Tag Archives: writing

My Porridge & Cream read: Tracey Sinclair

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Today I’m delighted to welcome vampire novelist Tracey Sinclair.

“First, a disclaimer: my usual comfort read is generally Terry Pratchett, whose novels I regularly turn to if I’m feeling low or just want a bit of a ‘palette cleanse’ between reads – I’m a big fan of the humanity, humour and decency in his books and they invariably boost my mood. But Rhoda Baxter beat me to that! Tracey SinclairSo I’m going with another choice: Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos – a book I love so much I named one of my characters after the author. I studied it at university in the 90s (it’s one of the few books I’ve read in French and English, back when I was capable of reading more than a menu in French!). The edition I prefer is the Penguin Classic, translated by PWK Stone. I probably go back to it every couple of years, more if I’m prompted by seeing the film on TV. I usually give myself long enough to forget the intricacies of the plot (which is far more complicated and satisfying than the movie) so I can enjoy its richness again. It’s a book to read when I want to be amused and distracted but perhaps a little more stimulated than when I turn to Pratchett (as I’ve read his so many times they nourish me, but all blur into one another slightly!).

For a classical novel, it’s actually quite gossipy and fun – it is, after all, basically a catalogue of intrigue and romantic misadventures – and the epistolary format makes it a speedy read. It’s no surprise it was updated (the splendidly trashy teen flick Cruel Intentions) because the plot, based around the hypocrisy of the rich and the double standards faced by women, remains valid today. The characters behave terribly, but you can’t help admire them at least a little.

Dangerous Liaisons/Tracey’s elevator pitch: Two aristocratic ex-lovers amuse themselves and exploit the hypocrisy of ‘polite’ society with a series of romantic schemes before becoming undone when real love enters the equation.

Tracey Sinclair’s Bio
Tracey Sinclair is a freelance writer and editor, as well as a published author and performed playwright. Her books include the rom-com The Bridesmaid Blues and the Cassandra Bick/Dark Dates series, the most recent of which are Angel Falls and A Vampire in New York and Other Stories.

Tracey Sinclair’s links
Twitter
Facebook
Website

Tracey Sinclair’s books
Tracey SinclairIt isn’t easy to surprise Cassandra Bick. When you run a human-vampire dating agency, your colleague is a witch who is engaged to a shifter and your business partner is one of London’s most powerful (and sexiest) vampires, there’s no such thing as a normal day at the office. But when a mysterious Dark Dates client brings a dire warning of a new threat to the city’s supernatural community, Cass and her friends realise they are up against their deadliest foe yet – and that this time, the danger is far closer to home than they could ever have imagined.
Sexy, snarky and with more bite than a crypt full of vampires, Angel Falls is the latest in the ‘Dark Dates: Cassandra Bick’ series.

Porridge & Cream

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 via the contact form here.

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Jane Lambert
Lisa Devaney
Rosie Dean

Tracey Sinclair

 

‘Dangerous Liaisons’ by Choderlos de Laclos [UK: Penguin Classics]

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does vampire author @thriftygal love DANGEROUS LIASIONS? http://wp.me/p5gEM4-250 via @SandraDanby #books

My Porridge & Cream Read: Jane Lambert

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Today I’m delighted to welcome contemporary women’s novelist & actress Jane Lambert, whose Porridge & Cream book is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

When I was about fifteen my mum gave me a copy of her favourite book, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. It is my Porridge & Cream read and makes me think of her. Jane LambertThe book opens in Monte Carlo, where the heroine (we never know her name) meets and marries widower Maxim de Winter after a whirlwind courtship. He whisks her away to Manderley, his Gothic mansion in Cornwall. The new bride soon discovers there are dark secrets lurking in Manderley and that the memory of the first Mrs de Winter, the beautiful and witty Rebecca, is very much alive. Maxim spends more and more time away on business, leaving the second Mrs de Winter alone with her insecurities and the creepy housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, who resents her taking the place of her adored Rebecca.

When the boat in which Rebecca supposedly drowned is raised, we learn that things are not as they seem: the perfect Rebecca was promiscuous and wicked and made Maxim’s life a misery, driving him to shoot her, disposing of her body on the boat and sinking it. Maxim confesses all to his new wife and she realises he was not in love with Rebecca after all, but with her. As he prepares to face his fate, it’s discovered Rebecca was dying of cancer and the judge rules a verdict of suicide.

As a shy, gauche teenager I identified with the second Mrs de Winter. The book taught me not to always take situations or people at face value, that being shy and quiet is not a sign of weakness and to always be true to yourself.

In 2005 I was part of a touring stage production adapted by Frank McGuinness, starring Nigel Havers as Maxim.”

Jane LambertAbout ‘Learning To Fly’ by Jane Lambert
Written while sitting in grotty digs and draughty theatre dressing rooms on tour, the book is best described as a romantic comedy of self-discovery. It follows the ups and downs of struggling 40-something actress Emily Forsyth as she juggles odd jobs (and some odd dates) with humiliating auditions; from performing Macbeth single-handedly at Scone Palace to chauffeuring the world’s top golfers at St Andrews – and getting hopelessly lost. The comedy aside, there is a serious message behind the book: you are never too old to have dreams and to never ever give up.

Jane Lambert’s Bio
Jane taught English in Vienna then travelled the world as cabin crew before making the life-changing (and slightly mad) decision to become an actress in her thirties. Her debut novel, Learning To Fly was written whilst on tour.
The sequel, Marriage, Mafia & Mozzarella is due to be published next year.

