2021 Summer NEWSLETTER

Happy Summer Holidays! 

I hope whatever you are doing, whether that is enjoying a mixed weather staycation or are striking out abroad, that you are having a safe and enjoyable time. 

It’s been a busy summer for me so far. I visited my very first (since lockdown) live literary festival as a published author. It was the Harrogate Crime festival – not that I write crime, but it is a big event in the UK literary calendar and wonderful to meet so many authors, editors and readers in real life. What a treat. I also took part in some on-line events, from Brighton to Leipzig and as far afield as Canada. As well as working on the first draft of my third book, which is ALMOST finished, I’ve also been busy writing some articles and interviews in preparation for the launch of my second book, The Hidden Child. My family and I did, however, manage to spend a wonderful, quiet week in the far North-West Highlands of Scotland, right on the coast, which was just magical. I loved every moment. 

I had the great excitement recently of a trip to the printers to see The Hidden Child being bound and coming off the presses. It was the most wonderful highlight. My lovely editor, Hannah, and I, went to CPI Books in Chatham, Kent to see it all happen. You can see a clip Here I also had some good news this week that The Hidden Child is going to be translated into Russian, which is the first foreign language for this book. 

 My first event for The Hidden Child, is at 7pm BST on 17th August, which is a chat with fellow Head of Zeus author, Victoria Scott, whose wonderful debut novel, Patience, is out now. We will be talking about certain themes which resonate in both of our books, around the subject of disability, our values in society, experimental medicine and more! Whilst our books are very different – Victoria writes contemporary fiction – there is also much commonality. Do check out her book, it’s truly unique and wonderful, and also is Indie pick of the month for August, so you will find it in your local bookshop (UK only)! You can join our conversation, hosted by journalist Claire Gill, Here. 

I have three other events lined up for early September. Firstly, I am really excited to be holding a physical launch for The Hidden Child on Thursday 2nd September from 6:30 pm at Waterstones, Kingston-Upon-Thames. If you are local to Kingston-Upon-Thames, it is late night shopping and I will be signing copies etc, so you are very welcome to drop in!

I am also doing an on-line launch with a fellow author, the wonderful Nikola Scott who launches her historical fiction novel The Orchard Girls, a dual narrative novel about the land girls during WWII, on the same day. We are being hosted by fabulous booksellers, Brid and Neil, at Tertulia Bookshop, based in Westport, Ireland on 8th September at 7 pm BST and anyone is welcome to join! Link will be up in the events section of my website very soon.

Finally, I am also delighted to be hosted by the brilliant Parade End Books, Kingston, a wonderful independent bookshop who first opened their doors shortly before all the lockdowns began, on Friday 17th September at 7 pm BST. I will be there with two other fantastic local authors, Andy Howden, who will be discussion his uplifting and hilarious novel, Melting in the Middle, and Molly Gartland and her beautifully drawn historical fiction novel, The Girl from the Hermitage. The event is limited numbers so please do register with the shop if you would like to attend.

I now know the audio book narrators for The Hidden Child, which I’m really excited about. In the US/Canadian edition, the same brilliant narrator, Marisa Calin, who read Daughter of the Reich, so wonderfully, will also read The Hidden Child. In the UK we are going for something slightly different. I have three main characters in the book and multi-award-winning actress, Kristen Atherton, will be narrating Eleanor, whilst Edward and the other mystery character will be read by Ed Hughes, who has starred in numerous TV, film and theatre productions. They are all fantastic and I can’t wait to hear both versions! 

In other news, People Like Us/Daughter of the Reich, continues to be published in other territories. It has recently published in Italy and France and is shortly to be released in Greece. Isn’t this a gorgeous cover?

As mentioned, I’m busy working on my third book. It is too early to tell you too much about it, but for now I can say that it is set in the early 1960’s, but with threads going back to WW2. It’s really a story about the unquestioned expectations of how women – mothers in particular – should be, and how their position in society can change in just a few short years.   

In my last newsletter, I ran two competitions. One was to win an advance copy of The Hidden Child, and the other was to name the cat who is featured in my third book. I was slightly overwhelmed with entries, so I did give away two copies of the book. I’m delighted to let you know that the winner of the books were Sarah Sansom and Dawn Fitzgerald. The winner of the cat-naming competition was Laurie Alexander who gave me the wonderful name of Bartholomew which suits the moggy in the book absolutely (purr)fectly! Thank you so much to everyone who entered. 

If you wish to pre-order a copy of The Hidden Child, 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. 

I’ll be back in the Autumn with news around publication in the US and Canada. Do check my website for any events as I will be posting upcoming ones on the events page. Until then, I hope you all manage to have a wonderful, relaxing summer, and whether that be venturing abroad or staying home, be safe out there! 

Thank you for reading!

Louise x