We’ve got an exclusive first read from her latest book, where you can dive in and get a chilling preview, only on Silver Magazine. Step into a country house dressed for Christmas, cosy on the surface but with secrets underneath…

Nick, an investigative journalist, has taken shelter at remote Yorkshire hotel Mistletoe Manor during a blizzard. To pass the time, he and his fellow guests have agreed to a game of Secret Santa, wrapping items they’ve found in the hotel, and gifting them to one another. And twenty-something PR woman Violet has just unwrapped the Christmas tree star…

* * * * *

One of the star’s points isn’t gold. It’s a dull crimson, as though it’s been dipped in paint. But as they stare, it becomes clear that it’s not paint at all.

‘That’s . . . is it . . .?’ Lorraine manages, and Violet turns the star round to examine, immediately dropping it as it smears her hand.

‘Oh my God!’ She holds her hand away from her body in horror. ‘Is this a joke? Does someone here think this is funny?’

David is on his feet, shepherding Emily from the room. ‘What? What is it, Daddy?’ she asks, craning her neck to see.

‘I think I heard mewing. We need to find Jingle. Come on . . .’ David urges her away.

Nick wonders if he’ll be the same kind of dad to Cara – alert, kind, protective. He hopes so.

In the drawing room, there’s uproar. Branson is shouting, ‘What the hell kind of gift is that?’

Violet looks as though she’s about to pass out, and Alan has his arm around a shuddering Lorraine. ‘Can’t stand the sight of blood,’ he mouths.

‘My goodness,’ says Matilda to Nick. ‘Someone’s got a peculiar sense of humour.’

Alan reaches to pick up the fallen star.

‘Don’t,’ says Nick. ‘Fingerprints.’

The others stare at him, aghast, and Violet gives a strange, high giggle.

‘You think this is a crime?’ she demands. ‘Come on! It’s just a horrible joke.’

But Nick is looking at Branson. The handsome older man is pale, his forehead is clammy, and he’s gazing fixedly at the stairs.

‘If none of us is injured . . .’ he says. ‘Penny.’

Donal extends a hand to Branson. ‘Give me your room key.’

‘I don’t . . .’ Branson pats his pockets. ‘I musta left it up there.’

‘I’ve got mine,’ says Donal, patting his pocket. He runs to the hall then takes the stairs two at a time. Nick follows, with Branson and Alan. The others gather in the hall.

‘Would you like a hug?’ Destiny asks Lorraine, and she nods tearfully. The two women cling together as Matilda and Violet stand rigid and fearful by the drooping Christmas tree.

There was no star on its top branch yesterday, Nick realises, but there’s no time to think about what that means. Donal has drawn to a halt by a panelled door in the corridor on the other side of the stairs from Nick’s room. He knocks, tentatively.

‘Hello? Mrs Mitchell?’ There is silence behind the door.

‘Could be she’s put her earplugs in and gone back to sleep,’ says Branson. ‘She sleeps like the dead with those things.’

Nick glances at him, and the older man’s bravado drains away. Branson closes his eyes, bracing himself.

‘Go on,’ Nick tells Donal. ‘Or do you want me to do it?’

He pictures Penelope sitting up, still half asleep, shocked at the intrusion. Donal shakes his head. He fits the key into the lock and turns it, pushing the door open. The room is dark, the shutters closed, but the vanity light shining from the bathroom illuminates a human shape in the double bed.

‘Penny!’ Branson shouts. ‘Wake up, honey!’

She doesn’t stir.

Nick moves towards the bed. ‘Let me check,’ he says. He’s thinking about the time he did a first aid course, that if Penelope’s really hurt, he knows how to make a tourniquet, he can staunch the blood, he can . . .

Donal folds back the shutters and grey light spills into the room. Now, the men can see that Penny is lying on her back. Her left arm is flung out as if in greeting, her right hand a claw on the pillow. Her eyes are open, her mouth a rictus of fear – and in her neck there’s a wound so deep, Nick involuntarily turns away, but not before he sees the blood soaking into the pillow, the spatters across the bedspread. She has clearly been dead for several hours.

‘Branson, Alan, out of the room,’ he says urgently. ‘Don’t come any closer, go and find David right now. We need a doctor.’

‘She’s my wife!’ storms Branson. ‘I need to see what’s . . .’

He steps nearer and sees the damp red pillow, the spray of arterial blood.

‘Oh God, no,’ he whispers. He collapses against the wall. ‘Penny, no.’

‘Come on, mate,’ Alan half lifts him and pulls him from the room.

A woman’s voice floats from below. ‘What’s happening? Is she OK?’

Nick takes charge. ‘Donal, could you go and break the news to the others, please? Alan, can you ask someone to look after Branson downstairs, then find David, and I’ll stay with the bo—with Penelope.’

Donal nods as he heads for the door, and Nick feels profoundly grateful for the young man’s swift grasp of the situation.

‘We need to try and find a way to call the police,’ Nick adds. The scene is surreal: the old-fashioned bedroom, the red blood, the falling snow. He should be at the office near Blackfriars Bridge right now, eating a festive Tesco meal deal, typing up his notes, thinking about last-minute presents for Harriet.

‘I’ll ask everyone to try their phones again,’ says Donal. ‘The landline’s dead, and the Wi-Fi seems to be out.’

‘Yes, it wasn’t working last night when I arrived,’ says Nick. ‘Could you maybe have a look at the box, just to make sure a wire hasn’t come loose?’

‘Sure,’ says Donal, already on his way out. ‘But I think it’s the snow. There’s a mast up on the moors, it’s probably been damaged in the blizzard.’

Nick knows he’s right. He’s just finding it hard to believe that in a world where basically everything runs on Wi-Fi, AI and tech, they can’t get an urgent message to the police.

Somebody is wailing downstairs. Nick can hear gasps of horror, the sound of a woman sobbing. Donal has done his duty, then. Perhaps Nick should have taken on that horrible task, but the truth is, he doesn’t know who to trust and someone needs to stay with the body and ensure it’s not moved.

Clues, he thinks. Forensics. Nick scans the room. The shutters were closed when they came in, but the curtains were open – that may mean nothing, of course. On Branson’s side of the bed, there’s a mobile phone, clearly out of battery, and a half-empty glass of water. Nick bends to sniff it, and inhales that ferric tang he recognises from his own bathroom tap. He straightens up, feeling foolish. It’s not as if she was poisoned – it’s perfectly clear how she died.

On Penelope’s bedside table, there’s a lamp, switched off, and a book – The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. She doesn’t seem to have got far with it, judging by the bookmark placement. Nick feels a sharp pang of sorrow that now she’ll never finish it. Beside it is a lavender-silk eye-mask – why wasn’t she wearing it? Did she rip it off when she heard a noise?

Nick looks more closely at the polished surface. There’s an almost invisible trail of fine, white dust. Surely not drugs. Neither Penelope nor Branson seems the type. Some kind of vitamin powder? It suddenly strikes him why it looks familiar – it’s the dust that comes from ripping open a thick envelope. He sees their sunny kitchen last summer, Harriet tearing open a thick cream envelope, scanning a wedding invitation. His heart sinking, knowing he’d need a new suit, they’d need to buy a present . . . the ripped envelope made just that kind of fine dust on the worktop.

Nick crosses to the metal waste bin, under the desk. He shouldn’t touch anything . . . he creates a makeshift mitten from the bottom of his T-shirt and gently pulls it out. There’s the envelope – thick, white, torn open, a single P in black ink on the front. And beside it, next to an apple core and a crumpled information leaflet about Castle Howard, there’s a leaf of plain white paper, screwed into a ball. Nick pinches it by the corner, holding it through his T-shirt, and pulls it out, unfolding the creases. These five words, too, are in black pen, printed in neat capitals:

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID.

Get the book

Four days before Christmas, twelve stranded strangers gather round a crackling fire, sheltering from the raging storm outside. . .

But their relief is short-lived: as the snow deepens, the tree-lined avenue winding through the hotel’s parkland becomes impassable. Their isolation is complete. The next morning, a body is found in one of the luxurious four-poster beds. As twelve strangers become eleven suspects, who among them has checked in with murder in mind? And will any of them live to see another Christmas. . .?

Murder at Mistletoe Manor by F. L. Everett is the perfect festive read. Get it here.

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The post Murder at Mistletoe Manor – read excerpt appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Autobiographies often straddle the line between memoir and storytelling. And many beloved memoirs include inaccuracies, intentional or not. A Guardian review recently noted that “scandal has stalked memoir since the genre was invented”. So not something particularly unusual. Yet when The Salt Path by Raynor Winn came under scrutiny, the fallout felt pretty catastrophic.

So why does The Salt Path drama feel different? And does it really even matter, if stories still move you? Is the point of a book simply to entertain?

I asked a couple of people to give me their thoughts on this…

Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in The Salt Path

I believe it does matter – Fiona, 56

I picked up The Salt Path because I felt seen. A couple my age, forced to rebuild from ruin, walking the coast to heal – that resonated with me. But now the Observer alleges serious omissions: Winn allegedly embezzled about £64,000, owned property in France, and her husband’s condition may differ from what’s in the book.

I ask myself: does that change my experience? Yes it does. Emotional truth is not enough if the facts are false. Plenty of memoirs stretch the truth; James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces claimed he spent 87 days in jail, but he only spent hours. Oprah confronted him. Publishers inserted disclaimers and even offered refunds. Margaret Seltzer’s Love and Consequences and Binjamin Wilkomirski’s wartime memoir were also debunked.

But those were cases of outright falsehood in critical events – abuse, war crimes, addiction. Those fabrications misled readers and harmed real communities.

With The Salt Path, the stakes feel different. This is a story of resilience and walking, on the face of it. Yet the central pivot – homelessness after loss of their home – may apparently be untrue. That matters! If the foundation is faulty, the emotional journey feels hollow.

We trust memoir writers. We expect honesty. The moment that trust is broken, the emotional impact diminishes. We start questioning every tender moment, every revelation. The message – hope through hardship – turns hollow.

And yes, there’s a mild ageism in the backlash. Many suggest older authors shouldn’t pretend. But honesty should matter at every age.

Map of The Salt Path travelled by the Winns in the book (right)

I don’t think it matters – Mark, 53

I still love the book. It moved me. It made me walk more, worry less, feel more capable. The heart of the story doesn’t change if Raynor’s steps or missteps happened differently.

Memoirs aren’t biographies. They’re memories. They’re stories. They’re shaped by emotion. They’re selective. Every writer chooses what to include. When [James] Frey’s book came out and he was busted making things up, he defended himself, saying his book was 85 percent true and that it offered ‘emotional authenticity’ over literal fact. Readers accepted that. The book survived.

Why pick on The Salt Path now? Maybe it’s because it was so successful? Two million copies sold, a film adaptation with Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs… The higher the success, the harder the fall. It feels like schadenfreude to me. We don’t want people to succeed.

Win half a million in royalties and film deals, and suddenly their journey seems less authentic? Bit unfair. Success doesn’t erase struggle.

What if Raynor was less than accurate – surely she still felt emotionally homeless? What matters is the story she tells. The landscapes, the healing, the bond with her husband: that remains.

The drama signals something else: we’re uncomfortable with imperfect memoirs. We want truth – real truth. But perhaps we should learn to accept a messy form of truth, one lived on the page, not proven in a court.

Why the uproar?

The Salt Path hit a nerve perhaps because published ‘truth’ is under increasing scrutiny. Publishing has little fact‑checking – Penguin itself admits so. Penguin has no dedicated fact-checking department for books, and relies on author warranties for veracity in its autobiographies. We trust and expect honest stories. So when the cracks appear, the trust collapses.

It’s probably also true to say that in a world where almost everything you read online increasingly seems to have been created with AI, it would be lovely if you could actually trust book publishers to exercise some due diligence.

But it also feels a bit personal for older readers. Winn and her husband were in their 60s. Their message – that it’s never too late to start – is powerful for readers in the same age group. And so their experiences felt close to home. We’re wrestling with our own stability, our own stories of resilience. We wanted to believe theirs.

* Interviews have been edited for clarity.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post The Salt Path – is the fallout drama really justified? appeared first on Silver Magazine.

I’ve wanted to use this photo of Jilly Cooper for yonks, so I’ve dug it out shamelessly for this piece. Just look at her! How gorgeous? I suspect that Jilly’s life has probably been, in parts, as exciting and racy as many of her novels. When I think of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, or Riders, or any of them, I sort of picture her like this, writing them.

I grew up loving Cooper. As a child, I can remember my dad guffawing to her columns in the heady days of Harold Evans’ Sunday Times, over a full English and untipped Gitanes. I was too young to read her then, but endlessly devoured collections of her works a few years later. And as I hit my teens, I fell head over heels in love with her romantic heroines. Prudence, Octavia, Emily, Bella, Imogen et al – I read them cover to cover, repeatedly. I loved Octavia best, because who doesn’t love a broken bad girl? And Octavia was very naughty indeed.

Tame stuff by today’s standards really, despite the wildness of the ‘70s. But my love for Jilly was set for life. The delicious Britishness of it all was a big part of the attraction. I devoured the wicked filth of Jackie Collins, but it was so American to me, settings I could barely relate to. Whereas Cooper wrote very much about life from my own frame of reference. Country living, London, dogs, ponies… ridiculous 11am drinks parties. As a child, one of my first ever jobs was as a pheasant plucker – I kid you not. So to find someone writing about sex, drama, and intrigue in English country villages…

Read more: Are you common? A class guide…

But I digress

When the big ‘bonkbusters’ (god, I hate that term) started coming out, I was in fits of ecstasy. From Riders onwards I was hooked, reading voraciously and pining until another one came out. I have no idea how one even starts to write novels like that, holding all that information about so many characters together. I can barely remember why I went into the kitchen. But reading the books, sinking into that heady world of treachery, and money, and sex, and absolutely appalling behaviour was a wild pleasure I can still feel today.

So when I saw that Rivals was to be made into a TV series – by Disney no less, a weird marriage, I thought – I was wary. There have been a few adaptations of Cooper’s work before, and they’ve largely been rather awful. Would this be any different? As luck would have it, I was invited to a premiere screening of the first two episodes, followed by a panel sesh with some of the actors – so I would get to find out sooner rather than later.

The launch event was huge fun

The invite had specified there would be ’80s-themed drinks and canapes, and on the way up to town, my plus-one Kath and I necked G&Ts and wondered what they might be. Vol au vents, for sure. Possibly smoked salmon. Prawns? It turned out to be a take, rather than a religious revisit, which is probably better. But there were vol au vents, you’ll be pleased to know (creamy chicken and mushroom). Also prawn cocktails, and teenie Black Forest gateaux, amongst other delights.

…you could have been forgiven for thinking it really was 1985. We circulated a bit, rubbing shoulders with celebs and quaffing bubbles and tequila sunrises…

We did however arrive to a glittering event with Duran Duran blaring, hot and cold running cocktails and champagne, and stars galore. For one moment you could have been forgiven for thinking it really was 1985. We circulated a bit, rubbing shoulders with celebs and quaffing bubbles and tequila sunrises, before taking seats in the sumptuous screening room.

Kath and I tried not to squeal with excitement when Aidan Turner sat right in front of us (WHAT a handsome man). But sadly he was moved to the front, ready for the Q&A at the end. My friend Amanda was messaging me, telling me to sniff him so she could know what he smelled like. I was four drinks deep by then and might just have had a go, but thank god the poor man was moved before I could work out how to do this. And I probably avoided an arrest for public harassment into the bargain. So sorry, I can’t tell you what Aidan Turner smells like, but he looks very clean. And did I say how handsome he is?

(L to R) Aidan Turner, Katherine Parkinson, Emily Atack, David Tennant, Dame Jilly Cooper, Danny Dyer, Alex Hassell, Nafessa Williams, Bella Maclean, Claire Rushbrook and Victoria Smurfit (Photo: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Disney+)

Tell us about the show

I’m not allowed to write about the show itself yet properly. It’s embargoed until whatever date was on the piece of paper they made me sign. So I can’t actually review it properly. But I think I can tell you a few things without getting strung up.

Alex Hassell and Aidan Turner (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Disney+)

David Tennant (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Disney+)

Katherine Parkinson (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Disney+)

The lineup was always going to make this enjoyable viewing, even it was shit, let’s face it. Some of my faves are in this – David Tennant, Katherine Parkinson, Danny Dyer, Aidan Turner, Emily Atack… and many more, as they say. It’s a great bunch, and dare I say it, very well cast. Tennant is sneering and chippy as Lord Tony Baddingham, Danny Dyer a perfect Freddie Jones. Bella Maclean is meltingly beautiful as Taggie, and Victoria Smurfit is a brilliant, fragile Maud O’Hara. And if you tell me that there’s a better actor to play hot-headed, principled Irish TV star Declan than Aidan Turner, well I don’t believe you.