In 2017 Jane will be appearing in the new musical, The Girls written by Gary Barlow & Tim Firth.

Jane Lambert’s links
You can follow Jane on Facebook or Twitter. 

Porridge & Cream

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 via the contact form here.

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Rosie Dean
Rachel Dove
Jane Cable

Jane Lambert

 

‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier [UK: Virago Modern Classics]

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does @JaneLambert22 love REBECCA by Daphne du Maurier? #Porridge&Cream #books via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2fY

First Edition: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

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Surely every child and adult knows the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll or has seen a film version. I remember receiving the LP [below] of a musical production for Christmas as a child and being enchanted. Perhaps it is a story we think we know, but re-reading may surprise us. Alice’s Adventures in WonderlandListen to my British musical version of the story, featuring Dirk Bogarde, Tommy Cooper, Beryl Reid and Frankie Howerd, at You Tube.

The story
Bored and drowsy one afternoon, a young girl called Alice notices a white rabbit, wearing a waistcoat. She follows him and falls down a rabbit hole, entering a fantasy world where she encounters fantastical creatures. She is questioned by a caterpillar smoking a hookah, plays croquet using a live flamingo, and attends the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. When Alice awakes, it seems that Wonderland was a dream.

The American first edition 

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

[photo: peterharrington.co.uk]

This is a first edition, second issue book featuring 41 illustrations by John Tenniel and published in New York by D Appleton and Co in 1866. The issue consisted of 1,000 copies. The selling price is $9750.

The current UK edition Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll’s Alice has been enchanting children for 150 years. Curious Alice, the bossy White Rabbit, the formidable Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter are among the best-loved, most iconic literary creations of all time. Macmillan was the original publisher of Alice in 1865, this hardback edition is illustrated with the original line drawings by John Tenniel, plates coloured by John Macfarlane, a ribbon marker and a foreword by award-winning children’s author Hilary McKay.

‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ by Lewis Carroll [UK: MacMillan] Buy at Amazon

If you like old books, check out these:-
‘Watership Down‘ by Richard Adams
‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ by John Fowles
‘The Hobbit’ by JRR Tolkein

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Still loved: ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND by Lewis Carroll #oldbooks via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-2gx

A poem to read in the bath… ‘On Turning Ten’

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This is the second time this year I’ve chosen a poem by Billy Collins [below] but I make no apology. He had me by the second stanza [below], I was ten again having already been a champion showjumper and a soldier.

Billy Collins

[photo: poetryfoundation.org]

Because of copyright restrictions I am unable to reproduce the poem in full, but please search it out in an anthology or at your local library.

‘On Turning Ten’
… At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
By drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

I defy you to read this poem, and not remember when you also were ten.

Billy Collins

 

‘Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes‘ by Billy Collins [UK: Picador] 

Read these other excerpts and find a new poet to love:-
‘Elegy’ by Carol Ann Duffy
‘Cloughton Wyke I’ by John Wedgwood Clarke
‘Poems’ by Ruth Stone

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
A #poem to read in the bath: ‘On Turning Ten’ by Billy Collins via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1YS

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My Porridge & Cream read: Sue Moorcroft

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Today I’m delighted to welcome contemporary women’s novelist Sue Moorcroft.

“I wish I still had my dad’s copy of A Town Like Alice. It was one of those Reader’s Digest leather-bound books, bright red with gold. Sadly, I lent it to someone. Sue MoorcroftA Town Like Alice was the first adult book I read. I was nine. I watched the film one afternoon with Dad and he told me he had the book. As a bookworm, when the film finished the obvious thing to do was locate it in the bookcase and carry it off to my room. If I close my eyes I can still see the red ribbon to mark reading progress and the dark blue and white pattern on the inner cover.

In A Town Like Alice Nevil Shute taught me a lot about storytelling. He showed me that a story arc doesn’t have to contain a mystery (Famous Five) or a school (Malory Towers) and can be set against the ugliness of war and yet contain one of the most beautiful love stories I’ve ever read. That love can triumph over seemingly impossible odds, even over man’s inhumanity to man. It taught me a lot about characters having flaws and acting like real people, too, when Joe and Jean finally found each other again and realised they still had their own issues to deal with.

I bought the book again when I lost touch with Dad’s copy. It wasn’t in print so I had to buy it second-hand but I reread it every few years, whenever I feel it’s faded in my mind enough that I’ll enjoy it all over again. I wouldn’t like to guess how many times I’ve lived the story of Jean and Joe!

A Town Like Alice began a lifelong love affair with the works of Nevil Shute. I have every one, even those published posthumously. The social niceties are a bit dated, now, but every one is a great story.”

Sue Moorcroft’s Bio
Award-winning author Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary women’s fiction with occasionally unexpected themes. A past vice chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and editor of its two anthologies, Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles, writing ‘how to’ and is a creative writing tutor. She’s won a Readers’ Best Romantic Read Award and the Katie Fforde Bursary.

Sue Moorcroft’s links
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram

Sue Moorcroft’s latest book
Sue MoorcroftFor Ava Bliss, it’s going to be a Christmas to remember …
On a snowy December evening, Sam Jermyn steps into the life of bespoke hat maker Ava Blissham. Sparks fly, and not necessarily good ones. Times are tough for Ava – she’s struggling to make ends meet, her ex-boyfriend is a bully, and worst of all, it’s nearly Christmas. So when Sam commissions Ava to make a hat for someone special, she makes a promise that will change her life. She just doesn’t know it yet …

‘The Christmas Promise’ by Sue Moorcroft [UK: Harper Collins]

 

 

 

Porridge & