Necessary Fiction

I was invited by the good folk at Necessary Fiction to write an article about the research I did for my novel, The Last Wave. Perhaps disappointingly for some readers, most of it was researched in my imaginations - it's fiction and it's made up - which to me is the fun part. 

That's not to say there was no research at all - to learn what I did investigate, check out the article.

Thanks again to Necessary Fiction for their interest!

In the press...

In the past couple of weeks, I've been very fortunate to have been interviewed by Jo Duncan on her blog, and to have been asked to write an article for Female First on some of the themes that are in my novel The Last Wave.

In the interview with Jo on her blog The Write Way, we talk about how to write for the modern audience, and what makes great writing, from my perspective anyhow! 

For Female First, I write about how I approached the themes of cancer and dementia in my novel. 

Launch | Pages of Hackney, London | 4 May

If you live in London, I would be delighted to see you at the London launch for my novel, The Last Wave. 

Pages of Hackney will be hosting it - a fantastic bookshop!

Details:
May 4 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Pages of Hackney, 70 Lower Clapton Road
London, E5 0RN United Kingdom

Hope to see you there!!

Interview with Georgey Spanswick, BBC Local Radio

My novel, The Last Wave, features a woman who is an incredibly accomplished Channel swimmer, so it felt completely natural to have a bit of a chat with Georgey Spanswick on her radio programme. 

If you're interested in listening, it starts from 44.20 here. 

Enjoy!

Launch | Spike Island, Bristol | 20 April

If you live in the Bristol area, please come along to a little launch event for my book The Last Wave at Spike Island on 20 April, 6.30 - 8pm.

You'll be amongst the first to have a chance to purchase the novel!

There will be a short talk, a bit of a reading, some Qs, maybe some And a bit of mingling, some chat... it'll be lovely and won't be the same without you. 

Cover artwork

I love this cover. It's not how I pictured it in my mind when I was writing it, it's way better. This jumps out at you - so much so that some friends I've shown it to are asking for posters.

The good folks at House of Anansi commissioned it for the Canadian/US cover. But my UK publisher, Freight Books have scrapped their cover art to use it because it's so freaking beautiful.

House of Anansi - North American rights sold

Exciting news!

House of Anansi will be publishing The Last Wave in North America! The exact date is 26 August 2017, and I must say I'm utterly thrilled. 

There's nothing better than having your book come out at home, so your Mom can go to the shop and buy it and talk the cashier's ear off about how it's her daughter who wrote it. 

Sarah MacLachlan, Publisher at award-winning House of Anansi said, ‘this is a very accomplished debut. I loved how the novel was layered and how the point of view was multiple. The descriptions of the sea and of long distance swimming are simply gorgeous. I love the idea of a character who is a distance swimmer — in Canada we have a history of great women swimmers – Marilyn Bell was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and then the youngest to swim the English Channel.’

You can read more about the sale here. 

Extract on Wasafiri

I'm delighted to say that the good folks at Wasafiri have been kind enough to post my shortlisted entry to last year's new writing award on their site today. This extract, After the end of England, is from my debut novel, to be published by Freight Books in 2017.

Have a read & hope you enjoy it!

Book deal!

It's hard to explain how excited and thrilled I am to be able to say that my first novel will be published by Freight Books. After the End of England will be coming to a book shop near you in Spring 2017. 

More updates to follow, but for now I have to continue jumping for joy and shrieking with excitement.