Today I’m delighted to welcome romance author Julie Stock. Her ‘Porridge & Cream’ read is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
“My ‘Porridge and Cream’ book is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. The first time I read it was at secondary school, when I was about 14 years old, in the late 1970s. I went to a girls’ school and romantic love seemed very elusive and also illusory. What captivated me about the story was that it seemed so real. My school was nothing like Jane’s experience, thank goodness, although I might have felt like it was at the time but I appreciated the truth of the story, like the author was treating the reader with respect by drawing characters to whom life had not been kind, who were quite ordinary in their way, but had the potential to be extraordinary by their actions.
Julie’s copy of ‘Jane Eyre’
It was many years before I picked the book up again but I find myself moved to reread it regularly these days, especially when the real world becomes a bit too superficial and I need an escape to a world where people rose above their suffering and survived despite it because of the power of love. I love Jane most of all. I feel sorry for her, but I also admire her for surviving all the awful things life throws at her. And even at the last, when anyone else would be weeping with despair, she is happy to find Mr. Rochester again. What a woman!
The plot: Jane Eyre – an average woman of low means, destined to live her life alone but with a determination to make something of her situation.
Edward Rochester – a bitter man, whose wealth has brought him no advantages. Can he be saved by the love of a good woman?
This is an epic love story that will show you how love can overcome all obstacles, and save even the most desperate souls.”
Julie Stock’s Bio
Julie Stock is an author of contemporary romance from around the world: novels, novellas and short stories.
She indie published her debut novel, From Here to Nashville [above], in February 2015 and published her second novel, The Vineyard in Alsace in March 2017. A follow-up novella to From Here to Nashville is also in progress, as well as the next novel. Julie is a proud member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, The Society of Authors and The Alliance of Independent Authors.
Julie Stock’s links
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Julie Stock’s latest book
The Vineyard in Alsace is a contemporary romance, telling the story of Fran and Didier who have a second chance at love when she goes for a job on his vineyard. When fate throws them together again, will they be able to put the past behind them and forgive each other enough to build a new life together?
‘The Vineyard in Alsace’ by Julie Stock [UK: Clued Up Publishing]
What is a ‘Porridge & Cream’ book? It’s the book you turn to when you need a familiar read, when you are tired, ill, or out-of-sorts, where you know the story and love it. Where reading it is like slipping on your oldest, scruffiest slippers after walking for miles. Where does the name ‘Porridge & Cream’ come from? Cat Deerborn is a character in Susan Hill’s ‘Simon Serrailler’ detective series. Cat is a hard-worked GP, a widow with two children and she struggles from day-to-day. One night, after a particularly difficult day, she needs something familiar to read. From her bookshelf she selects ‘Love in A Cold Climate’ by Nancy Mitford. Do you have a favourite read which you return to again and again? If so, please send me a message here.
‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte [UK: Penguin Classics]
Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Tracey Sinclair
Laura Wilkinson
Rachel Dove
And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does #romance author @wood_beez48 re-read JANE EYRE? https://wp.me/p5gEM4-3d2 via @SandraDanby #books
“I don’t read it often, probably once every five or six years, the last time about three years ago. I remember being surprised at how dated some of the dialogue came across, but it was written in the early ‘70s! Even so, I still enjoyed it. There are no particular circumstances that prompt me to read it, but, unusually for me, once in a while I like to go back to it: I know I’m going to love it, and I’ve usually forgotten enough to be surprised. I have bought this book as a present more than any other.
Martin Gates left the village fifteen years ago because he didn’t belong any more. Now he’s back, and looking for answers. The problem is, no one wants to hear his questions. Well, maybe Tanya McLean, but she has an ulterior motive and her husband won’t like it. In the meantime, a horrific accident leaves a farm worker fighting for his life; a brutal killing triggers a police investigation; and even the locals are falling out amongst themselves. Is Martin’s arrival more than a coincidence? Do the villagers really want reminding of the past? And why are ravens gathering in Sherwood Forest?
“We used to foster children, and 
It’s about an American woman in her thirties who decides her perfectly normal life is unfulfilling and leaves her husband and home to find herself abroad, travelling to Italy to find love in food, to India for enlightenment, and to Bali for love and peace. I re-read it, or at least parts of it, at least once a year. It’s one of those books where you feel as if you’re reading your own thoughts. There’s a real comfort in reading again how Elizabeth overcame her challenges. I also love the way she uses language so I get a double-whammy of the feel-good factor every time I delve back in.
I do have a long list of books I want to re-read, headed by Donna Tartt’s 
When Frank Bale was a lawyer, he wore Savile Row suits. Now he has holes in his trousers and serves papers for other, successful, lawyers. Life is bleak but he is kept going by a Philip Marlowe obsession and a longing to prove himself. When a student winds up dead, he gets the chance to investigate a real crime, relying on advice found in an old Tradecraft Manual and the sayings of his nan. But neither the manual nor his nan nor Marlowe prepare him for handling the slimiest of London’s underbelly, jellyfish, who hit back first with fists, then with golf clubs and finally with guns. Can Frank stay alive long enough to find the killer – and get the girl?
I do recall that my mother and I had recently arrived in the United States and were living in a studio apartment in Washington, DC, while she struggled to make ends meet. The book is a series of articles on Jean Kerr’s life as a playwright and parent, and each of the pieces made me roar with laughter at a time when real life wasn’t that funny. When I first read the book, I found it hugely entertaining on such subjects as diets, doctors, family, fashion, moving house, and the rest of everyday suburban life. It was only decades later that I could identify with Kerr’s situation as a writer working from home, and as the harassed mother of irrepressible boys.
It’s the sweltering summer of 2013 and the lives of six Londoners get complicated. As the temperature soars, they’re grappling with money worries, whining children, ailing parents, panic attacks, relationship woes, and temptations along the way. Emotions rise to boiling point, forcing decisions they could regret.
The novel focuses on the twin Chance sisters, Dora and Nora, their mad theatrical family and their romp through musical hall, early Hollywood and aging disgracefully. It combines fairy tales, Shakespeare, magical realism and brilliant characters and is funny, sad and wicked in equal measure. I have read it many times, it is so multi-layered there is always something new to find, and am usually drawn back to it when I want to be reminded how good writing can play with the reader. Dora and Nora are beautifully-written, wicked women but it is also the setting I love: the early days of Hollywood were an entrancing time. I also taught the novel which is a testament to the writing – any book that can survive the kind of dissection that A level teaching requires and not make you want to throw it through the window after the fifth time is a great story. Interestingly I taught it a couple of times in a boys’ school and was advised against it as the boys wouldn’t get it, it’s too female. They loved it – it’s pretty rude.
I suppose I re-read this book when I feel the need for a little mother-love in my life! My own mum is gone now and I’m mum myself to two boys – and still in Switzerland, which is now ‘home’. The thing about having two home countries is, you have neither 100%. I have dual nationality, I speak two languages, my life is here in the middle of Europe – but Scotland still has a corner of my heart. Yet the Scotland I left in the 80s exists no longer; times change and so do places.
Baby Dear is Linda’s latest novel, published in May 2017 by Bloodhound Books. Set in Scotland, it follows three women through a turbulent summer. Caro longs for a child to love, but her husband is infertile. Sharon is eight months pregnant and unsure if she really wants to be a mother. Julie, a single mum with a baby and a small boy, is struggling to make ends meet. Then there’s Jeff, Caro’s husband. All he wants is a happy wife with a baby – but how far is he prepared to go to achieve this?
What if you discovered that everything you knew about yourself was a lie?
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