Blog Tour - Blackpool's Angel - Maggie Mason

It's no secret that I'm a HUGE fan of Maggie Mason's books so I was thrilled to be asked to take part in the blog tour for her latest release, Blackpool's Angel.

Life is happy and good for Tilly, who lives in a comfortable home in Blackpool with her husband Arthur and their four-year-old twin girls, Babs and Beth. Arthur has a good job, her girls are doing well at school, she has good friends and she makes a little extra money for the family by weaving and selling wicker baskets. However, one day Tilly and the girls return home to find a policeman waiting on their doorstep, her beloved Arthur has been involved in an accident at work and has fallen to his death whilst working on the construction of Blackpool Tower.

Tilly is distraught but she knows that she has to pull herself together and think about what she can do to earn enough money to keep a roof over what's left of her family's heads and food on the table. Life is tough for Tilly and her decisions aren't always good ones for various reasons and some of them have devastating consequences.

I always know that when I read one of Maggie Mason's books I'm going to be put through the proverbial wringer and Blackpool's Angel was no exception! I was already heart broken by the end of the first chapter and I had a lump in my throat on more than one occasion as I followed Tilly on her journey. She had a heart of gold, always looking out for others and caring more about them, when at times she should have been putting her own health and well-being way before that of others. I wanted to reach into the pages of the book just to give her a hug and tell her to stay strong as things were bound to get better for her soon.

As always Maggie has done a tremendous amount of research for this book, for example, I had no idea that someone who hails from Blackpool is known as a Sandgronian, and I was fascinated to read about the craft of basket weaving despite the fact that it's not something that I'd ever given any thought about before. Having been to Blackpool a few times, I really enjoyed being given a glimpse of what life was like there before the birth of The Golden Mile but no matter how hard I try, I still can't manage to picture it without all of it's twinkling lights! That's no reflection of the writing, it's just to me sparkling lights and Blackpool are one and the same.

Blackpool's Angel is a truly magnificent start to another trilogy from this exceptionally talented author and I honestly can't wait to find out what's coming next for Tilly and her family and friends.

If saga novels and, or historical fiction are your thing I would highly recommend that you get yourself to your nearest library, bookshop or log into your preferred online bookseller and get yourself acquainted with this fabulous authors books, I promise that you won't regret it!

You can follow the blog tour for Blackpool's Angel with these fantastic blogs:

With kind thanks to author Maggie Mason for my spot on the blog tour and to publisher Sphere for the review copy.

Morecambe & Vice Crime Writing Festival Blog Tour - Spotlight on Jane Elson

I'm delighted to be taking part in the blog tour to promote the Morecambe & Vice Crime Writing Festival. Now in it's third year, it's the North West's quirkiest crime writing festival and it takes place at The Midland Hotel in Morecambe on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th of September. You can find out more about the event and purchase tickets here.

As you can imagine there's a whole host of authors attending this event and I'm thrilled to be hanging out with the lovely Jane Elson here on The Hippo today.

Photo courtesy of Jane Elson

What other authors are you friends with and how do they help you become a better writer?
Not only do my author friends help me become a better writer by giving, if asked, honest feedback on my ideas, but they enable me to continue being an author. It’s a truly wonderful job, but it is such hard work and you need people around you who understand that. There are two parts to being an author: one part is very solitary, where you spend a lot of time at home writing by yourself, then there is a public role, where you are out on the road doing author events in front of audiences of children, and promoting yourself to teachers, librarians and bookshops. For both sides of the job, I draw a great support from my author network. 

My author friends and I will always call and message each other, particularly when we are on a train on our own travelling back late at night, or when we are in a hotel in the middle of nowhere! 

Sleep deprivation is a big part of being an author on a deadline! It's been really useful having a network of authors who understand this and go through it themselves. Authors Steve Antony and Kristina Stephenson and I formed ‘The Deadline Club’ - we were all working so hard and it was wonderful to have the comfort of messaging each other. Sometimes it would be something silly like, 'I'm going to Tesco's to get snacks!' That little bit of contact with a human being is so vital as writing is very isolating! Also, it’s great to share work with each other, which is so useful, especially when you're tired and your judgement isn't that good. 