The lineup was always going to make this enjoyable viewing, even it was shit, let’s face it

If you’ve been looking at the photos and thinking that Alex Hassell isn’t right for Rupert Campbell-Black, well, you’re not alone. Even Alex admits to being really worried about stepping into his shoes and not exactly looking like everyone expects him to. He’s not blond, for a start. But – and there are no real spoilers here Disney, if you’re reading this – after literally every part of Alex is revealed in the very first episode, as he points out, there’s nowhere really left to hide. So he just got on with it. And honestly, he makes a pretty good fist of it. He’s handsome, dastardly, and has a good bash at Rupert’s hidden depths, such as they are.

The challenge of taking on well-known characters

Many of the actors channelled older family members or situations. As readers of the book will know, Declan is fiercely protective of his family. Aidan said he was able to get into Declan mode by looking back at his own family. “He’s a dad, I’m a dad,” says Aidan. “I sort of related to him. And he’s like my dad, he’s Irish, there’s the hair…”

Nafessa Williams, who plays the gloriously feisty TV exec Cameron Cook, said she couldn’t wait to immerse herself in the ’80s, pointing out that she had family back then who looked exactly like she did in the show, big hair and all. She’d been able to use her own experience as the only American actor in the show, not really having insight into the wonders of the English countryside.

“It’s a lot like life imitating art, right?” she says. “Like, she [Cameron] came from New York to come here, I came from LA. So I understood her coming here and being new and not understanding this world.”

I’m not sure how many slow-burn relationships are allowed to happen in a world of Tinder and so on, so it was extremely enjoyable to play

Katherine Parker plays gentle Lizzie Vereker, and I suspect talking about the situation between her character and that of Danny Dyer’s is off limits, although obviously you can read what happens in the book. But she confesses to being thrilled to be working with him, and their chemistry is lovely.

“I was so pleased that Danny was playing that part. It’s so beautifully drawn throughout the series, their dynamic. And it unfolds over eight episodes, which is a kind of slow-burn relationship. Which feels very ‘80s. I’m not sure how many slow-burn relationships are allowed to happen in a world of Tinder and so on, so it was extremely enjoyable to play.”

And another great team

David Tennant is Lord Baddingham, massively hung up on class and wanting to fit in. He’s anchored by his wife, Lady Monica, played by the excellent Claire Rushbrook, who is very much old school posh, and who gives him the only real class clout he has. David says he loved playing Tony.

“It’s all there, it’s all there in the writing. And it’s very potent, it’s very British. But it’s very human too, you know? Like, [as Tony] I can never quite be where I want to be, to always be disappointed, because no matter how hard you try, there’s a club you’re not allowed to be in. And for someone like Tony, that’s devastating. He can only try harder. And he will never be satisfied because he’s always one peg down from the exclusive club, and it kills him.”

…he will never be satisfied because he’s always one peg down from the exclusive club, and it kills him…

Tony’s a grammar school boy, as opposed to, say, Rupert’s start in life at Harrow. And the chip on his shoulder is enormous. The most important thing to Tony?

“Winning!!” shouts Tennant, quite literally, channelling Tony alarmingly right there in the screening room. “Whatever that means, and whatever the situation… because he can never have the ultimate prize, he must have ALL the other prizes.” Tennant laughs. “He’s very balanced. There’s no daddy issues here, AT ALL!”

On scenes with Claire Rushbrook as his wife, Lady Baddingham. “I love those scenes, because it’s where all his armour falls away, and you get to see the little boy again. And he’s sort of got his mum there, that comfort. He’s very at home with her, and absolutely needs her. And he kind of runs this extraordinary lifestyle of treachery and debauchery, but he always has to have Monica.”

Best part of the night was seeing Jilly Cooper

Dame Jilly Cooper attends a special UK screening of “Rivals” (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Disney+)

It’s not often I fangirl massively, but honestly. It’s DAME JILLY COOPER! After a lifetime of reading her books and words, I actually found it quite emotional to see her in the flesh. She was utterly divine, just so happy with the production and telling all the girls how beautiful they were and all the men how handsome. Plus ca change, Jilly! She’s a rather marvellous 87 now, and looking good on it. Plenty of the old Cooper sparkle, and clearly having a whale of a time at the do. I didn’t get to corner her, and probably would have been too shy really. But it was enough to have been there for this whole event.

As for the show – well, I could have sat there and binged the whole lot in one go. Which is, I suspect, what will happen when it finally airs. It’s one hundred per cent a ‘romp’ and not to be taken massively seriously. I absolutely loved it, and really hope they make the entire Rutshire Chronicles into telly shows, if they’re going to be like this.

Jilly Cooper’s Rivals launches on 18 October on Disney+ in the UK

Don’t say: “I’ll have a soya matcha latte with a gluten-free protein bar.”
Do say: “More champagne and keep it coming, and pass the Dunhills.”

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post First look: Jilly Cooper’s Rivals is a wild ride appeared first on Silver Magazine.

In the summer sun, there’s two things you need. An ice-cold beverage of choice, and a little something to read. Here are some of our top summer book recommendations. Whether you’re into romance, drama, horror, thrillers, science fiction… we’ve got something on this list for you. 

 Crime – A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime and Croissants by Ann Claire

Cosy mystery. Set against the backdrop of the stunning French countryside, crime and murder build up, hitting close to home for recently migrated Sadie, who is left grappling for clues as her bicycling tour company comes under scrutiny when her old boss ends up dead. 

Drama –  Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

A tense family drama. When a successful family begin to crumble and crack, questions arise. But do the Delaney family want to solve these mysteries, when the now-grown children realise that the most obvious suspect in their mother’s disappearance is their own father? 

Historical – Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon

Set in 412 BC after the failed invasion of Sicily. Two local potters begin to visit prisoners, enticing them to recite lines from Euripides in exchange for food. With little real work to do, Lempo and Geldon decide to perform a play with the help of the prisoners. But as the show date creeps closer, it becomes difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. This historical tale will have you hooked. 

Romance – Beach Read by Emily Henry

Two writers. One holiday. A romcom waiting to happen… Both broke writers suffer from crippling writers block, amongst other things.  Despite their different writing styles, the pair place a bet to swap genres and see who gets published first. You could say this is the perfect ‘Beach Read’.

Horror – Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

A transformation begins. Motherhood is hard, tiring, and exhausting. At home full time with a two-year-old, this protagonist’s loneliness is suffocating, but her hobbies are changing. Instead, when her child won’t rest, she begins to gain new things… New senses, new appetites, new instincts. And from deep within herself, a new voice begins to howl. This hilarious and brilliantly unique horror tale will have you at the edge of your seat. 

Mystery- The Wrong Daughter by Dandy Smith

What would you do if you came home to find your daughter missing from her bed? When Caitlin and Olivia’s parents leave them to go to a dinner party, they return to find one bed empty. Their eldest daughter is gone. Until a now grown Olivia steps forward. But is she all that she seems? And is Caitlin telling the truth about what happened that night? Dark, and chilling, this page turner is not one to be missed this summer. 

Thriller – Yellowface by R.F Kuang

How far would you go to have commercial success? When failed writer June Hayward witnesses her rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, she sees her opportunity to get what she wants, and takes it. Stealing Athenas final manuscript and publishing it as her own, she also begins to steal Athenas identity. An identity that is not hers to claim. This best seller will certainly keep you entertained, and shocked at the extent some will go to for success. 

Murder Mystery:Murder on Stage by F.L Everett  Set in 1940’s England, detective Edie York focuses on solving a suspicious murder in the midst of the Blitz. Warm, cozy and compelling, this page turner will have you on the edge of your seat as you dive into a world of crime. Do you have what it takes to solve a murder? This is the third book in the Edie York mystery series, and they just keep getting better.

Dystopian – The Blueprint by Rae Giana Rashad

Maybe dark dystopian futures are your thing? Set in a dystopian Texas where choice no longer exists, Solenne Bonet has an algorithm determine her occupation, spouse, and residence. She finds peace in penning the biography of an enslaved ancestor from 1800s Louisiana. But when paths weave with high-ranking government officials, she must decide whether and how to leave behind all she knows.  

Science fiction- I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream and Other Greatest Hits,  by Harlan Ellison

 Now this book is for anyone who wants to have an existential crisis pool-side. Filled with five stories, each unique and slightly terrifying, these science-fiction futures are certain to entertain. But most importantly you won’t want to look at technology for the rest of your holiday duration. 

Fantasy- The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

A magical library filled with secrets. How would you look back at your life? And what would you regret? On her last day on earth Nora finds herself teleported to a magical library. Where she is given the chance to undo mistakes and look at all the other lives she could have lived. But is it too late, things have already gone from bad to worse? And with unlimited choices and possibilities what is the best way to live? 

