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“Beautifully shocking, fabulous writing, engaging story and a wonderful ending… Five stars and no hesitation to recommend.” (NetGalley Reviewer) “Filled with suspense, clever twists and fascinating historical details, The Hidden Child is an absorbing story about the transformative power of love… A nuanced portrait of a family in crisis… It contains the timeless message that the only real path to redemption is through the truth.” Elise Hooper, author of Fast Girls.
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As I write this, the sun is shining, there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the birds are singing their hearts out. Spring is finally here in all its cheerful abundance. This, along with some easing of restrictions here in the UK really does lift the spirits! I appreciate that many parts of the world are still in the grips of terrible second or third waves, but let us all hope the end of the pandemic may just be in sight. In bookish news, I am delighted to share the covers of my new book, The Hidden Child above! The one on the left is the UK and Commonwealth cover, the one on the right, US and Canada. This time, they are stylistically similar to each other and I am pretty relieved to have the same title in all English jurisdictions which avoids a lot of confusion. Early reader copies of my American proofs have just been sent out to authors and reviewers and the English ones are going out imminently. It is always nerve-wracking waiting for those first reviews to come in, but the first two are in (see above) and so far, are wonderfully positive – phew!
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Thanks to everyone who took part in my competition to win a paperback copy of People Like Us in my last newsletter, and congratulations to Catherine Clapperton who was picked out of the draw. I hope she has enjoyed the book. The good news is, it’s COMPETITION TIME again! This time I am offering the following: 1. Reply to this message by 12 pm 7th May to enter the draw for a very exclusive advanced reader’s copy of The Hidden Child. I ensure the winner is randomly picked by numbering each entry and then asking one of my children to pick a number. 2. Name the cat who will appear in my third book. I have a dog in People Like Us/Daughter of the Reich (Kuschi); in The Hidden Child, I have a pony (Dilly), and a dog (Byron), so it is about time a cat made an appearance! Again, reply to this message by 12 pm 7th May to enter. I will choose the winning suggestion and include a big thank you to whoever comes up with the name in my acknowledgements at the back of the book. I’m looking forward to seeing your suggestions!!
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I have a few events coming up which may be interesting for any readers/writers out there! On 5th May 2021 I am taking part in a historical fiction panel at the Stay At Home Literary Festival discussing The Unheard: Stories from Forgotten Voices of the Past, together with fabulous authors, Polly Crosby, Caroline Bishop, Frances Quinn and Louise Hare. It should be a fascinating discussion! The festival runs until Sunday 9th May and is absolutely free. Do take a look at their programme here. Register once and you can access all events. I am also taking part in the Crediton Literary Festival which takes place on Saturday 5th June, details to be confirmed, so look out for it in the events section of my website. The Winchester Writers’ Weekend is running from 24th to 27th May and is a fantastic event for writers here. This year it will take place on-line and I’m thrilled to have been asked to do a reading from People Like Us during the evening of 25th June. I attended the festival three years ago as an aspiring writer and would never have imagined at the time being asked to come back as a published author. Finally, in April I took part in a fantastic US programme run by the US organization, Road Scholar, called The Story of a Novel, organised brilliantly by wonderful fellow author, Emma Christie, whose debut crime novel, The Silent Daughter has recently been longlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger award. The three day programme looks at the history of the novel, the inside story of publishing and what life is really like as a published author. It was tremendous fun to take part in three of the events. If anyone is interested in signing up, do check out Road Scholar – they are a fabulous organisation, and the next programme is running from 28th to 30th of June – check it out here.
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Finally, a little plea! I would be hugely grateful to anyone interested in reading The Hidden Child for pre-orders. The UK version of the book will be out on 2nd September, the US/Canadian one on 19th October. The publishing industry, I have discovered, works in weird and wonderful ways. The more interest there is in a book, pre-publication, the more the publisher is likely to spend on marketing and publicity of it and hence increase its visibility and as a result, its success. Pre-orders really do matter for authors and it isn’t an exaggeration to say they can make or break a book! Conversely, if there are not strong pre-orders, it is much less likely the publisher will push it. It is a strange and dicey business for authors so if you see a favourite author has a book coming out and you plan to buy it, do pop in a pre-order! You can do so here for the UK: Hive; Bookshop.org; Waterstones; Amazon; here for the US: HarperCollins - variety of outlets; and Canada: HarperCollins Canada - variety of outlets. Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful summer! Much love, Louise
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