Special Guest Interview with S. A. Harris, Author of Haverscroft

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

I'm pleased to welcome author Sally Harris to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book

Haverscroft is a domestic suspense ghost story; a haunted house, a chilling dark tale and domestic noir. The Keeling family move to Haverscroft House for a fresh start. Kate and Mark both hold secrets which threaten their marriage but little do they know the secrets at Haverscroft are far darker than anything they might imagine. Mark does not believe there is anything sinister at Haverscroft. Kate is concerned about Mark’s motives for being away so much. As their mistrust deepens and events unravel, Kate has to choose between keeping her children safe and saving her marriage.

Reviewers have compared Haverscroft to Sarah Waters - The Little Stranger, Susan Hill - The Small Hand and Shirley Jackson - The Haunting of Hill House. I am lost for words to express how excited I have been to be mentioned alongside such revered authors.

Haverscroft is set in East Anglia, partly in Norfolk where I live and Suffolk where I was born. Haverscroft is my first novel.

What is your preferred writing routine?

When I was writing Haverscroft, I worked part-time finishing at 3 pm each day to do the school run. I would drive to the school, park and then write, my laptop balanced on my knee until our son come out of school at 4 pm. Usually, I had about 30 - 40 minutes of writing time. With no internet and guaranteed peace and quiet, Haverscroft’s manuscript moved along at a steady pace.

Since then, I have changed jobs twice and now work full-time. Weekends are often crowded with everyday domestic demands; laundry, cleaning, shopping or cooking family meals.

I need to find a settled writing routine again. Winter approaches, the best time of year I find to write. Haverscroft is well and truly launched, the initial demands of publication and social media have died down and I have settled into the new job. And I have found a quiet cafe near to where I work, the food is good, the coffee better and in a lunch hour I’ve found about 30 - 40 minutes to start tapping away.

What advice do you have for new writers?

Follow your instincts, be passionate about what you do and just keep going. Writing takes a long time, and if your end aim is publication, dogged determination is needed in spades. Get feedback on your work from people you trust; tutors, other writers and friends. Act on it if it feels right for your story, gut instinct I have found, rarely lets you down. A writing group can offer vital support. I attend two very different groups and enjoy both immensely.

There are so many knock-backs and struggles in a writing life. If you are passionate enough about your story, if you love your characters enough, it will see you through the dark times. I ‘gave up’ on Haverscroft and started writing a new novel when I failed to find an agent/publisher. But guilt niggled away at me, was I really going to abandon Kate and her family to a dark corner of my hard drive? When the nagging got too loud to ignore, I pulled up the old word document and rewrote the manuscript. Salt offered to publish Haverscroft a couple of months later.

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

Social media and my publisher's own website. I was not much on Twitter before I signed my publishing contract but Salt encouraged me to tweet, leave a few Facebook posts, I opened an Instagram account.

Twitter and the writing community have been great fun and hugely supportive of me and my novel. My children are constantly amused mum has so many followers. Never judge a book by its cover I warn them!

Gaining visibility for a novel is hard. My publisher is an indie with little, if any, budget for marketing books so beyond social media which is free, it often falls to the writer to get out and about to bookshops and libraries, write articles for magazines and chat on local radio. I am one of the lucky ones as I enjoy these things. Some writers loathe this part of the writing life which must make it difficult.

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research

I did not have to do much research for Haverscroft. By day, I am a solicitor and specialise in family law so much of the subject matter was already within my knowledge. Certainly, it helped when writing the strained and difficult relationship between Kate and Mark. I have seen more than my fair share of marriages in trouble.

I had to check my understanding of mental health was accurate. Probably the most startling thing I discovered is how common mental health issues are with far more people likely to suffer some form of illness in a lifetime than I anticipated.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

Emotionally the pond scene where one of the children is in real peril. The scene poured out incredibly fast which is unusual as I am normally such a slow writer. In that sense, it was not hard to write but I have children of my own and I could too easily place myself in Kate’s shoes.

In terms of writing, it was the attic scene. It went thorough several drafts and with hindsight, I think it is because Kate is alone throughout. I love writing dialogue and there is none in this scene. Reviewers and readers have put my self-doubt to rest as the attic scene, so they tell me, is one of the creepiest parts of the book.

What are you planning to write next?

My second novel is set on the Suffolk coast, M.R.James territory. I spent much of my childhood here and love the eerie beauty of the coastline, the marshes and the vast ever-changing skies. Although there is a supernatural thread, this story leans more towards the domestic noir. I have a clear idea of the main beats of the story and have written some early chapters and scenes. I have also gone slightly mad and booked a four-day writing retreat in a few weeks time to enable me to really get the writing underway.

