A very happy new year to everyone. 2024 already, would you believe it! First of all, many, many thanks to all of you readers who bought my Cornish Wartime Story books – Be Brave for Me and Promise You’ll Wait and the latest: Please Come Home. It’s down to you for making them so successful and also for the smashing comments you left on my website and for taking the time and effort to write reviews on Amazon. I am thankful for all of those including the critical ones, because writers don’t live in a vacuum and need to appreciate that folks will all have different views, and all are worthy! It’s always good to connect with readers (especially as I’m an avid reader myself) and I believe firmly in the idea that a book doesn’t just belong to the writer but only properly comes to life when it gets into a reader’s hands. So, thank you all for that and for your continued support and encouragement.
Another book is in my head and will shortly be down on paper. It’s another one set in Cornwall and gives me the excuse to travel around to all my favourite haunts here in this beautiful county that I love. Good to speak to you again and I hope everyone is managing to hang on in there and will get some joy out of this year of 2024. It’s been a hard struggle for some people but most of us are in the same boat (apart from the millionaires) and that boat has been more like a leaky canoe at times than a luxury liner.
Take heart, though, we can still escape it all by disappearing into the pages of a book and allowing their writers to sweep us up in their stories.
I love reading, especially fiction, and want to thank the authors of books I’ve enjoyed this year. I’m grateful for the time and effort they’ve dedicated to writing their stories. My thanks go to Richard Osman for his humorous and often moving Thursday Murder Club Mysteries. They’re always a tonic and sometimes it hard not to laugh out loud and why not – what’s wrong with a good, hearty chuckle? Things are often difficult in this day and age and laughter is certainly better than tears. I found myself re-reading that inspiring and optimistic book by Douglas Kennedy ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’. It’s one of the books I often return to. I was extremely moved by the storytelling of Kristin Hannah – ‘The Nightingale’, set in wartime France is a book that I will always remember for its painstaking research and depth of feeling – but don’t forget to keep a box of tissues handy when you read it. I was left breathless when I finished reading the Anthony Doerr novel ‘All the Light We Cannot See.’ It was a total tour de force as was his book ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ – a challenging read in places, but thoroughly worth it. The man is just an incredible writer. Wherever you are and whatever you like to read I hope you enjoy joining hands with characters and visiting places that all your favourite authors have conjured up. Words are powerful things that can take us to exotic places, make us weep, make us laugh out loud, help us visualise things we have never seen. Long may we all enjoy turning a page (either paper or digital!) and stepping into the world of an author’s imagination.
Many thanks again and please take care and have a healthy and joyful year ahead.
Best wishes,