books

Introducing …

Leave a comment

As today is publication day for ‘Winter Snowfall at Elder Fell Farm’ I’d like to introduce you to the characters. Or rather, I’ll let them introduce themselves!

Matt: I’m Matt. I’m Oliver’s dad, and also Amy’s partner. All I really want is a quiet life and for my lad to be happy. He’s had such a lot of problems in the last few years, after his mum died, and I just want to make things easier for him. If that means sacrificing my own peace of mind so that he can be happy then that’s what I’ll do. Amy will understand. Amy always understands, that’s why I love her so much.

Amy: I was very unhappy before I met Matt. Everything seemed to be going wrong – first my marriage disintegrated and then my mam died. James, my ex, always said I was too soft and I was starting to believe him. But my son Harry kept me going – even though he can be a bit naughty sometimes, he always makes me smile. But meeting Matt made me feel as if life could be good again. He gives me the strength to be myself knowing that he’s got my back. 

Harry: I am very nearly nine years old and I’m the best at sports in this house. I can run the fastest of everyone. Oliver is my best friend, though sometimes he can be dead annoying, especially when he doesn’t want to play. I love stories, though I don’t like reading them. Mam reads the best stories, and Matt’s quite good too. I liked the Titty book which we read on holiday last year. Dad thought it was something rude, but it’s not, it’s just about a girl called Titty who sails boats and has adventures. That’s the best thing about the Lake District, having adventures. I hope me and Olly are going to have some adventures this time!

Oliver: I am nearly ten years old because my birthday is in November and Harry’s is in May so he’s nearly a WHOLE YEAR younger than me, really, even though we’re in the same class at school. I’m the best student in our whole class and sometimes I help Harry, but not if he’s being irritating. I think Harry benefits from having me around to set a good example of how to behave. That’s what all the teachers say. I’m looking forward to Christmas because I’ve got the lead part in the school play. I’m going to be The Elf that saved Christmas, and I’m really excited – and a bit scared too. Perhaps Harry’ll help me because he’s not scared of anything.

Diane: I am Oliver’s grandmother, Diane. His mother, Stella, was my daughter. Since she died … well, never mind that. I like to keep positive. God moves in mysterious ways, as they say. Oliver has been my whole world since Stella .. since she … I’m very fond of him. And Matt has been a very good son-in-law, and I feel a certain responsibility for him. He’s vulnerable, you see, a grieving widower, he’d be the ideal target for the wrong sort of woman. I just want to make sure that Oliver isn’t hurt any more, if anything happened to him I’d … 

Peter: The farm has been in my family for generations, but I’ll be the last of the Thompsons at Elder Fell. An only son, I never married. Never cared to, not since I lost Jen, Amy’s mam, the only woman I ever loved. I asked her to marry me, but she said no. Of course, I understood it. She didn’t feel she could move to Elderthwaite, didn’t feel it would be fair on her daughter. I’m a sheep farmer, first and last, I could never be owt else. Hefted to the land, that’s me, like my dad before me, and his dad before him.

It’s been a while

1 Comment

I’m afraid I’m not very interesting when I’m not writing anything! So here’s a quick update on what I’ve been doing over the last year or so, since I’ve had anything to write about on here.

Firstly, I had a disaster last Christmas. I was all set up to publish ‘Winter Snowfall at Elder Fell Farm’ last autumn – but then my lovely editor pointed out a few issues that needed some remedial work which I didn’t have time to do before publication day because I was gearing up for an intensive month of work as Mother Ginger (my alter ego who makes all the gingerbread for Father Christmas) in late November and December. So I had two choices – do it in a hurry, or do it properly and publish it in 2024 instead. I chose the latter. And then I couldn’t face touching the manuscript again until well after Christmas when all the fun at the festive farm was over and I’d caught up on some sleep!

I’ve also been working on two other projects.

Firstly, I’ve been writing a play with my best friend, Cath Turnbull. It’s all about the workers at a local munitions factory, the ‘Aycliffe Angels’ and now we’re editing it and trying to find people to read it and give us some suggestions for what to do with it next. It’s called ‘Where Angels Sing’ and features three wartime munitions girls from very different backgrounds. We follow the lives and loves of Mabel, Grace and Kitty who have all been called up to work in the factory, and it’s packed with songs and stories from the real Royal Ordnance Factory at Aycliffe. It has LOTS of parts for women, and very few for men, so it’s a great choice for most amateur drama societies.

I’ve also been co-writing a football blog with my husband, Ben Taylorson, who is currently trying to visit all of the 92 football league grounds in the country. It’s been great fun visiting some places that aren’t usually tourist destinations, and some of our favourite places have been towns that we probably wouldn’t have even considered visiting if it hadn’t been for football – Stockport, Morecambe and Barrow in Furness have been some of our favourites so far. To find out more, please visit our blog, 376 miles. (which coincidentally is the distance from Middlesbrough to Plymouth, the most distant of the league grounds we currently have to visit – as long as Yeovil don’t get promoted any time soon!)

As soon as ‘Winter Snowfall at Elder Fell Farm’ is published I’ll be getting back to the hard work of writing book three (working title ‘Wild Flowers at Elder Fell Farm’) which might involve a wedding!