Hello, and thank you for visiting my site. I hope that you'll return often and always find something of interest about my world and what inspires me to pick up a pen. (This is a figure of speech, unfortunately. My handwriting is terrible!) Here's what I've been up to recently...
Delighted with my first 5* review!
So delighted, in fact, that I’ve decided to reproduce it here for everyone to read.
***** Amazon review
Rural France has long been an inspiration for writers. Flaubert’s MADAME BOVARY originated in Normandy. Simenon set much of his Maigret series of detective novels in the seedy underbelly of Paris but his stories acquired a whole new perspective when they transferred to the countryside. More recently, Joanne Harris gave us a taste of what goes on beyond the confines of the capital in CHOCOLAT and its sequels, THE LOLLIPOP SHOES and PEACHES FOR MONSIEUR LE CURE. These novels are generally held to show there is a darker side to life in the French provinces but in her debut novel, Maggie Cobbett takes that one step further as SHADOWS OF THE PAST explores it to the full.
We know right from the start that there’s something nasty in the woodshed – the dramatic prologue tells us to expect it. So when Laura Fitzgerald sets out on what she hopes is a pleasant and informative tour of France in her new Triumph Spitfire we know she’s heading for trouble. We’re soon introduced to the families Binard and Gaudet and the questions begin to rack up – who’s hiding what from whom and why? And when young Daisy and her friends arrive on the scene, we fear for them and the story starts to crackle with an underlying tension. If you go down in the woods today…
After setting out the scene in the first half of the book, things quickly gather pace as the secrets begin to tumble out in the second. Someone is going to die – but who will it be? Daisy? Her friends? Or will it be Laura herself who fails to survive and escape the retentive clutches of Saint-André-la-Forêt? But as compelling as this mystery may at first appear, SHADOWS OF THE PAST is more than just a thriller – it’s also a social history of provincial France for the fifty year period beginning just before World War Two. Unlike the countryside in which it’s set, the book is densely populated with a myriad of interesting characters, each of whom has an agenda of their own – some of which are not entirely pleasant.
2 August, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
Update on ‘Shadows of the Past’
My first novel is now available in print or electronic version from Amazon and the dates for the official launches – think ‘celebration’ rather than anything too formal – have been set. There will be music, there will be refreshments and there may even be readings! Needless to say, signed copies will also be available.
Please make a note of these dates: Saturday 22nd August at my home in Ripon; Saturday 29th August at my son’s place in York. Details of timings will follow and an email to me will ensure directions for anyone who needs them.
With my annual stay at The Writers’ Summer School (Swanwick) to enjoy beforehand, I couldn’t be more excited at the moment. (Stifles mad cries of ‘Yippee’ for fear of scaring the cats.)
28 July, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
‘Shadows of the Past’ is finally here!
I unveiled the final proof copy at the summer social of the NSG (York Writers’ Novelists’ Support Group) last week and hope to publish details of my book launches very soon. In the meantime, here’s the cover to be going on with. I hope you all like it. It’s a shame that people buying the eBook will only see the front, because every item in the line up is of significance to the story. Thanks again to those of you generous enough to entrust me with some of your precious items.
26 July, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
Novelists’ Support Group Summer Social
This evening of good food and good conversation was held at Grays Court in York. Thank you very much, Linda, for arranging it. I’m sure that Steve, Sarah, Sally, Joanna, Nick, Amy, Paul, John and Richard enjoyed it as much as I did.
The proof copy of my novel Shadows of the Past had arrived just in time to be passed round. A page inside is dedicated to fellow writers, including several of those present, who have been kind enough to read and comment on the final draft. In particular, I cannot thank my son enough for designing the cover, doing the lay out and putting the whole thing together.
23 July, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
A day I’ve been dreaming about for 12 years!
The proof copy of my novel Shadows of the Past has arrived and I’m setting about the task of checking it through. Despite hours of careful editing – and not only by me – I’ll be very surprised if a few mistakes aren’t still to be found.
However, this is the culmination of a dream. Friends who’ve been following this saga over the last few years know that it was inspired by a very strange holiday I had in France as a teenager and is to some extent autobiographical.
There is something of me in the first narrator and even more in the second, although I can’t cook as well as she does! Her story is central to the plot and the young Frenchman who becomes her saviour bears more than a passing resemblance to the one to whom the book is dedicated.
Watch this space!
17 July, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
My article in ‘Down Your Way’ magazine
‘Down Your Way’ is a cheerful little magazine, much loved by Yorkshire people still living in our great county and cherished by exiles all over the world. It has included many of my articles over the years and the bottom right hand corner of the cover gives a clue to the subject of the latest one.
Being a Saturday girl in ‘Woolies’, Woolworth’s Briggate store in Leeds in my case, was my first taste of paid work and quite a culture shock. My immediate boss ruled her department with a rod of iron and was far less forgiving of mistakes than any of my teachers. I was also in terror for the first few weeks of my colleagues, who had all left school at fifteen and were far more sophisticated and worldly wise than I was. Being at the bottom of the pecking order was a new experience.
The first draft of the article was almost a stream of consciousness piece, but I had to tone it down to avoid giving offence or even being sued! Suffice it to say, that I could have said a great deal more about the goings on than made it into print.
27 June, 2015 - There are 2 comments on this story
The Womag blog
This has long been an invaluable resource for all of us interested in writing for the women’s magazine market and I’m delighted to have been invited to make a guest appearance. You can see what I have to say by going to http://womagwriter.blogspot.co.uk/
24 June, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
Unexpected exposure!
The life of a background artiste (‘extra’) is a very varied one, but we humble folk rarely make the pages of the television magazines. However, here I am! Filming a fight scene of any sort is always a complicated business and many ‘takes’ are done before everyone is satisfied. The only problem is that it becomes increasingly difficult to take it seriously.
I love the caption to this one, although it’s years since anyone said ‘rhubarb’. With microphones so sensitive these days, we have to mime our imagined conversations. Even a bag of crisps has to be sucked rather than crunched!
15 June, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
‘Shadows of the Past’ is on its way!
Having finished my novel – all 120 000 words of it – I’m treating myself to some down time in our back garden today. Writing it has been a labour of love as well as a hard slog.
The cover is still to be decided upon and I’m awaiting final critiques and endorsements from fellow writers who’ve been kind enough to read the manuscript, but then it will be all systems go to publication!
12 June, 2015 - There are 2 comments on this story
What’s in a name?
A great deal hangs on names in my new novel, which should be out some time in June. That being the case, I was delighted to find the combination of plant and container above on my last visit to Ripon’s Walled Garden. (The project gives work experience to disadvantaged young people who might otherwise have little worthwhile to do with their time.)
Two of my main characters are called Marguerite and Fleur. If you can think of an alternative name for the former, you’re well on your way to uncovering the mystery at the heart of the story!
25 May, 2015 - Make the first comment on this story
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