 Another article you may like: Getting your car ready for a summer roadtrip

 Comedy – I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue 

After an unfortunate IT error allows Jolene access to all her coworkers emails and private messages, initially she is horrified. The less she knows about them the better.  However, once she realises the power she now holds, Jolene uncovers a lot more than she bargained for. Filled with humour and a little romance, this is one for the pool-side.

 Fiction- Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Not all journeys’ have to be to outer space. Cyrus has always been lost. He’s grown up haunted by the mysteries of his past, losing his mother whose plane was shot down. This tale explores how revelations and new people can change your life, whether it be for the good or the bad. 

Non-fiction –It’s Not Hysteria (Everything You Need to Know About Your Reproductive Health) by Karen Tang

Women’s health often flies under the radar. Many of us know what it is like to go to the doctors with a feminine issue, and feel unheard. It’s Not Hysteria explains crucial information about abnormal periods, PCOS, endometriosis, and fibroids, to more complex aspects of gynaecological care like fertility, sexual health, and hysterectomies. This book empowers readers to act and advocate for themselves with healthcare professionals, and get talking about reproductive health.  

Isabella Poderico

Overly enthusiastic and obsessed with everything a little nerdy, Isabella has written about everything from movie premieres to politics. She can often be found, as many writers often are, sitting in front of her laptop typing away obsessively in an extortionately priced independent coffee shop.

The post Summer book recommendations 2024 appeared first on Silver Magazine.

In our Meet the Novelist series Flic Everett, writing as F.L Everett, has just debuted her Edie York cosy crime series with A Report of Murder. And her second novel, Murder in a Country Village, is now on sale.

How would you describe yourself?

I am small, extremely determined, highly anxious, and a very loving – some might say smothering – mother to my wonderful grown-up son. I’m very bad at staying tidy but like to have huge, sweeping blitzes of the house every few weeks, so everything is perfect for 10 minutes, before it all atrophies again.

I love cooking. I’m vegetarian/pescetarian, while my husband basically has the diet of a Paleolithic tiger, so I often cook complex and fancy meals for myself. Although Ottolenghi’s recipes make my brain hurt. I love baking and eating out, but have been on a rolling low-key diet for months, so I’m not doing much of either at the moment – and eating out is increasingly too expensive. And I like crap reality TV and really good TV dramas, and my favourite films are mostly pre-1950.

Can you tell us more about your unique sense of style?

I love clothes. I used to own a vintage shop in Manchester and I still miss it. My greatest treat is a proper rummage in an old-fashioned charity shop and a pile of bargains. I’m quite lazy about beauty though – I’ve just had my first haircut in two years, and I can’t do Botox because I’m too scared of it.

How important are friends and family?

I have a lot of friends who I value hugely, on and offline. As an only child, I have a very small but wonderful family – I go back to Manchester a great deal to see them. I’m married to Andy, my third and last husband, who is very clever and understands me.

Aside from the people I love, what makes me happiest is animals and reading. We’ve got two spaniels and a little black cat. When I’m away, I miss them so much it’s almost physical. Every childhood photo shows me clutching some small animal or other, or cuddling a pony – not mine, I’m not very posh – or holding up a reluctant cat. I wanted to be a vet, but I’m rubbish at science.

Apart from writing, what are you good at – and what are you not so good at?

I’m good at buying presents, finding bargains, listening, decorating, drawing, and arguing in print. I’m bad at parking, concentrating on anything but reading or writing, maths, science and arguing in person because it makes me panic.

Where do you like to write?

I hate writing in cafes. I feel constantly on edge, aware of crying babies and beset by the whacking sound of that little coffee thing they’re always bashing. I feel like I need to keep ordering stuff I don’t want so they don’t chuck me out and I honestly can’t understand why people enjoy it.

Equally, I don’t write outdoors. “Ooh, lovely day, look at me, working in the garden!” Yes, with your pink, peeling nose and the sun glaring off the screen. No, thank you. I work in my house, in silence – I can’t focus any other way. You may not believe I’m fun at parties, but I am.

Any particular spot in the house?

I have a sort-of office in the spare bedroom of our two-bedroom cottage, but the dogs either whine outside the door, or bash their way in and jump about, plus Andy likes to have the news on in the living room so I get distracted by reporters shouting about politics. I prefer to work in the kitchen on a really un-ergonomic bentwood chair piled with cushions, so I can reach the table, as I’m 5’1”. That way, I’m near the kettle, the radiator, the fridge and the dogs. Plus the cat has a box on the table, so I can reach out to stroke her if she’s lying in it. At the moment she prefers our bed, but cats are very changeable.

Are you a handwriting merchant?

Good grief, no. I used to read books by Americans that often mentioned writing in yellow legal pads and they always sounded quite exotic, but I’ve never found one. I have terrible handwriting. If I write Andy a shopping list he has to go through it, translating worries into cherries. I work on a MacBook Air. Occasionally, I make notes in my phone if something strikes me, but notepads really are just for notes. For actual book, it has to be typing in Word. I am that Mac person who the PC people despise.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I have to be dressed properly, I have to be sitting upright and, while I will allow Andy to come in and make bread, and I can cope with the tumble drier being on, any more noise than that is unacceptable to me and my jangling nerves.

So, you’re a creature of habit?

Yes, I must have a boiling hot bath every day, or I feel uneasy. I don’t drink much, after years of drinking quite a lot – or a normal amount for a journalist. I stopped for four years and now I have the odd one, but I’m a Virgo and a health hypochondriac. I don’t want to be responsible for my own death, so I try to be reasonably healthy. I go for long walks where we live in the country in Scotland. It’s my dream to see an otter.

Do you eat and drink while you write?

A great deal of tea with skimmed milk. I don’t really drink much else. I can’t write while I eat, so I have to have a little break. I’ll read the sidebar of shame or a bit of whatever book I’m reading – currently the new Lisa Jewell. I try to have a proper lunch break to give my brain a rest, so I eat leftovers or soup or whatever’s in the fridge.

Do you write to music or do you prefer quiet?

Silence and solitude. Although I was writing a short story for a mag the other day and struggling to get in the mood, so I did play a bit of French accordion music to help me write about Paris.

What’s the strangest thing you do to inspire yourself?

I don’t think I do anything strange, I’m quite boring. Perhaps as a freelance journalist for 30 years, you get over the idea of inspiration very quickly. I’m still a journalist, as well as a novelist. If I’ve got a deadline, I just do it, and the same goes for writing novels. Sit down, bash it out. Some days it’s easier than others, but I don’t drift about by ponds, waiting for my muse to strike.

What if you’re exhausted?

If I’m tired, I favour a very hot bath with a good thriller, and a cuddle with the dogs. And in times of exhaustion it’s nice to have a change of scene – even a visit to the cinema – to immerse yourself in something else for a bit. And I go for a walk nearly every day, so if things just aren’t working, I take the dogs out and go up a hill. See? Boring.

How do you overcome distractions and procrastination?

I don’t even think about them. I started as a journalist when I was 21, working from home. By 22, I had a baby, and by 24 I was divorced. I had to make a living, so that’s what I did – it’s no different from sitting in an office. If I dick about, I’m not earning money and I’m annoying my editors, and they probably won’t use me again. That’s enough to keep me at it. Having said that, I spend a lot of time on social media – it has made life much less lonely for writers.

Are many of your characters based on real people?

None of them. I always find it odd when people ask who they’re based on, as if the whole point of being a writer isn’t making things up. I invent all of them – it’s my favourite part of the entire process. I think all plot should spring from character, even in crime novels. It’s very important to me to make my cast of people believable. Of course, we’re all influenced by who we are, and who we’ve met over the years, and I’m sure there’s a bit of me in Edie – but really, they’re people I’d like to meet, rather than people I know. Although I did borrow one tiny trait of my mum’s in my second book to describe a character and she did recognise it, but nobody else would!

Read more: meet another novelist; Mhairi McFarlane on romcoms and real people…

Are there other genres you’d like to explore with your writing?

I constantly have ideas for books in other genres – the only kind that doesn’t remotely interest me is fantasy. Books about elves and kingdoms are in my Room 101. They always seem utterly devoid of humour – “Sire, we shall feast well this night!” – and I find them horrifically dull.

I’m not keen on horror, space, goddesses, futuristic dystopias or books about everyone on Earth suddenly waking up with a new power. I do enjoy witches, time travel and pure science-y sci-fi, though. Blake Crouch does this well. I like thrillers, spy novels, good rom coms, gripping literary fiction – books about real people in real situations. I would happily write any kind, as long as it’s character-led.

I do love cosy crime as it ticks many of my enjoyment boxes, but perhaps one day I’ll try other types too. I did write a psychological thriller during lockdown, but looking back, it was a bit bleak, and a bit too informed by my last, very traumatic, divorce. Best left, I think!

Are there any hard and fast rules you set yourself for your stories or characters?

I try to avoid cliché. Other than that, there are certain unspoken rules about cosy crime. You wouldn’t make your lovable protagonist the killer, for instance – and the ending has to be satisfactory. You can’t just leave all the threads dangling. But beyond that, no.

I’m very careful about dialogue. My books are set during the war, so I spend a lot of time on etymology websites, checking on slang and whether certain expressions were in use. I wish TV scriptwriters would do the same. I’m still not over Downton Abbey describing Lady Edith as ‘feisty.’

Will the internet and people’s shortened attention spans ever mean the end of the novel?

This is an Oxford entrance exam question. I know, because I did the exam, then screwed up the interview by getting drunk the night before with a Goth undergraduate I’d just met.
I can’t answer it, which is probably why I didn’t get in. I can only say, I hope not.

What do you wish you’d known before starting this novel-writing malarkey?

That I’d be extremely skint for a very long time – you get paid after publication with my publisher. Other than that, nothing has surprised me. I love it and it’s everything I hoped.

What would you advise eager new writers?

I’d say don’t get too bogged down in support groups and writing circles, and don’t worry too much about feedback early on. Too much opinion can kill a book stone dead. Write what you want to write, make it as good as you can. Then show the world.

Writing is fetishised and people get overwrought about it, but you’re just putting words down on paper. You don’t need rituals and hashtags and retreats, you just need to have a story you want to tell. Crack on! Nobody will tell your story for you – unless you’re a celeb with a ghostwriter – so you might as well do it yourself.

• To order Flic’s books on Amazon in all their various forms hit this link
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November. It began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Meet the novelist: Flic Everett on cats, clichés, and the horror of fantasy appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Our next meet the novelist is Mhairi McFarlane. McFarlane needs little introduction – her catalogue is prolific. Her romantic comedy novels have been critically acclaimed and book, If I Never Met You, is being adapted for screen.

How would you describe yourself?

I would describe myself as a romantic comedy novelist. But if you call me chick lit, I wouldn’t melt down. I quite like the chance then to exceed expectations.

Where do you write?

At home on my pink MacBook Air! Such a cliché… I’m not great with distractions – and there are so many post-internet – so first draft pressure needs quiet and solitude. I can edit in Caffe Nero if I need a change of scene, but I’m 95% own sofa. Boring, I know. I am short of a fabulous nook, and weird baroque routine: “First I must eat two kiwis from my grandmother’s china…”

Read more: Meet the novelist, Pam Howes

Do you take longhand notes or use a keyboard?

Keyboard. Didn’t Quentin Tarantino say he does longhand drafts because “you can’t write poetry on a computer”? It’s a lovely sentiment, but given the job involves deadlines and endless rewriting, you need your work-in-progress to have a delete key.

If you weren’t a romantic comedy novelist, is there another genre you’d like to explore?

Ooh, crime. Detective novels. I love a returning world like Rebus in Edinburgh. I’d definitely end up throwing in a Robin-and-Strike-style slow burn romance though. You can take a girl out of her genre, but you can’t take the genre out of the girl.

Is there anything strange you do to inspire yourself when you’re running on empty?

I’m not sure it qualifies as strange, but I accept social invites, so it looks like the exact opposite of working. I see strangers who become visual blueprints for characters, I have conversations that spark ideas, and if I’m seeing a film or a show, then at some point my mind wanders to my own project. Sometimes what seems to be occupying yourself is freeing you up to roam, mentally. This is my excuse for why you’ll find me in the pub a week before deadline, anyway.

How do you even make yourself sit and finish your work?

Hmm, I am not sure there’s a single answer to this. I swill black coffee and chat online a lot to warm up for writing, but I don’t accept those who’d say it’s a scandalous waste of time. When it comes to something creative, you might only have a few productive hours in you in a day, so it’s about making space for them to happen. My most common tactic when I’m simply not feeling it – for my money this is worse than fooling about – the times when your manuscript seems flat and worthless, and you’re drained of inspiration or belief in it – is to go edit a section that already exists and improve that by increments. My editing brain is way less of a sensitive, mutable diva than my production brain. This, however, depends on having written enough there’s material to edit. You can see why my first drafts crank out pitifully slowly.

How many of your characters are based on real people?

Lots. None. All of them. This is not a contradictory answer. It’s pretty hard to offend me, but the one question that makes my hackles rise is when people think a novel is a Guess Who? game of personalities you’ve encountered in real life. Not only does this imply I can’t do my job and no actual fiction has gone on, but who’s surrounded by a real world cast colourful enough to populate a romantic comedy anyway? Or for any novel for that matter? Sounds improbable and exhausting. It’s up there with “Are all your plots things that have happened to you?” BRIAN, I’VE DONE NINE BOOKS, THINK THAT QUESTION THROUGH!

Tell us more about the myth of simply lifting plots from life…

This mistaken belief that it’s a game of plagiarising reality is why slush piles are full of books of the dreaded “so many funny things happened in my office and all I have to do is write them down” variety. If you try to directly port over people you know or anecdotes you tell to paper, you’ll find they fall flat. Building a story has different needs, so try memoir instead. You draw from life around you constantly, obviously, but for me, every character is a composite. I might rob handy elements here and there, but the whole of them is a fiction. Sometimes they’re pure fantasy.

Can you give an example of a fantasy character?

There’s a boss in my book Who’s That Girl? called Richard. He was simply me trying to write my platonic ideal of a dream boss, and sadly he’s wholly invented! He might have a bit of the Barack Obamas about him, but that’s it.

Do your friends and enemies ever recognise themselves in your books?

Friends, sometimes, enemies, never. Though would they tell me if they did? It’d be what the young people call a self-own, wouldn’t it? “That shocking two faced bitch is clearly ME!” Top tip: you can either hide it from people, or alert anyone you know that it’s them by your choice of the most superficial characteristics. For example, if you want to write about your terrible brother, make him a sister and he won’t see it, no matter how pitiless and accurate the portrait. If you write a doctor and your pal’s a doctor, she will think it’s her, no matter how wildly dissimilar they are. It’s quite comforting and useful, as we novelists need to be able to do distraction thefts and misdirects.

Do you eat and drink while you’re writing?

Ha! I’ve never been asked this! Nothing. I chug pints of black coffee. If I am eating lunch, the screen’s on something else for the duration.

Do you play music when you work or do you prefer silence?

I am absolutely a silence person. My little rat brain cannot cope with multiple channels of information flow at once.

Are there any absolute hard and fast rules you set yourself about your stories or characters?

I once read: “Lie about everything except emotions.” I try to keep that with me. Someone behaving in an unnatural way purely to push the plot forward is a huge no. Never make your characters puppets of the plot. And never shortchange the difficulty of something you’re tackling because it was a device, and you want to get back to the other lighter thing that’s happening. I’ve written about some serious topics in my books and I think readers have always come with me because they can see they’re not there to provide a narrative wrinkle or a topical issue. For example, one of my books features a death and I was adamant to my editor that the loss is there until the very last page, not simply tidied away and moved on from.

Will the internet and people’s shortened attention spans ever mean the end of the novel?

Well, if cinema and television weren’t the end of the novel, why would TikTok be?

What do you wish you’d known before starting this novel-writing malarkey?

Ooh, good question. Do you know, I’m not sure any advice to Younger Me me works, because all I’d do is fret. I could tell her that coming up with the ideas every year is a bastard, but what’s she going to do with that knowledge? I wish I’d enjoyed my debut more. You only get to be new once and I had this vast blank canvas and no risk of repeating myself, but all that was swallowed by the terror and uncertainty.

Any advice for eager new writers?

Write the story that grips your stomach, that keeps you awake at night, that you become obsessed with. Write the book that isn’t there on the bookshop shelves that you want to read. Enthusiasm is a communicable disease.

• To find out more about Mhairi McFarlane’s work, go to mhairimcfarlane.com
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November. It began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words in thirty days.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Meet the novelist: Mhairi McFarlane on romcoms, real people, and ridiculous questions appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Time to meet novelist Pam Howes, who has made her name writing an astonishing range of historical fiction sagas, set in the north of England. As well as that, she’s also dabbling with short stories, poetry, and tales of a fictional rock’n’roll band…

How would you describe yourself?

I’m a mum of three, grandma of seven, great-grandma of two, mum to one pug named Lennon, and partner to one musician. That’s the domestic things sorted. I guess you could say I’m getting on a bit in years, but I refuse to ever slow down and accept that.

I’m always busy with the music side of our life. As roadie to my partner at his gigs, I arrange musical reunion nights with old friends and book bands. I love getting together with a crowd and going to live shows, especially to see Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney. I just love people and being with them, as being an author is quite solitary at times.

Where do you prefer to write?

I prefer to write at home and I have a very nice office where I do all my emails and catch up on social media. However, later in the day, I tend to make myself comfortable on the bed with the laptop on my knee and Lennon at my feet. This is probably because I consume a lot of coffee during the day and am wide awake when most people are asleep. My mind is in overdrive, and I find writing flows as scenes develop in my overactive brain.

I occasionally pop into a café, just to eavesdrop more than anything. It’s surprising how many ideas and character traits come from listening to people having a good gossip.

Do you write notes in longhand or do you go straight to the keyboard?

Straight to the keyboard these days, but in days of yore, when I started to write my first novel in the late nineties, I wrote it all on notepads, then I typed it on a word processor. This was a long time before I had my first computer, and I had no idea how to type, so it was trial, and error and the thing only printed out one page at a time. Can you imagine how long it all took? But I persevered and worked on the printed pages, teaching myself to edit and went back into the document to input those edits. I think a lot of trees lost their lives during this process. There was no big screen to check things on, just a narrow strip where you could see two lines of your written words. It was very hard work to say the least.

Read more: Meet the novelist – Julia Crouch

If you didn’t write historical fiction, what would you explore instead?

Definitely crime. I dabble a bit, but sagas are supposed to be nice, within reason, so I can’t have anyone too nasty, although I’ve had the odd murderer and drunken villain to spice things up a bit. I love creating that type of character and would absolutely love to do a crime series.

What’s the strangest thing you do to inspire yourself when you’re running on empty?

If I’m flagging, I’ll go for a drive somewhere nice and talk to myself. Having two characters conversing and bringing a scene to life in my head works well. I often wondered, before the onset of hands-free phones, what people sitting in the car next to me at traffic lights thought when they saw a mad woman talking and shouting to herself while waiting for the lights to change. Now you see people talking seemingly to themselves all the time!

How do you beat the distractions when you need to crack on with your writing?

I really don’t have many distractions as all my family are grown and have long flown the nest, and my partner is always busy and rarely gets under my feet while I’m working. He makes great coffee when he’s around. I ignore the phone if I’m in the zone. So consequently, if I’m on a writing day, which is most days, the work comes first and everything else must wait. I feel for fellow authors who have kids to see to and school runs to do. I couldn’t have done this job when my kids were younger.

How many of your characters are based on real people?

Quite a lot of them are based on real people, especially the music-based stories. I have several friends in the music business, and they make great characters. Even though most of them are getting on a bit, they’re still a very lively bunch. Some characters I’ve had to invent, but in the saga stories, the women are easy to write as I just base them on my late mum, nana and aunties.

Do your friends and enemies recognise themselves in your books?

Oh yes, quite often. I pinch their names too, which they love. I’ve not bumped off any enemies yet but I have a plan, so watch this space…

Lennon, part of the team

Do you eat and drink while you’re writing?

Just coffee when I take a quick break and I share a daily blueberry muffin with Lennon because we’re a team.

What about playing music when you work? Or do you prefer peace and quiet?

I usually have music on in the background on the jukebox. I can’t stand absolute silence.

Are there any strict rules you set for plots or characters?

Not really. I usually have a rough idea of the timeline span in each series. The main thing I like to do is if the first book in a series is set in WWII is to finish the series by moving the final book onwards to the fifties or sixties, so I can throw in some good music and memories from those decades. I almost always manage to squeeze a mention of The Beatles and that famous meeting of John and Paul in July 1957. You’d be surprised how many different stories I’ve managed to work that one into.

Will the internet and people’s shortened attention spans ever mean the end of the novel?

I don’t think so. There will always be readers. And people who can’t see anything on telly that they like tend to turn to a good book. I have to say for myself, I love audio books and that could be an alternative for many who may want to get on with something else while they are being read a story. It wasn’t something I was into for a long time, until I had to listen to the samples of my own books to choose the narrator. I found I loved listening to them bringing my characters to life, all the accents they must input, and they do it so well. I’ve since listened to loads of books I’d already read and I just love it.

What do you wish you’d known before you started writing books?

I never for one minute thought I would ever become so hooked on writing. The only thing I possibly regret is not doing a typing course at school or night school, but it was the last type of job I ever wanted as a teenager, so couldn’t be bothered. Knowing what I know now, it would have speeded up the process at the beginning. It’s worth a thought, although everyone uses a keyboard of one sort or another these days, so I can’t see a novice writer having those problems at all.

What would you advise eager new writers?

Never give up. Just keep at it, because one day someone will look at your work and maybe be interested in signing you up. But the most important thing is to make sure you get your work edited to a good and readable standard before you even think about submitting it. Or it’ll end up with being pushed to one side after all your hard work. It really is worth the effort and small cost to do that.

• To find out more about Pam Howes and to buy her books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pam-Howes/e/B004D5E24S
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November. It began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Meet the novelist: Pam Howes on technology, talking to herself, and too much coffee appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Continuing our series, we meet another exceptional novelist, Sophie Hannah, who reflects on a writing career in which she cannot be pigeonholed.

How would you describe yourself?

I am excessively optimistic, to a Panglossian degree – often almost to the point of delusion – but this is an approach I very much choose on purpose, because I firmly believe that it’s the best way to be, from the point view of having the best life experience – and as a way to maximise the chances of everything going as well as it possibly can!

Where is your perfect place for writing?

The ideal writing spot for me is at home, with a block of five guaranteed interruption-free hours and nobody else in the house, preferably late morning to mid-afternoon. But this literally never happens, so I have to make do with anywhere, any time and under any conditions! The place is definitely less important than the solitude and lack of interruptions.

Do you write by hand or go straight to the keyboard?

The planning stage is always handwritten in a beautiful notebook, and the actual writing of the book happens on my laptop. I absolutely hate sitting at a desk, though. It feels too much like work and makes me shudder, so I sit in an armchair with my feet up on a footstool and my laptop is balanced on a cushion on my knee.

Read more: Meet the queen of ‘domestic noir’, Julia Crouch

Tell us about how you work across different genres

I’m not one for staying in my lane and have branched out into self-help, writing three books in that genre. I wrote the latest, The Double Best Method, after I realised that I had invented the world’s greatest decision-making tool. Yes, really… If you disagree, email me via my website and tell me why! Anyone who struggles to make wise choices, who second guesses their decisions, or beats themselves up when things go wrong, needs my foolproof method in their life.

Sounds like something we could all use. What other lanes do you like to venture into?

I’ve written a murder mystery musical that started life as a school play and is just about to come out as a movie called The Mystery of Mr. E. It premieres in a London cinema on 25 November and will be available to stream on Amazon Prime from that day too. It’s a feel-good, family-friendly musical with catchy songs and a baffling mystery. Twin brothers John and George Danes call themselves The Generalists and they do all kinds of bizarre jobs for all sorts of peculiar people. One day, they get a visit from a mysterious stranger, who says no more than, ‘I am the murderer’ before disappearing. John and George have to find out who this odd man is, and what murder he is referring to. Before they know it, a murder is committed right under their nose. But the strange man who identified himself as the murderer is nowhere to be found…

How do you inspire yourself when you’re running on empty?

I think my strategies are just the standard things that many people do to recharge – rest, holidays, swimming, meditating – nothing out of the ordinary, but all highly effective.

How do you beat the distractions and prevarications that can prevent you from getting your writing done?

I really struggle with this. I can only force myself to work when my self-criticism gets so loud that it’s more painful to avoid writing than it is to write. Luckily, though, I also get obsessed with any story idea that I really love, so once I start work on it, I’m driven to carry on and see it through because I’m determined to make it real.

Do you invent any of your characters or are they based on real people?

I invent most of them! Though obviously they share traits with people I know or have encountered. I think that’s inevitable.

Have any friends or enemies recognised themselves when you’ve written them into a novel?

Yes, but only when the characters could not be more different from them if they tried. Once someone – a bit of a rotter – threatened to sue me because he thought I’d based a character on him. The fictional character was unlike him in every possible way, apart from being a bit of a rotter. Evidently, that was the part he recognised!

Do you eat and drink when you write?

I drink constant, endless cups of tea with milk. Usually Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong.

Do you play music as you work or are you desperate for absolute silence and solitude?