Author, Christopher William Hill and I always cheer each other along and set ourselves goals and targets of how much writing we are going to do. He is a really kind friend.

I am also very grateful for my friendship with Patrice Lawrence and Emma Shevah. These two sound down-to-earth women have been a saving grace on many occasion and my life is richer for knowing them. I attended Lou Kuenzler’s wonderful Writing for Children Workshop at City Lit and ever since getting my book deal, she has been on hand to give me guidance, especially regarding organizing myself! Author Hilary McKay is so supportive and champions my work and gives me honest feedback and this has been so valuable. So, in a word I don't know where I'd be without all my author friends.

What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?
As an actor I become the characters in my book as I am writing them. My neighbours must think I'm mad, as they must hear all these voices coming through the wall! I had an operation during the writing of my last book, Will You Catch Me?. It took me ages to come round from the anaesthetic because in my head I was on the Beckham Estate, which is where two of my books How To Fly With Broken Wings and Will You Catch Me? are set. I was standing on grass looking up at the tower block. I remember it so clearly. Nell Gwyn, the restoration actress is guardian angel to my protagonist Nell, in Will You Catch Me? Apparently, I was jabbering on about Nell Gwyn as the nurses were trying to wake me up!

Do you often hear from your readers and what do they say?
When you get a letter to say that your book has changed a child's life, nothing can beat that. I am fiercely protective of my readers as I seem to attract some quite vulnerable children, and my books seem to be of such comfort to them. Many seem to have a very tactile relationship with the books and I've had stories of children carrying them around with them wherever they go. There were two boys on the autistic spectrum who identified so strongly with Willem in How To Fly With Broken Wings, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, and consequently talked to adults about how they were feeling and got help. Hearing things like this makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Will You Catch Me? recently won two awards, voted for by school children: the Wolverhampton Children's Book award and the Alexandra Palace Children's Book Award. It was so special meeting the children who had voted for my book.

 

What advice would you give your younger self?
Grace, in my debut book, A Room Full of Chocolate, is my younger self. I was six when my mum was ill, and I was sent away to live on a farm in Yorkshire. It was so therapeutic writing A Room Full of Chocolate and making something very difficult in my life into something positive. Six year olds can't really express their feelings, so I made Grace ten so she could stick up for herself.  In that way I was saying what I would like to have said when I was six. My book has been translated into Chinese and German and it’s amazing to think children in other countries are reading the story of my childhood.  I wish I could've told my frightened six-year-old self that this was going to happen in the future. I think it would've given me a lot of courage. 

What did you edit out of your last book?
I edited so much out of Will You Catch Me? It was so vivid to me that I saw the whole world, so it was very hard to decide what should be in the book and what shouldn't. Nell in Will You Catch Me? has a mother who is an alcoholic. My book is endorsed by Nacoa, National Association of Children of Alcoholics, who I continue to work closely with. During the writing of the book there was a headline by Camilla Tominey in the Sunday Express, My Mummy Is Drunk Please Read To Me. My heart broke to learn that children were phoning Nacoa’s helpline for bedtime stories, because their parents were too drunk.

In Will You Catch Me? I had a part when Nell was listening through the wall to Auntie Lou, telling a story about her childhood in Jamaica. It was a lovely part of the book but it had to go. However, I was able to use it in a book blog so all was not lost. 

If you could spend time with a character from your book who would it be and why? What would you get up to?
In a way you do spend time with all your characters as they live in your head and become your friends and you miss them when you finish the book. If I was to go on a day trip somewhere it would be with Nell, from Will You Catch Me? She is such a tough little girl and the least like me of all my characters, and I miss her so much now I’ve finished writing the book. Nell is proud to be the only naturalist on the Beckham Estate. She notices every little ladybird and creepy crawley and I think it would be fascinating to go on a walk with her. We are all far too busy and we don't notice the precious little things in life half the time. If I was to go on a walk with her now, I would see the world in quite a different way. 

What character in your book are you least likely to get along with and why?
Finn Mason in How To Fly With Broken Wings. I've got remnants of Sasha in How To Fly in my personality and I too would've had a love hate relationship with Finn. If I'd have been in his class at school I would probably have got into lots of trouble and lots of arguments with him. However, it was an extraordinary experience writing Finn. I am obviously not a Young Offender, nor would I do the things that Finn did but I wanted to get inside his skin and understand him. I suddenly had a flashback to standing on a hill in the sunset. I was very young and with my friend’s parents, and my friend was crying and clinging to them and behind us was a big black and white house. I telephoned my mum and told her about this memory and she said that my friend was diagnosed with dyslexia and the black and white house was the school she was sent to - in those days they used to put children with dyslexia in secure units with Young Offenders. She said that she knew there was something going on with me but she didn’t want to get me tested in case I was sent away. Suddenly I was able to write and understand how it would have been for Finn when he was sent away to the secure unit. 

 

You get a brilliant idea/thought/phrase at an inappropriate moment (e.g. in the shower or driving) what do you do?
All my ideas come at inappropriate moments, usually when I'm asleep and they wake me up. I have to jump straight out of bed and start writing or the idea will be lost. I often find that problems with my writing get solved in my sleep as well, so I will read a chapter that I'm having trouble with before I go to sleep and then usually my dreams will sort it out.

                          

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You can find out more about Jane, her books and connect with her using the links below:

Website

Twitter

Amazon

Make sure you check out the other fabulous blogs on the tour who are all featuring one of the authors attending The Morecambe & Vice Crime Writing Festival!

With huge thanks to Jane for taking the time to stop by today and to Sarah at Book On The Bright Side for my stop on the tour.

The Hippo Hangs Out . . . . with Emma Fraser

A few weeks ago I watched a live author event in the fantastic Facebook Group The Fiction Cafe. The author who was braving the camera and everyone's questions was Emma Fraser. Emma writes historical fiction, which is a genre that I love, but she's not an author that I'd heard of so I was eager to find out more about her and her books.

When the event was over I decided to reach out to Emma and invite her to come and hang out with me here on The Hippo and I was delighted when she accepted.

So let's start things off by introducing you all to the lovely lady herself and telling you about her latest book Greyfriars House which is now available in paperback.

Photo courtesy of Emma Fraser

One of six children, Emma's Gaelic speaking parents emigrated to Africa when she was nine years old. She remembers lying in bed, listening to her father playing the bagpipes in the garden, the sound carrying for miles across the veld.

When she was a teenager Emma returned to the Western Isles of Scotland and worked in a variety of jobs from putting up signposts on archeological sites in mid winter, to being a waitress in Skye. She qualified as a nurse and worked in Edinburgh and Glasgow before going on to study English literature at Aberdeen University.

Emma began writing when her daughters started school and has published four historical novels two of which were shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Her latest book Greyfriars House was inspired both by events in Singapore during WW2 and a real house on a remote island.

Emma loves to immerse herself in research. As she says "In these times of celebrity culture, it's ordinary women doing extraordinary things that inspire my writing."

On a remote Scottish island sits Greyfriars House

1939
Nine-year-old Olivia Friel is delighted to be spending the summer at Greyfriars House, a place where her parents, their family and friends are always happy. But this year there's an underlying tension that Olivia doesn't understand. Then one night she sees something she's not meant to, and accidentally lets slip a devastating betrayal. 

1984
Charlotte Friel gets a call from her ailing mother, asking something she's never asked before: for Charlotte to come home. There are things Olivia needs to tell her daughter before it's too late, secrets to be shared about forgotten relatives and a mysterious house.

Left reeling by recent events, Charlotte is unsure what path to follow. But eventually her curiosity, and a desire to escape her own life, lead her to Greyfriars House. 

Will she find the answers she needs to make peace with the past?

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What book/ books made you cry and why?
I remember howling over Little Women when I was a child. How could Beth die? It was such a blow I still remember the shock. I suspect I would cry again if I re- read it. Me Before You by Jo Jo Moyes also made me cry as did Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. There will have been others I can’t name just at this minute. 

 I remember needing a few tissues when I read Me Before You as well!