Sally Harris

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About the Author

Sally Harris is an award-winning author and family law solicitor born in Suffolk and now living and working in Norwich, Norfolk. She won the Retreat West Crime Writer Competition in 2017. She was shortlisted for The Fresher Prize First 500 Words of a Novel Competition in 2018 and published in their anthology, Monsters, in November 2018. Her debut novel, Haverscroft, was published on the 15th May 2019 and Longlisted for the Not the Booker Prize 2019. She is a member of the Society of Authors. You can find out more at her author website: www.saharrisauthor.com, and follow her on Twitter @salharris1 

Historical Fiction Spotlight: Trailing the Hunter, by Heidi Eljarbo

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

1661 in Norway:  Clara Dahl has made a decision. She has seen the dread and sorrow witch-finder Angus Hill has caused in her hometown and sets out to find him. Her goal is to fight the wrongful and wicked misconceptions about witch hunting. But the witch-finder’s influence is strong. How can she warn the villagers of something they don’t understand?

Clara’s heartfelt desire is to protect and rescue the women who are in danger without causing more harm. As Clara develops secret plots to thwart the plans of the notorious witch-finder and works to help the villagers, she finds friendship and the possibility of true love.

From the bestselling author of Catching a Witch comes the continuing story of a brave, unwavering woman who defends the innocent. Set during a tumultuous time in history, Trailing the Hunter will captivate readers.

“A spellbinder from the very beginning.
Eljarbo’s sound historical research is evident and impressive.”
— Gus A. Mellander, Ph. D., D.H.L.

“Excellent research and stunning writing.”
— Pauline Isaksen, author of Dying for Justice

“She captures so eloquently the dark side of human nature born from family instability
as well as the light that shines so brightly in those who care so deeply about others.”
— Linnea Shaw

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About the Author

Heidi Eljarbo is the bestselling author of Catching a Witch. She grew up in a home filled with books and artwork and she never truly imagined she would do anything other than write and paint. She studied art, languages, and history, all of which have come in handy when working as an author, magazine journalist, and painter. After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She and her husband have a total of nine children, twelve grandchildren–so far–in addition to a bouncy Wheaten Terrier and a bird. Their favorite retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summertime and ski the vast, white terrain during winter. Heidi’s favorites are family, God’s beautiful nature, and the word whimsical. If you would like to know more, please visit Heidi’s website. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @HeidiEljarbo

Halloween Special: Margery Jourdemayne, the Witch of Eye next Westminster

The conjuration from Henry VI (Act 1, Scene 4)
Wikimedia Commons

In 1441, three days before Halloween,  an elderly woman was convicted of witchcraft and burned alive at the stake. Known as 'The Witch of Eye',  Margery Jourdemayne had been found guilty of making a wax image of the king.

Margery Jourdemayne had spent several months in the cells of Windsor Castle for the crime of curing the sick with herbal potions, which earned her a reputation as a 'wise woman'. but was released when she promised to stop using her 'witches' charms and incantations.

I first met her while researching her unusual friendship with the Duchess of Gloucester, the subject of my book The Secret Diary of Eleanor Cobham.

Duke Humphrey of Gloucester had enemies, as he was the king's uncle and therefore the heir presumptive, if anything were to happen to King Henry.

In June 1441, three of Eleanor's servants, were accused of 'compassing the death of the king' by using astrology to forecast the date of his death.

Eleanor was also accused of employing the talents of Margery Jourdemayne to bewitch her husband the duke into loving her, and of making an effigy of the king:

How she in waxe by counsel of the witch,

An image made, crowned like a king,

… which dayly they did pytch

Against a fyre, that as the wax did melt,

So should his life consume away unfelt.

Margery Jourdemayne was condemned by a church court presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and burned at the stake at Smithfield. This was not a legal sentence at the time, as the crime of witchcraft was not officially recognised in 1441, although predicting the death of the king was treason.

Lady Eleanor's three servants were also convicted. Roger Bolingbroke was hanged, drawn, and quartered, while Thomas Southwell died suddenly in prison of suspected poisoning, perhaps to escape a worse fate. The third, named John Home, was allowed a royal pardon for confessing to witnessing the witchcraft.

Lady Eleanor was imprisoned for life at Beaumaris Castle on the Welsh island of Anglesey, which is where she wrote her secret diary.... discovered by me centuries later.