Absolute silence and solitude all the way to the last page.

Are there any absolute hard and fast rules you set yourself about your stories or characters?

My main aim is to grip the reader, which I always try to do with an impossible hook; something that presents a mystery that feels completely unsolvable, even unguessable. I love to create flawed and complex characters, because anything else just isn’t true to life. My characters have to be psychologically interesting. And I’m not interested in transferrable, generic motives such as the killer doing it for the money. I want my motives to be specific to that particular killer, in those particular circumstances, and to have arisen from their unique psyche.

Will the internet and people’s shortened attention spans ever mean the end of the novel?

No, I don’t think so. The more instant online culture becomes, the more it’s going to wear us down and that’ll lead to some people, at least, remembering the joy and the benefits of immersion in something longer and more satisfying. Novels will always have a place in the world and many people will always love and want them.

What do you wish you’d known before starting this novel-writing malarkey?

That one day I was going to be successful. If I could have seen the future, I would have been far less gutted about each of the early fail results I stacked up when I first started trying to get published. I’d have been able to be happy in the moment, no matter what, because I’d have known I was going to achieve my goals. Although the good news for writers just starting out is that you can and should approach the process as though success is guaranteed – it’ll make your dreams much more likely to come true and ensure a contented writing life.

Do you have any advice for new writers?

I found I had so much advice to offer that I became a Master Certified life coach and set up Dream Author Coaching, my online coaching programme that has helped hundreds of writers so far. And it’s not just for new writers. I’ve helped lots of hugely successful and bestselling authors who were suffering from the negative emotional and psychological issues that seem to – but certainly don’t need to – come with the territory. The programme is for anyone who loves writing and who wants to feel happy and energised about their dreams, rather than anxious, frustrated or stressed. Over the four years that I’ve been teaching and coaching, we’ve had some quite staggeringly brilliant results – writers watching their dreams come true in front of their eyes!

• Find out more about Sophie’s coaching programme: dreamauthorcoaching.com. To buy her books and find out more about her work: https://sophiehannah.com/
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November. It began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Meet the novelist: Sophie Hannah on genre-hopping, and the sound of silence appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Ever thought about writing a novel? They say there’s a book in everyone, but how many of us get that book down on paper? Julia Crouch is the first in our series of interviews where we meet the novelist. And find out more about their writing challenges and habits…

How would you describe yourself?

I’m a novelist, runner, speccy yoga-doer, mother of three grown-up beauties – and I’m soon to be a grandmother. I pot, paint and go for long walks with my dog. I have been married to Tim for 34 years, though I would never call myself a wife. I am – generally – quietly political; a green, lefty, vegetarian feminist. I’m handy, practical and good in a crisis. Oh, and I cook like a bitch.

Where is your most ‘fertile’ zone for writing?

I have a studio at the bottom of my garden, which I bought in a good graphic design year about 20 years ago. It has had many incarnations and for the last decade, it has been my writing studio. I used to do most of my work in there, either at my sit/stand desk or lying on a day bed.

But in the last couple of years, my pottery and painting habit has commandeered half the space, and my writing area is now just the desk corner. Now my nest is empty, I have plenty of nooks around the house where I can write undisturbed. To be honest, most of the actual writing stuff now happens on the front room sofa, surrounded by my two cats and my dog and with the fire and fairy lights lit in the winter.

When you write, are you a longhand merchant, making notes by hand, or do you go straight to the keyboard?

I used to write notes longhand, but now my thumb arthritis makes handwriting painful and ugly. Also, I am a geek, so I love different software writing tools and I touch-type as fast as I think, so it makes sense to work on screen.

I will do note-taking on my phone, either voice notes or dictated. And I plot and plan using Scapple for mind-mapping, Aeon for time-lining – I find knowing when things happen helps with what happens – and Scrivener for drafting. For the arthritis, I dictate notes when I am emailing or marking up manuscripts for my teaching and mentoring work, but there’s some sort of disconnect with my brain for fiction writing.

If you didn’t write in the domestic noir genre, what would you explore instead?

I would like to write women’s/literary fiction, where my writing, characters and themes can breathe without so much plot! Don’t get me wrong, I love plot, but it would be lovely to be able to step back and just write without that particular discipline at the top of the pile of considerations. In fact, for a forthcoming novel, I am aiming to do exactly that.

Read more: Nick Lezard’s fave romantic novels

What’s the strangest thing you do to inspire yourself when you’re running on empty?

Go for a run with Nick Cave playing in my ears, throw a pot, or go and comb the mats out of my dog’s curly hair. I like that better than she does…

How do you overcome any distractions, stop prevaricating, and finish your work?

I use Mac Freedom. This switches the internet off, which really helps. I work in chunks – focusing on word count if drafting, chapters if editing, and time if doing admin and plotting. Mini goals are really important in keeping me focused.

I like to get up and do things like make a cuppa, put the washing on the line or get the supper prepped. Activities like that provide punctuation and, even if I don’t get far with my writing for the day, I’m making progress with other things around me.

How many of your characters are based on real people?

I invent all of them, but they are Frankenstein’s monsters, cobbled together from real people I know. But the characters come to me almost fully formed, which I always find weird. Very early on, I know them. They develop as I think about the story – their function grows with their form.

Character is plot, plot is character, said F Scott Fitzgerald. And I think about what relationship I want the reader to have with them. I trained and worked in theatre for the first 10 years of my working life, so I do think, for me, that creating characters is a bit like the work an actor does. It’s a sort-of inhabiting.

Has anyone ever recognised themselves in any of your novels?

My second novel, Every Vow You Break, is about an English family spending a summer in Upstate New York, while the husband, an actor, plays the lead in a Shakespeare. Every other year for about a decade my own English family did exactly that and it was an absolutely wonderful thing for all of us to do.

I made very sure that the husband – Marcus, who is the worst kind of male actor – very clearly has a fine, thick head of hair. Tim, my own actor husband is completely bald, so there can’t possibly be any similarity. A friend spotted her house once – I do tend to steal houses and settings more than characters.

Do you eat and drink while you write?

I’ve never been asked that before! Always a big mug of tea to hand, after my three morning mugs of coffee. I don’t like to eat because I can’t bear a sticky keyboard and I’m a mucky eater. Even in my drinking days – four years sober, dib dib – I never followed Hemingway’s exhortation to write drunk. Although on a couple of National Novel Writing Months, of which I have completed four, I would have only the end of the day and perhaps a bottle of wine down my throat to write my 1,700 words. Sometimes the results were interesting…

Does playing music help you write?

Yes, but it can’t have words. Regulars for me are Philip Glass, Bach and Handel’s piano music, Max Richter, Dirty Three, and film scores by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Are there any hard and fast rules you set yourself about your stories or characters?

No coincidences. I think that’s it. Oh, and I like Chekhov’s thing about the gun. He said, “If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don’t put it there.” I love planting things.

Will the internet and people’s shortened attention spans ever mean the end of the novel?

Sorry, did you say something?

Ha, very funny…

I have a feeling that, just as people are wanting less mass-produced shit in their lives, real books are going to become more popular than ever. People have enormous attention spans for long form TV and stupidly long movies – I’m looking atcha, Scorcese. The low-tech activity of curling up with your cat, a cuppa, and a good, beautifully produced novel is quite alluring in this fast-paced world. It’s certainly Instagrammable!

What do you wish you’d known before starting this novel-writing malarkey?

It’s a good idea to talk an idea over with your editor and/or agent and/or writing best buddy and get the story sorted before spending two years writing it. And if that sounds horribly specific, it’s because it is.

What is your advice for eager new writers?

Enjoy yourself. Read Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. Work at the craft – read like a writer, fall in love with grammar, sort out your relationship with adverbs. But be bold with your writing and your ideas. Know the rules and know that there are no rules.

• To find out more about Julia Crouch’s work and to order her books, go to juliacrouch.co.uk
• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) takes place every November. It began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Meet the novelist: Julia Crouch on writing with cats, cuppas, and Nick Cave appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Inspired by her love for history and cosy crime, Everett dreamed up Edie York. A Manchester-based reporter stuck answering telephone calls at her local paper. Until she gets caught up in the death of a Home Guard soldier.

Everett shares how her book deal came about, after thirty years as a journalist, how WWII became the setting for her series, and the solitude that comes with being a writer. 

Who are you, and what’s going on?

F. L. Everett

I’ve been a journalist, columnist and editor for thirty years. I’ve self-published a novel and had several non-fiction books published. But during the pandemic, I turned 50, my son had long left home, I’d finally rejected the terrifying concept of getting a full-time job, and I decided it was time to concentrate on a novel I first started ten years ago, and see if I could get it published.

