A RATION BOOK CHRISTMAS BROADCAST MAKES RNA SHORTLIST

We’re so pleased that Jean Fullerton’s Christmas novella, A RATION BOOK CHRISTMAS BROADCAST, has been shortlisted for the Shorter Romantic Novel in the 2022 Romantic Novel Awards.

Launched in 2015, the Romantic Novel Awards celebrate excellence in romantic fiction and this year’s winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on the 7th of March at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City.

A RATION BOOK CHRISTMAS BROADCAST was published in the UK in November 2021 and features the large, rambunctious Brogan family from Jean’s ‘East End Ration Book’ series.  

Grace Meredith, the BBC Outside Broadcasting unit’s assistant, is thrust into the Brogan’s warm and bustling world when they are chosen to be interviewed on the ‘Just Ordinary Folk’ Christmas programme. Things don’t quite go to plan, however, when she meets Giovanni Fabrino of the Royal Engineers. With the Christmas Eve deadline fast approaching she doesn’t have time for distractions, but Gio keeps appearing, and they start to fall in love…

The last book in the ‘East End Ration Book’ series, A RATION BOOK VICTORY, will be published by Corvus in May this year.

Praise for Jean’s ‘East End Ration Book’ series:

‘A real page-turner with larger-than-life characters and convincing period detail’ ― Daily Express

‘Richly-textured and engrossing...  Jean Fullerton's meticulous research and background knowledge enable her to create a wholly convincing and engaging wartime novel... Completely immersive. With humour to lighten the mood as well it can be laugh-out-loud funny as well as deeply poignant, but it is the emotional richness and heart to the book that draws the story together and makes this such a rewarding read.’ ― Nicola Cornick

‘Lovely... The author's writing captures the atmosphere and emotions and difficulties of life during wartime. It is a great piece of historical fiction which centres on World War II... The book was an emotional read with a few tears along the way.’ ― New Books Magazine

‘Charming and full of detail... You will ride emotional highs and lows... Beautifully written.’ ― The Lady

About Jean Fullerton

Jean was born and bred in the overcrowded streets surrounding London Docks where her family have lived since 1825. Being born within the sound of Bow Bells, she’s a true cockney who grew up in what was then the working-class dockland community in Wapping and Stepney, East London. All her published books are set in the streets and alleyways she roamed as a child.

Jean worked for 30 years as a community nurse in East London, starting as a staff nurse and finishing as a university lecturer in Health Studies at London South Bank University.

Visit Jean’s website.

Follow Jean on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

A SKY FULL OF STARS SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 ROMANTIC NOVEL AWARDS

We’re delighted that A SKY FULL OF STARS by bestselling author Dani Atkins has been shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel Award in the 2022 Romantic Novel Awards.

Launched in 2015, the Romantic Novel Awards celebrate excellence in romantic fiction and this year’s winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on the 7th of March at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City. Dani is already a recipient of a Romantic Novel Award, with THIS LOVE winning the Romantic Novel of the Year Award in 2018.

A SKY FULL OF STARS was published by Head of Zeus in the UK in February 2021 and follows the heart-breaking story of a family shattered by tragedy.

Alex, overwhelmed by his responsibilities as a single father, doesn’t know how he’ll carry on without his beloved wife Lisa. However, when he meets four strangers whose lives were profoundly changed by her, he begins to realise the world may not be as cruel and senseless as it seems. Perhaps, after all, the future is written in the stars...

And, in further Dani Atkins news, THE WEDDING DRESS will be published by Head of Zeus in paperback this week, on 3rd Feb, and her new novel, SIX DAYS, in hardback on 14th April.

Praise for A SKY FULL OF STARS

‘The subject matter is sensitively handled though have tissues on standby.’ — Belfast Telegraph

 ‘A powerful story addressing issues of love and loss - and just a hint that perhaps fate has brought them all together for a reason.’ — My Weekly   

 ‘The queen of emotional love stories returns with another gorgeous read… Don’t forget the tissues!’ — The Sun

 ‘A beautiful story.’ — Bella

 ‘Dani Atkins' captivating story is a rollercoaster of a read, infused with heart-breaking tragedy and an uplifting sense of hope.’ — Woman’s Own

 ‘It is impossible to get through a Dani Atkins novel without shedding a tear – or 20 –and this rule very much applies to this, her latest heart-wrenching romance… A book about grief and loss that also has a strong feel-good element to it too.’ — Isabelle Broom, Woman & Home, ‘24 of the best romance books to read whether you're after love or lust’

About Dani Atkins

Dani Atkins was born in London, and grew up in Cockfosters, Hertfordshire. She now lives in a 350-year-old cottage with her husband, one Siamese cat and a very soppy Border Collie.

Dani has been writing for fun all her life but, following the 2013 publication of her novel FRACTURED (Head of Zeus), she has made writing her full-time career. FRACTURED has since been published in sixteen languages and has sold more than half a million copies since first publication in the UK. In 2018, THIS LOVE won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award at the RNA awards in London.

Follow Dani on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Hodder Studio wins auction for UNDERCURRENT: A CORNISH MEMOIR OF POVERTY, NATURE AND RESILIENCE, a vital, thoughtful and powerful memoir by Natasha Carthew

Editorial Director Harriet Poland has bought UK and British Commonwealth Rights after a multi-publisher auction, from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency. The book will be published in Summer 2023.

UNDERCURRENT is a memoir of rural poverty and escape that blends nature-writing with personal testimony and investigation. Cornwall has long been the heartland of the second home, a county of staggering beauty and striking inequality, where working-class families are pushed out of the villages of their childhood and ignored by a political system not built to protect them. Natasha Carthew grew up in a Cornish village that felt a world away from the Rick Stein seafronts, experiencing a childhood of perilous instability and limited opportunity while drinking in the beauty of the world around her. She found solace in the local mobile library, and freedom in the written word. In UNDERCURRENT she comes full circle, returning to the place of her birth to make sense of her journey away from it.

 This memoir will explore the complex ecosystem of rural poverty, including precarious employment opportunities, limited education and healthcare resources, and the ravages poverty plays upon the human mind and body. It is also a love letter to a landscape that is among the most beautiful in the world, an Eden of natural magnificence and a refuge for the spirit. Natasha’s writing has always connected the beauty of the world with its harshest lessons, and in her first non-fiction book she reveals a powerful truth about society.

 Natasha Carthew is the author of three YA novels (Bloomsbury), an adult novel, ALL RIVERS RUN FREE (Riverrun), several books of poetry, and a contributor to HAG: FORGOTTEN FOLKTALES RETOLD (Virago), and to WOMEN ON NATURE (Unbound). She is a regular public voice on working class stories, has written for several national newspapers and recorded essays for BBC Radio broadcast.   She is also the Founder and Artistic Director of The Working Class Writers’ Festival.

 Natasha Carthew says: ‘It was incredibly important to me that UNDERCURRENT my love letter to Cornwall, was placed into the hands of a creative, compassionate editor, an editor who, whilst treating my memoir with care and consideration, would not be afraid to challenge the picture-postcard image of a County that in truth is ravaged by severe poverty; I’m delighted to say that Harriet Poland is without doubt that editor. With Hodder Studio I know that I have found my true literary home, a publisher of innovation and verve, I can think of no better place to publish this, my heartland story.’

 Harriet Poland comments: ‘Of many society-shifting events of the two years, the great migration to ‘the country’ is perhaps the one that will leave the longest mark. What is a privilege to some is the slow destruction of a way of life to others, and this book is a testament to the impact of rural inequality. Natasha, as ever, balances beauty, intimacy and truth in her writing, and this memoir is a vitally important and moving record of lives beyond the M25.’

You can pre-order the book at Waterstones here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/undercurrent/natasha-carthew/9781399706476

Follow Natasha on Twitter and visit her website.

BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER by Alan Parks nominated for Edgar Allan Poe Award

We are delighted that BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER is among the nominees for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards, in the Best Paperback Original Category. Also nominated in the category are KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS by David Bell, THE LIGHTHOUSE WITCHES by C.J. Cooke, THE ALBUM OF DR. MOREAU by Daryl Gregory, STARR SIGN by C.S. O’Cinneide, and THE SHAPE OF DARKNESS by Laura Purcell.

BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER is the third book in the Harry McCoy series. It was published by Canongate in the UK in March 2020, and by Europa in the US in April 2021. It was followed by THE APRIL DEAD, which was shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year 2021. The fifth book in the Harry McCoy series, MAY GOD FORGIVE, will be released in the UK on 28th April 2022, with a US edition to follow. The series is sold in more than ten countries.

The 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, now in its 76th year, seeks to honour the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2021. They are awarded by the Mystery Writers of America, which encompasses some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents. This year’s Awards will be celebrated on 28th April 2022 at the New York Marriott Marquis Times Square and online.

BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER by Alan Parks

The papers want blood.

The force wants results.

The law must be served, whatever the cost.

July 1973. The Glasgow drugs trade is booming and Bobby March, the city's own rock-star hero, has just overdosed in a central hotel.

Alice Kelly is thirteen years old, lonely. And missing.

Meanwhile the niece of McCoy's boss has fallen in with a bad crowd and when she goes AWOL, McCoy is asked – off the books – to find her.

McCoy has a hunch. But does he have enough time?

Praise for the Harry McCoy series

‘The meticulously described setting is so suggestive readers may even catch whiffs of stale cigarette smoke and patchouli. Fans of Scottish noir will be satisfied.’ – Publishers Weekly

‘Parks’ sprawling plot offers not tidy whodunit puzzles but a wide-angle view of a gritty city in the grip of crime, home to an entertaining cross section of characters. Broad-shouldered McCoy is suitably unflappable as he walks Glasgow’s mean streets.’ – Kirkus Reviews

‘Parks captures the feel of a city long vanished in a breathless and tense retro crime caper.’ – The Sun

‘A series that no crime fan should miss: dangerous, thrilling, but with a kind voice to cut through the darkness.’ – Scotsman

‘Pitch-black tartan noir, set in 70s Glasgow ... Compelling ... with an emotional heart that’s hard to ignore.’ – Daily Mail

About Alan Parks

Alan Parks was Creative Director at London Records in the mid 1990’s, then at Warner Music, where he created ground-breaking campaigns for artists including All Saints, New Order, The Streets, Gnarls Barclay and Cee Lo Green. He was also Managing Director of 679 Recordings, a joint venture with Warner Music. His debut novel BLOODY JANUARY propelled him onto the international literary crime fiction scene immediately and his work has been hailed by contemporary writers and critics alike.

BLOODY JANUARY was shortlisted for the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, FEBRUARY’S SON was nominated for an Edgar Award, BOBBY MARCH WILL LIVE FOREVER was picked as a Times Best Book of the Year and THE APRIL DEAD was shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The Harry McCoy series is optioned for television.

Alan was born in Scotland and attended The University of Glasgow where he was awarded a M.A. in Moral Philosophy. He still lives and works in the city that is so vividly depicted in the 1970s setting of his Harry McCoy thrillers.

Trailer Released for Tom Boyle's THE LEDGE

The trailer for THE LEDGE has dropped, with screenplay by Blake Friedmann client Tom Boyle. This is the newest film from Paramount Pictures and Saban Films, directed by Howard J. Frost, and stars Brittany Ashworth.

THE LEDGE is going to be released in select US cinemas and video on demand on 18th February 2022.

Read more about Tom Boyle and his screenwriting work here.

A rock-climbing adventure between two friends turns into a terrifying nightmare. After Kelly (Brittany Ashworth) captures the murder of her best friend on camera, she becomes the next target of a tight-knit group of friends who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence and anyone in their way. Desperate for her safety, she begins a treacherous climb up a mountain cliff and her survival instincts are put to the test when she becomes trapped with the killers just 20 feet away.

Read more about the film here.