-windowed vehicles rolled up, containing we knew not who. Husband spent some time settled on our picnic rug with The Telegraph, or chatting to fellow queuees, then we watched a parallel queue build up for Children in Need Strictly recording. This disappeared and by 12.30 we were ‘validated’ and our tickets allocated with a number. Yay!! Now we could go away until about 3.30, giving us enough time to pop back to the car, eat, adjust clothing, make-up and have lunch.

After a browse in Westfield, we returned to a long queue but, of course we were numbered so it didn’t matter. As we were among the first 14, our place was assured.

To save handing in our mobiles we left them in the car; so I just had to hand in my coat and a shoe-bag. Then we had time to while away with our new friends and a big screen showing endless clips from previous shows. We were now well into the zone, Strictly land, excitement mounting. I imagined the nerves that the celebrities must be feeling at this time, so close to appearing live before millions of viewers. We even managed to buy a glass of wine; a bonus, as we had been led to believe alcohol was forbidden! (certainly not allowed in the studio) We sat down on the floor and chatted to Nos 7 and 8, sisters probably younger than our own children, one a dentist, the other a lawyer …

Anyway, we filed in and were told we (the first 14) had the best seats in the house: the front row facing the dance-floor, opposite the orchestra. We were also told we could be in shot throughout as cameras swoop round; but were obviously not in the highly visible crowd that sit behind where Bruce and Tess stand, or the judges. It was a perfect position; so close to the dancers we would almost be touching them.

The audience over to our right were friends and family of the performers and rumour has it that the people most on camera over on the left side, are in fact connected to the production of the show. If anybody reading this knows something different, put me right!

By now, it all became rather dreamlike. The warm up man was making us relaxed and happy. Everything seemed to me smaller and more intimate than I imagined – the dance-floor, the judges’ desk area, and all the professionals and most of the performers are incredibly fit, lean, neat, taut and lovely. OK – Russell is a hoot, very likeable and actually, a good dancer, given his ‘stocky’ frame. How much slimmer he is than he once was, too.

We sometimes had to peer between and round cameras, but on the whole our vantage point was brilliant.

We spotted Nancy dell'Olio – easy as she was standing up and looking around quite a lot! How tiny is she?  Brian May was there and a lady who is, apparently, one very proud parent of Harry. I caught sight of Chris Evans over on the left side, just by the staircase up to Tess’s Tower.

Sir Bruce did a bit of a warm-up himself; this is what he loves to do, he told us – contact with a real, live audience. He greeted Nancy, who stood up for hugs. And later …

… then it did become a bit surreal. He was walking down towards our section and our eyes met! He swooped on me – yes me! His face was very close! Suddenly he was shaking my hand, saying something like, “Oh hello, dear! (mmm, oh well) How are you? so you did get here then. How nice to see you … etc” somehow giving the impression that he knew me, I’m not sure how he did that. I am fairly sure he then invited me round to tea at his place, but please if anyone there can remember exactly what he said, do let me know – via Twitter. Amidst general laughter, he wandered off …

To say more would be to give too much away to those who have yet to experience it. It was great and I would do it again.

New Blog for Independent Publishers

Well - I am an expectant grandmother and we have tickets for Strictly Come Dancing. Does life get any better? The only possible quandary here is if these two wonders happen on the same day! But - something else good happened this week.

I was invited by the wonderfully enterprising Pauline Barclay to become one of the Famous Five Plus! This is a new blog 'for Indie authors, to showcase their work, to talk about the road to publishing and what writers new to publishing can expect'. And what a diverse and impressive line up there is!

You are cordially invited to follow us - be among the first and you will be remembered for it! http://famousfiveplus.blogspot.com/

Pauline's books include Magnolia House, Satchfield Hall and Sometimes it Happens. http://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com/ She is lucky enough to live in sunny Lanzarote - but there, she is not going to Strictly ... swings and roundabouts.

I think we should all celebrate the way authors who feel they have something to say and love writing can make it happen.