Writing fiction is all I’ve ever wanted to do – but with the need to earn a living it’s been hard to give it the time it needs to succeed. I felt it was now or never, so I sent a tweet in reply to publisher Bookouture’s request to see new synopses, and they liked the idea enough to follow it up. Two years later, I have a three book deal to write the Edie York series, about a brave and nosy young journalist in WWII Manchester. Who keeps getting drawn into murder investigations.

The first is out on 21 September, and book two is already written.

What aspects of your life experiences do you find yourself drawing upon most frequently as you craft the characters and plots in your crime novels?

I have been a journalist on a local paper but obviously not during WWII. People don’t change that much though, and I’ve met many people who have lent a little of themselves to the characters. In Annie, Edie’s best friend, there’s a bit of my own dearest friends – people who can sometimes annoy you, but you love them enough for it not to matter. I loved writing about Edie’s newspaper colleagues, and I believe I’ve made them up – but who knows!? 

Her editor, Mr Gorringe, is a stickler for grammar – and so is my dad. So I think I’ve probably borrowed little bits here and there. In Lou, my irascible detective inspector, I can see certain elements of my husband. I didn’t think I was anything like Edie – until I described her to my best friend (‘small, nosy, won’t take no for an answer’) and she snorted. 

In terms of plot, that really is made up. But I know Manchester very well, having grown up there and lived nearby until ten years ago. I now live in the West Highlands, but I go back all the time to see family and friends. The book is a bit of a love letter to my home town. I do a lot of research to find out where certain buildings would have stood in 1940, where was bombed and when. It’s given me a new appreciation for the buildings that stayed standing!

Could you share a glimpse into your writing process? How do you go about developing a crime storyline that keeps readers engaged?

I wish I had a process. Basically, I begin with the victim, and the circumstances of the murder scene, then work backwards to figure out who killed them and why. I don’t know if this is the normal path for a cosy crime writer, but it’s the only way I can do it. I spend a lot of time on long dog walks, thinking about alibis and red herrings, and I make voice-notes on my phone, like Alan Partridge. But I am a plotter, not a ‘pantser’ – I can’t imagine making it up as I go along. 

I begin with the victim, and the circumstances of the murder scene, then work backwards

Before I start, I write a detailed synopsis, then I break it down into chapters. It makes the process much easier. Did I mention I’m a Virgo who packs two days before a trip, and likes to do my washing on holiday, so I come home with clean clothes? Yeah. These things go deep. 

I also discuss certain things with my husband Andy, who has worryingly acute insight into how a killer’s mind might work. But largely, I just do what I’ve always wanted to do. Sit at my desk, or the kitchen table, with the cat and snacks nearby, and make it up. 

Crime novels often involve intricate details and suspenseful twists. How do you approach research to ensure your stories are both captivating and authentic?

First of all, I have an amazing historian friend, Catherine Pitt (of Pitt Stops, on Facebook). She’s been absolutely invaluable with the second book, which is quite complicated and needed a lot of research. I’d message things like ‘could you get a train to London from Manchester in April 1941 without stopping?’ and she’d find out within five minutes.

I also read a lot of WWII social history books. I have an entire bookcase dedicated to them, and I find myself ordering even more. At first it was just the basics, but now I’m getting into the obscure, white-label imports. I love reading about it, and I hate the feeling that I might be getting things wrong. I like my fiction to be rooted in genuine history. I also watch films set during the war, like Mrs Miniver and This Happy Breed. They’re invaluable for getting dialogue and class issues right. I have been to the Imperial War Museum North in Salford and the Police Museum in Manchester, both of which are incredible repositories of historic research. And then, of course, there’s Google. 

I love reading about [WWII], and I hate the feeling that I might be getting things wrong. I like my fiction to be rooted in genuine history.

In terms of plot, I love reading crime and have done since I was ten. I tend to think ‘would I guess the killer? And if so, would I guess why?’ and having read so much Golden Age crime is a real help in terms of pacing and plot twists. 

With three crime novels in the works, have you planned out all of them in one go? Or will you wing it?

No, one at time, although I do have a rough idea of the general themes of each one. I’ve just written the plot synopsis for book three, so I’ve done the hard work. Now I just have to write it.

Read more interviews – Joe McGann’s sober companion: an interview about an intervention

Many writers find inspiration from other art forms, like music or visual art. Are there any unexpected sources that have influenced your approach to crime fiction?

Yes. I think being a journalist means you’re interested in lots of different things, and I love a bit of culture. There’s reference to the arts in all of the books so far. I love researching the cultural aspects of life in the war – what they’d have seen in galleries, or at the pictures, and what music and theatre they’d enjoy. I spend a lot of time on YouTube doing ‘research.’

And of course, Edie herself is an avid reader of crime novels, so that’s fun too. Though I have to check the publishing dates to make sure she’d have been able to get them from Boots lending library. 

As you’ve transitioned into novel writing, have you discovered any surprising challenges or unexpected joys that differ from your previous work?

It’s all joy so far, apart from structural edits, which mean changing bits around like a Chinese puzzle, only to find your small alteration has messed up an entire sequence of chapter. Other than that though, I love everything about writing novels. It really is the dream. All I want in life is to be left alone to make stuff up. And to make enough money to run an animal sanctuary for abandoned cats, dogs, horses, donkeys, pygmy goats…

Writing can be a solitary endeavour. Do you find opportunities to connect with other writers or readers to discuss your ideas and thoughts? Or just crack on alone?

Being a freelance journalist is pretty solitary these days too. It’s not like when I began back in the ‘90s, when I was going all over town interviewing people in their living rooms. I love people and like to think I have lots of friends, but not when I’m working. I’m extremely solitary as a writer, like some toiling spider in a dark corner. 

It’s not like when I began back in the ‘90s, going all over town interviewing people in their living rooms

I can’t imagine being in writer’s groups and getting ‘feedback.’ Other people’s opinions are the kiss of death, and make me doubt myself. I’d much rather crack on, then find out what they think after it’s published! 

I don’t even like writing in public places like cafes. The noise! And the people! I’m much happier with a cup of tea and deafening silence. Apart from the pets snoring.

Crime novels often explore the darker aspects of human nature. How do you approach delving into these themes while keeping the narrative engaging and not overly grim?

‘Cosy’ crime is a very specific genre – there are rules. You can’t kill children or pets, and you don’t want anything too grisly at the murder scene. It’s more interesting to me to look at the psychological factors at play with crime, than peer at viscera on the pathologist’s slab. I’d always rather watch Endeavour than Silent Witness. So, I adhere to the principle of ‘if the audience doesn’t need to see it, don’t show it.’ 

Can you share a pivotal moment or realisation that pushed you to pursue crime fiction as the genre for your novels?

It’s what I love most as a reader. I think for a long time I was scared to attempt it. I knew nothing about the police or prison, and I wasn’t sure I could make it authentic in any way. Then I realised I could set it in the past, and suddenly I felt freed up to write the sort of book I would love to read.

I think it really began, though, in the school library when I was eleven. I was lurking in there one rainy lunchtime, and came across the Agatha Christie classic, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Well, it blew me away. I had never read anything so gripping or surprising. 

My wonderful grandma was a huge classic crime fan, and she introduced me to the rest of Christie, and then Sherlock Holmes stories, and Ruth Rendell. I have loved crime novels ever since, and always dreamed of writing one. I think most crime fans really love the fact that within the boundaries of a novel, calm is brought to chaos. The world is an alarming and random place, but a great crime novel narrates the pursuit of truth and justice, and ends with the case closed. It all goes back to my holiday packing, really. I like calmness and order. And I like to know everything.

In a rapidly evolving literary landscape, what do you hope your crime novels bring to readers that sets them apart and makes them memorable?

I hope they’ll invest in the character of Edie, and in her life during wartime. It’s not so long ago, but in many ways it was such a different world. I’ve tried to bring some lightness to it, as well as the darkness. My grandparents lived through the war and were both very funny. I think a lot of WWII set books overlook the fact that people made jokes, and had little irritations about queuing and sandwiches, as well as dealing with the big things. So I hope the characters feel real, and that the Manchester setting is a reminder that the war didn’t just happen in London. It was everywhere, and everyone suffered in different ways. 

I hope they enjoy trying to solve the mysteries that Edie finds herself wandering into, and lastly, I hope they like the dog. Of course I had to include one. 

Murder in the Blitz by F.L. Everett is available for purchase on 21 September as in paperback, audio, and ebook. 

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Murder in the Blitz – Interview with Flic Everett appeared first on Silver Magazine.