Tony Riches

Book Launch Guest Post: This Blighted Expedition - a novel of the Walcheren campaign of 1809: Book Two of the Manxman series, by Lynn Bryant

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

It is 1809. Austria is back in the war and London is committed to a new campaign in Europe. A force of 40,000 men and 600 ships gathers along the south coast of England. They are destined for Walcheren, and a lightning strike against the French dockyards on the Scheldt. 

Captain Hugh Kelly RN is once again embroiled in a joint operation with the army with his old adversary Sir Home Popham, a man who never forgets a perceived slight. Alfred Durrell, Hugh’s first lieutenant, is on secondment as Popham’s aide, a posting which places him at the heart of the campaign as relations between the army and navy 

begin to deteriorate.

The idea to write a novel about the Walcheren campaign happened very naturally. Being a historical novelist, especially one writing a series, I often say that the plot is already written. The tricky bit is finding your characters’ place in the story.

I write historical novels about fictional characters who are very firmly rooted into real historical events, and who rub shoulders with real people from history. For example, I have written five books of the Peninsular War Saga, which follows the story of a fictional character called Paul van Daan, who joins a fictional infantry regiment in 1802 as a junior officer and rises through the ranks as the war progresses. 

The fictional aspect of this enables me to create a story for Paul, to give him a suitably eccentric wife and a whole cast of fellow officers and men who serve in the 110th. However, since I have placed the regiment into the real framework of Wellington’s army, I have real characters such as Robert Craufurd, Charles Alten, Andrew Barnard and of course Lord Wellington himself, who need to be meticulously researched to make them believable. I need to know where they were and what they were doing, but I also need to find out what they were like in order for them to develop relationships with my fictional cast. It’s complicated.

More than a year ago, in a moment of genuine madness, I decided to begin a second, connected series, featuring a Manx Royal Navy captain, Hugh Kelly. My rationale for this was that I was constantly being asked when I was going to write a novel about my home, the Isle of Man. The island isn’t famous for its army connections, although there are some, but the navy is a different matter. 

Hugh Kelly was born, and I decided to link him with the original series, by writing about the Copenhagen campaign of 1807. I had mentioned that Paul van Daan had been present at that campaign, although I’d not written about his role there. An Unwilling Alliance enabled Paul and Hugh to meet. It was a great success and the book was shortlisted for this year’s Society for Army Historical Research fiction prize.

There was no question about writing a sequel, but it had to make sense historically, and to be honest, writing about the navy post-Trafalgar meant I was a bit limited. I had enjoyed linking my army and navy sagas in the first book, and while I was looking for a campaign, I remembered Walcheren. Once again, I had written that the second battalion of the 110th, not Paul’s battalion, had served at Walcheren. 

I cheerfully mentioned this to several fellow writers or historians. Most told me I was insane to write a novel about such a disastrous campaign. Dr Jacqueline Reiter, an expert on the campaign, who has written a biography of Lord Chatham, the commander of the army and is currently researching Sir Home Popham, got really really excited about the idea. With her help in matters of research, I couldn’t resist.

The problem with Walcheren is that there is no glory. There are a few skirmishes and a couple of brutal bombardments of Dutch towns. Vlissingen was almost destroyed. After that, the army arrived on South Beveland, realised that Antwerp was too well defended and that their troops were beginning to collapse with the lethal combination of malaria and dysentery known as Walcheren fever, and made a miserable and inglorious retreat. At least four thousand men died of Walcheren fever and many more suffered recurrent illness for years.

Back in England, there were recriminations in the press and a public outcry and a Parliamentary inquiry followed. The novel places one of my characters squarely in the middle of the ensuing mess and enabled me to look at the political consequences of the failure of the biggest and most expensive expedition of the war. It was particularly interesting to study the struggle of a weak government to fight off repeated attacks given the recent political climate.

I spent a long time researching this book. There is far less written about it, either in contemporary sources or modern interpretations, than most of the other Napoleonic campaigns. Jacqueline Reiter was unbelievably generous in sharing her sources, and Gareth Glover also sent me several excerpts from journals and letters that I had never seen. In a campaign lasting just a few months there is less room for error about dates and events, so my research has been meticulous.

I love this book. In it, I have left behind the death or glory of some of the big set piece battles of the Peninsular War. I always try to capture the human side of war, the details of the aftermath as well as the violence of the conflict, but there is so much more opportunity in a campaign that is going so badly wrong. 

