Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new year is a time to take stock of the last twelve months and look forward to a fresh start. I for one will be hiding the biscuit tin and digging out the exercise video. I also hope to speed up my writing productivity. I'm on a tight deadline for Regency Cheshire, and must take care not to get sidetracked by interesting avenues of research!
If all goes well, Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives will appear in print this month. Tempus Publishing has just been acquired by The History Press, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there won't be any hold-ups before publication.

Happy Christmas!

I've just returned from a short break in Somerset. The weather was extremely cold and foggy on the way down, but much milder on Sunday. Even so, I was very surprised to see new lambs gambolling about in the fields. We still probably have the worst of the winter weather yet to come, so I hope they will be all right. Maybe they just couldn't wait for Christmas!
You can read about the Christmases enjoyed by some of our most famous authors here. here

Merry Christmas everybody!

Lucky

All the proofs have been checked now for Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives which is still scheduled for publication early in the new year.
I had a fortune cookie at the weekend - my slip of paper read: 'You will find great fortune in unexpected places.' A couple of hours later I found a 5p piece on the pub carpet. Not exactly a great fortune, and a highly likely place to find a coin. So let's hope the legendary million pound note is just waiting for me to find it!

Terry Pratchett

I was really very sorry to hear that Terry Pratchett is ill. I'm a huge fan of his work. His Discworld books are an inventive blend of fantasy and a wicked sense of humour; they're a real delight. I wish him all the best for the future.

Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives

My new book Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives is now listed on Amazon.

Real stories; real people; real lives.
Working families in Victorian Lancashire had few choices. Work; starve; or face the workhouse and the break up of their family. Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives recreates everyday life for textile workers, canal boat families, coal miners, metal workers, navvies and glassblowers using contemporary eyewitness accounts and interviews. Who was the ‘knocker-upper’? Why did families eat ‘tommyrot’? Why couldn’t ‘Lump Lad’ sleep soundly in his bed? Find out the answer to these questions and learn more about everyday family life in Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives.