What are you writing next? is a question I'm often asked. So it's great to be nominated for the Work in Progress Blog Hop to talk about my second historical novel 'Occupying Love.'
What is it about? I have tried to sum it up in one sentence:
In Nazi-occupied Guernsey during World War Two a young college student falls in love with the mysterious leader of the local Resistance, is coerced into sleeping with the German Kommandant and loses everything she holds dear before the shocking truth about her birth finally threatens to destroy her.
The nomination comes from author Heather Burnside (pictured below) who introduced me to the mysterious world of crime thrillers.
Heather, who writes a vey successful blog and lively newsletter, is the author of SLUR, a crime thriller set in 1980s Manchester, about two young women who have been wrongly accused of murder. The main character, Julie, is subjected to insults and accusations, and believes that everyone has turned against her. This drives her to despair, and she sinks into a deep depression. When her friends reveal that they may have found the real killer she reaches a turning point and begins to fight to maintain her innocence. But she underestimates just how difficult it will be to prove a vicious murderer guilty especially when the police remain unconvinced.
The book is available from Amazon in both Kindle and print versions and you can find out more at: http://viewbook.at/Slur. http://heatherburnside.com/
Heather has also published a multi-genre selection of short stories called Crime, Conflict and Consequences, which will be followed by another crime thriller in summer/autumn 2015 - the sequel to SLUR.
The rules to the blog hop are: Link back to the person who nominated you.
Write a little about and give the first few lines of the first three chapters from your WIP.
Nominate some other writers to do the same. So here goes...
Marilyn Chapman
The shock of that day never left her; it invaded her dreams and shadowed her waking moments.She could see
herself now, carrying an old brown suitcase down the ship’s gangplank, her
chocolate brown hair tousled by the fresh Guernsey breeze. In the year since
Lydia had left the island nothing, it seemed, had changed. Fishing boats rocked from side to
side, slapping waves against the harbour walls and yacht sails shimmered in the
early evening sun, fine wisps of cloud skittering across the skies like pockets
of hand-stitched lace. (cont)
Chapter Two
‘Mama - it’s me
- let me in.’
Emily Le Page threw open the door, howling with a mixture of fear and
delight. ‘Lydia, my poor child, you look
awful.’ She hugged her daughter to her.
‘Why on earth are you here?'
‘I heard the Germans were about to invade. I needed to know you were all right. Lydia’s
eyes scanned the room. ‘Where’s Papa?
Has he…. has he gone to the docks?’
‘No, not tonight. He wasn’t
feeling well. He heard the commotion
and went out to check on the greenhouses.’
‘Thank God for that. I thought he’d been killed.’
Chapter Three
Emily Le Page
stared at the headline on the Guernsey Star. She always read it from cover to
cover and tonight was no exception. ‘German Officer Saves Guernsey Child from Fire! “Heroic Rescue,” says
Kommandant.’
Heroic rescue? It didn’t make sense. Could this really be the enemy? Just a few
days ago Hitler’s soldiers had taken over the island and no-one had a clue what
to expect. Murder, rape, bombs and
torture were the legacy of the Nazis in Europe and here they were trying to
make friends!
A gust of wind shook the sash window and Emily shivered. She cast her eyes round the familiar room
with its carved oak furniture and sweeping bay windows. An unspeakable tragedy
had brought them to this house, yet she had known more happiness within these
walls then she ever thought possible. Built of pink granite on a cliff
overlooking Saints Bay, ‘Sea Breeze’ was visible on a clear day many miles from
shore. Behind the house stood a small
orchard of apples, pears and plums and beyond that lay the greenhouses where her
husband spent his working days. (to be continued)
Rather than nominate individual bloggers I would like to ask other authors to join in and tell us about their next novel. Good luck!
6 comments:
Thanks for the mention Marilyn. Your next book sounds great. I'll have to keep a look out for it when it's released. :)
Great to have you on here, Heather!
I thoroughly enjoyed the excerpts thanks for sharing them. I’ve not visited Heather’s blog before but will do so now.
Thanks, Barbara! Great to hear from you - one of these days I'm going to visit your shop. :)
Marilyn that would be wonderful, but sadly I don't have a shop! I've dreamt of opening one for more years than I care to remember but rent/rates/staff costs and everything else that goes along with it have always prevented it. I got as far as looking at a shop just as the financial crises hit, thank goodness I didn’t do it then. Up until six years ago, I had a large “book room” that was open to the public but when we downsized that also had to go. I now work (very happily) from an office lined with book shelves. You would be very welcome to come and visit me here, a cup of tea and a biscuit are always on offer, and you could browse the books, although you might find yourself climbing over a couple of boxes!
I might just take you up on that cup of tea and a biscuit in an office lined with book shelves. We'd have so much in common, Barbara :)
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