I visited this a little during my previous book, which dealt with the disastrous retreat from Burgos in 1812, but Walcheren puts that in the shade. At the same time, since these are real people, there is still a place for courage and integrity, for love and family, for ambition and the brutal reality of war. There is even a place for humour, from the relentless self-publicising of Sir Home Popham, to the inability of Chatham to be on time for anything at all.

This Blighted Expedition is the story of real people, some of whom turned out to be heroic in unexpected ways. It is available on Amazon kindle in the UK here and the US here and will be out in paperback by the end of November. In the meantime, I am about to embark on book six of the Peninsular War Saga. 

It’s called An Unrelenting Enmity and to give myself a kick start with the writing process, I am attempting NaNaWriMo for the first time ever. To follow my progress why not join me on my blog over at Writing with Labradors, or on Facebook or Twitter?

Lynn Bryant

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About the Author

Lynn Bryant was born and raised in London's East End. She studied History at University and had dreams of being a writer from a young age. Since this was clearly not something a working class girl made good could aspire to, she had a variety of careers including a librarian, NHS administrator, relationship counsellor and manager of an art gallery before realising that most of these were just as unlikely as being a writer and took the step of publishing her first book. She now lives in the Isle of Man and is married to a man who understands technology, which saves her a job, and has two teenage children and two labradors. History is still a passion, with a particular enthusiasm for the Napoleonic era and the sixteenth century. When not writing she runs an Irish dance school, reads anything that's put in front of her and makes periodic and unsuccessful attempts to keep a tidy house. Find out more at Lynn's website http://www.lynnbryant.co.uk/ and find her on Twitter @LynnBry29527024

Book Launch: No Armour Against Fate (Queenmaker Series Book 3) by Caroline Angus

New on Amazon UK and Amazon US

London, January 1537 – Thomas Cromwell is in deep mourning. His new queen is on the throne at King Henry’s command, but the personal cost is too high. Nicòla Frescobaldi is lying dead inside the Medici tomb in Florence, and Cromwell’s only daughter Jane is missing. Now, the people of England have rebelled against their king, marching to London to start a civil war. The Pilgrimage of Grace has two demands: remove all the Reformation changes from religion and cut off Cromwell’s head.

Cromwell needs his friends, allies and the king’s favour more than ever, but he can do nothing when Queen Jane dies giving England its son and heir. Cromwell’s son has married the Queen’s sister, but the Seymours will disappear from favour if Cromwell does not eliminate all those able to take their place. There is only one solution; become Queenmaker yet again and find a foreign princess for Henry, one to seal religious change and create stability in the war of Catholic against Protestant.

Nicòla Frescobaldi may be dead, but Duchess Nicòletta of Florence is not, so Cromwell and his creature can rule politics again to control England and Ireland. But when war with the Holy Roman Empire threatens, all of Cromwell’s powers, titles and schemes cannot save him from his oldest enemy in England, and a betrayal deep in the heart of the powerful Cromwellian faction.

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About the Author

Caroline Angus Baker is a sailmaker turned author based in Auckland, New Zealand. Having studied, worked and lived in New Zealand, Spain, and the U.K, she has produced modern-day thrillers with the bestselling Canna Medici series, and then the Spanish Civil War based Secrets of Spain series, created after studying in mass graves and bullfighting rings. The Queenmaker Series is the first in a large set of English history novels. Find out more at Caroline's website https://carolineangusbaker.com/ and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @Writer_Caroline

Special Guest Interview with Andie Newton, Author of The Girl I Left Behind

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

I'm pleased to welcome author Andie Newton to The Writing Desk

Tell us about your latest book:

The Girl I Left Behind is about a young woman in the youth German Resistance who infiltrates the Reich to rescue her best friend. Nuremberg, 1941.

As a young girl, Ella never considered that those around her weren't as they appeared. But when her childhood best friend shows Ella that you can't always believe what you see, Ella finds herself thrown into the world of the German Resistance.

On a dark night in 1941, Claudia is taken by the Gestapo, likely never to be seen again, unless Ella can save her. With the help of the man she loves, Ella must undertake her most dangerous mission yet and infiltrate the Nazi Party.

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research:

I began this novel ten years ago. In 2009, there was an average amount of information on the internet and at my library about the youth resistance, but I knew I needed to go to the source and ask questions—I needed to ask Germans in Germany. I knew that Germans were reluctant to talk about this dark period of their history, so I looked up business’ in an around the areas my characters found themselves.