What other authors are you friendly with and how do they help you become a better writer?
Authors and writers are very supportive of one another. I wrote medical romances under the pseudonym Anne Fraser and became very friendly with an incredibly supportive group of romance writers. Lynne Marshall, Marguerite Kaye and Annie Claydon are the ones who come most readily to mind. 

Before I was published I went on a writing course where crime writer Alex Gray was the tutor. I was at the point where I wondered whether I would ever have a writing career and I’d decided that I would most likely give up after the course. However Alex was so amazingly encouraging I decided to stick with it - and the rest, as they say, is history. Alex remains a friend as she does to many of her proteges. 

Another great writing friend is Lisa Clifford the author of The Promise and Death in the Mountains (amongst others). I often go and stay with Lisa in Florence and from there we go up to her house in the mountains in Tuscany and write. We also critique each other’s work (Lisa was a journalist in her home country of Australia), so she has a great eye for detail. 

I go away with Lisa and other writer friends, published and unpublished at least once a year.  We spend the day writing or walking and chatting about our current work - in- progress (WIPs). Then in the evening we cook together before sitting down and critiquing each other’s work. I love those weeks. 

As a published author I like to give back to those aspiring authors just starting their writing journey or who are bringing out their debuts. Orna O’Reilly was actually on a writing course where I was the tutor and has always taken the time to read and review my books. If you love books set in Italy - Orna lived in Venice for several years - do check out the wonderfully evocative Blonde in the Gondola. 

I’ve recently joined a writing group where I met Veronica Clark who is the ghost writer of several books, two of which - The Hospital and The Baby Snatchers were Sunday Times bestsellers. I’m think of writing a non-fiction book and she’s been giving me pointers. Like Lisa she started off as a journalist and journalists have to know how to make the best use of each and every word. She also makes me laugh. 

Perhaps most importantly, as well as being a support, a great source of information about the industry, writers know how to party!

This isn't the first time I've heard about authors partying. I'm beginning to think maybe I should start writing!  😂

What advice would you give your younger self?
Have more confidence and trust your instincts. 

What did you edit out of your last book?
I am a terrible over writer. I always spend too much time on my secondary characters. In Greyfriars House I already had three intervening characters, all with their own story so I couldn’t afford to spend too long on secondary characters who essentially disappeared from the story. The character I’m thinking of was a Miss Blackstock, a feisty and eccentric, pipe-smoking, retired barrister, who was one of the first women to be called to the bar. I loved her and was devastated when I had to cut her. Similarly I have had to cut other characters in other books - a chain knitting granny, elderly twins, a Falklands veteran - actually there appears to be a pattern developing. I have often considered giving my cut characters a book of their own. Plonking them together and giving them a mystery to work on. Watch this space! 

I love the sound of the chain knitting granny and I think the cut characters need their own book. 😉

Where did your love of books/ storytelling/ reading etc come from?
My childhood home was always filled with books and I didn’t have access to a TV until I was almost eighteen. (And then only BBC 1 in black and white. It’s not that I’m that ancient it was just circumstances!) So I have always read voraciously. From Enid Blyton, through the Just William books (anyone else read those?) Coral Island and was fortunate enough to spend four years at university basically just reading the classics. Currently I read almost anything with the exception of Science Fiction and always have at least one book on the go. 

I wrote my first book aged eight (in a tiny notebook that I still have) which smacks suspiciously of Enid Blyton. I was first published around the same time in my school magazine. An article about Dunvegan Castle’s dungeon. (Said dungeon re-appears many years later in my debut historical/ saga When the Dawn Breaks.) But I didn’t write any non-fiction between the age of eight and when I was first published when I was in my forties. I didn’t think I could write. Hence the advice to my younger self above. 

I love the fact that you still have the notebook containing your very first story Emma, that's so lovely! I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree as a child. I'd love to pick it up and read it again but I worry that it won't live up to my memories of it.

Thanks Neats for inviting me to your blog. We authors need people like you!

Aww thank you for your kind words Emma. I've really enjoyed getting to know more about you.

You can find out more about Emma, her books and connect with her using the links below:

Facebook

Amazon

Twitter

I'd like to say a big thank you to Emma for taking the time to stop by and chat with me today, it's been a real pleasure having you here. 😉