From the Brixton Book Group mailbag..
I thought that you might be interested to know that my first novel, Blood and Water, published by Macmillan New Writing, has just gone on sale – Friday 1st September.
It’s available on www.amazon.co.uk, direct from Macmillan on www.macmillannewwriting.com and in all good bookshops. If it’s not in stock, please ask them to order it in. You can find how I wrote it and how it got published on www.lucymccarraher.com .
If you read it for yourself or with your group, I would be really interested to have your feedback (on [email protected]). I’m happy to give talks or readings for any event, especially if I can sell copies there.
Goldsboro Books called it a “brilliant debut novel”. Readers on Amazon say “a real book for real women” and “a thumping good read”.
Here’s the synopsis:
At 45, Mo has struggled to bring up her first two children as a single mother and, now they’ve flown the nest, she’s concentrating on maintaining a career while being a good wife to her second, younger husband, Jack, and mother to their little daughter, Lily. With the help of yoga, meditation and her close group of girlfriends, Mo feels she’s at last getting the balance of her life right. Until, that is, Jack’s highly-strung twin sister asks her to help trace their birth mother, Caitlin, whom Jack wants nothing to do with. Her involvement in the search triggers turmoil in Mo’s life, exacerbated by the onset of menopausal symptoms, Jack’s involvement with someone else, and an old vagrant woman who unleashes unwelcome, supernatural encounters. The hunt for Caitlin is a compelling journey of clues and dead ends, coincidence and revelation, that exposes much of the grief involved in teenage sex and adoption. It is set within a wry and authentic portrayal of the complex lifestyle which so many contemporary women lead, and against an evocative depiction of London’s historic Crystal Palace district. Each of the acutely drawn characters has personal issues, all of which raise questions about spirituality and sexuality, motherhood, relationships and family bonds.
Do forward this email to any other writers\’ or reading groups you know – and indeed everyone in your email address book who enjoys a good book with a gripping plot, believable characters, thought-provoking issues and something a little other-wordly. I\’d like to say all your wishes will come true if you forward this email on immediately to 10 more people; they probably won\’t, but you\’ll help one of mine to!
Thanks,
Lucy McCarraher is an expert in work-life balance, advising organisations and individuals, and is joint author of the self-help publication, The Book of Balanced Living. She has also worked in television as a writer, script-editor, concept developer and presenter; and as a researcher, journalist, book editor, writers’ agent, ghost writer, theatre critic and magazine publisher. Lucy was born and brought up in Chelsea and, after spending eight years in Australia, moved South through London via Stockwell, Kennington, Peckham and Crystal Palace. She has two adult sons and now lives in rural South Norfolk with her husband and two young daughters, who were both adopted from Russia. Her website is www.lucymccarraher.com .