I figured that if they had a section on their website about their shop’s history (which several did—mostly about the building’s history throughout the ages) they might reply to an email. Some got back to me; some did not. The Korn und Berg bookstore was one who wrote back. It was through this exchange I learned that Hitler didn’t like the bookstore’s windows, and during a rally he broke away, walked right into the store and demanded the owner change the shape. This is just one of the many nuggets I found. And yes, I wrote this into the story.

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

The ending. I love the ending of this novel. Love. However, there are many different ways I could have chosen to end it, and I imagined them all. As a reader I want every character to have that happy ending. I want the villains to get their punishments, and I want the heroes and heroines to get their day of splendor and acknowledgement.

However, this story is set during WWII. If I tied up every single plot point into a perfect package with a perfect ending the story would have been unbelievable to me. Definitely inauthentic. War is messy. War is unresolved in the hearts and minds of those who lived through it. So, in this respect the ending was hard to write, but also very easy and satisfying. Even now, and I’ve read my book thousands of times, the ending takes my breath away. I’ve read in reviews that readers are having the same reaction and love the ending, so I know I’ve done my job as a writer and as a historian.

What advice do you have for new writers?

Write. Write a lot. After I finished my first novel (which would later become my debut, The Girl I Left Behind), I thought it was the best thing ever written. I even got a few offers. But my book needed work. A lot of work. Someone told me to start writing a second book while submitting my first and I all but laughed in their face. I felt exhausted. I felt like writing that second book was only possible if I sold my first. Boy, was I wrong.

I wrote a second book and I learned much more about tension, hooks, and scene transitions. I went back and revised my first book using all the new and glorious writing techniques I learned. The funny and ironic part of this story is that my second book saved my first. This is the book that got me that coveted publishing contract, and when I told my publisher that I had another book, this one set in Nazi Germany, they were very excited.

Also, write out of genre. I know this sounds scary, but one of the best things I ever did was write a children’s book. There was no pressure. There were no expectations. I was on submission when I wrote it, and by this time I hated writing. I hated everything about publishing. Writing out of genre was very liberating, and I suddenly remembered why I loved writing. I also got a chance to write in 3rd person, which I had never done. And, as it turns out I’m actually good at it. I would have never discovered this talent of mine had I not dabbled in another genre just for fun.

Get a writing buddy. Specifically, find someone with similar publishing dreams. You will need this person to talk to when you go on submission. You will share ideas. You will share your frustrations. You will know you are not alone.

What is your writing routine?

I write when my kids and husband are out of the house! This is only because I absolutely can’t handle being interrupted; it will kill an entire scene and ruin my writing day. I can handle noise, oddly (I have two boys who make A LOT of noise), but if you want to see what I look like completely stressed out, interrupt me while I’m writing. So, I write when nobody is at home. I turn my phone off too, because receiving texts and FB messages is just as jarring as someone walking up to me while I’m in full creative mode and asking what’s for dinner.

What are you planning to write next?

My second book, The Girl From Vichy, will be released in July 2021 by Aria Fiction. It’s about a woman who joins the French Resistance and spies on her collaborator boyfriend in the Vichy police. This book explores a family that is politically divided, which was really interesting to write, given the state of our political landscape in America and in the UK, which is very divided. My third book, to be released in 2021 by Aria, is still a work in progress, but I can tell you it is a WWII female-driven spy novel involving American women, and I absolutely love it.

Andie Newton

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About the Author

Andie is an American writer living in Washington State with her husband and two boys. She writes female-driven WWII historical fiction. Her debut novel, The Girl I Left Behind, was published by Aria Fiction in October 2019. The Girl from Vichy, her second novel with Aria Fiction, will be released in July 2020 with a third untitled novel due to release in 2021. She has a Bachelor’s degree in History from Washington State University and a Master in Teaching. Andie would love to say she spends her free time gardening and cooking, but she’s killed everything she’s ever planted and set off more fire alarms than she cares to admit. Andie does, however, love spending time with her family, trail running, traveling the world, and drinking copious amounts of coffee. Andie loves connecting with readers on social media. You can find her on Twitter @andienewton, on Facebook, and on Instagram @andienewtonauthor. You can also find discussion questions for her novels on her website www.andienewton.com.

If you would like to add The Girl I Left Behind to your Goodreads shelves, click here: http://bit.ly/2mGh6bF

Special Guest Interview with Susie Murphy, Author of A Class Entwined

Available on Amazon UK and Amazon US

Trapped in a loveless marriage far from home, Bridget does what she can to fill her lonely days. She throws herself into charitable work, but her cherished daughter, Emily, is her only true source of happiness.

I'm pleased to welcome author Susie Murphy to The Writing Desk:

Tell us about your latest book

A Class Entwined is the second book in my historical fiction series A Matter of Class, the first book of which is called A Class Apart (published July 2018). Beginning in Ireland in 1828, the series is set on a manor estate in County Carlow and follows the relationship between Bridget Muldowney, a landowner’s daughter, and Cormac McGovern, a stable hand’s son. They were childhood friends but as adults their class differences present a barrier to any kind of friendship between them. 

However, despite Bridget's engagement to a wealthy English gentleman and the interference of her domineering mother, Bridget and Cormac still find themselves drawn to each other. The series poses the question: can love overcome the social class divide? A Class Apart begins when Bridget returns to the manor estate for a single summer after having spent seven years away in Dublin, while A Class Entwined deals with the consequences of what happens that summer. The story will continue in the third book, A Class Forsaken (coming 2020).

What is your preferred writing routine?

I don’t actually have any specific writing routine. The past year was pretty hectic for me as I changed jobs twice, moved house twice, and published two books, so really my attitude to writing has been to simply fit it in any time of the day that works!

What advice do you have for new writers?

Be patient. You may want to get your books out there as quickly as possible but it’s worth waiting and making them the best they can be before submitting them to agents/publishers. If you choose to go down the self-publishing route, I would definitely advise seeking a professional editor’s opinion on your writing. If you can’t afford a full edit of your book, then at least get a manuscript assessment which shouldn’t cost as much but will still point you in the right direction. That’s what I did before I published my books and it was the best decision I made.

What have you found to be the best way to raise awareness of your books?

This is a tricky one because I’m still struggling to be successful in this area! I think reaching out to book reviewers for my book launches was helpful as it spread the net of awareness wider when their reviews went out to their readers. I do think engaging with other writers and with readers is very important and so rewarding as well – there’s a really wonderful community out there. I’m also studying an online advertising course at the moment and am hoping to put what I’ve learned into action very soon, so we’ll see how that goes!

Tell us something unexpected you discovered during your research

I was a bit lax when it came to historical research back at the very beginning, so by the time I came to my senses and started properly researching the time period of my books, I encountered a number of historical facts which caused me unexpected difficulties. There were several aspects of inheritance law that had the potential to ruin the entire premise of A Class Apart, but I managed to makes some adjustments without sacrificing the original storyline. 

Then, in doing my research for A Class Entwined, I stumbled upon the New Poor Law of 1834 which wouldn’t have posed any problem if it had only been introduced two years later. It necessitated a good deal of rewriting but I succeeded in both amending the story and keeping the historical elements accurate. Needless to say, I now do meticulous research before writing anything!

What was the hardest scene you remember writing?

Essentially, rewriting two whole books. Back in 2015, I almost had success in getting traditionally published – an acquisitions editor was really interested in taking on A Class Apart but her associate editor unfortunately turned it down. I received feedback from both of them which alerted me to several things I could improve on in relation to both my standard of writing and the construction of the whole story. 

However, it would mean a huge revision of the first two books in my series which I had believed were already in good shape. This was so hard to accept because I knew it would mean taking a step back from trying to get published for a very long time. In the end, the rewriting process took eighteen months. But I’m so glad I took the time to do it because I feel it made the series much better overall. Getting that rejection in 2015 was the best thing that could have happened!

What are you planning to write next?

I am currently working on the third book in my series, A Class Forsaken. It continues Bridget and Cormac’s story, where the timeline has now reached 1836. I aim to publish it in 2020. This whole series was originally intended to be just one book but my characters have insisted that there will now be at least seven volumes in the series.

Thank you very much for having me as a guest, Tony!

Susie Murphy

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About the Author

Susie Murphy is an Irish historical fiction author. She loves historical fiction so much that she often wishes she had been born two hundred years ago. Still, she remains grateful for many aspects of the modern age, including women’s suffrage, electric showers and pizza. Susie wrote her first ‘novel’ when she was eleven – entitled The Rabbits’ Journey, it was eleven pages long and an unashamed plagiarism of Watership Down. At age sixteen, Susie put pen to paper on the story that would eventually become A Class Apart but it took another sixteen years before she published it. She promises it won’t take sixteen years to write every other book in her A Matter of Class series. You can find out more at www.susiemurphywrites.com, and you can connect with Susie on Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads and Twitter @susiemwrites. If you would like to keep up with news of Susie’s books, you can also subscribe to her newsletter here.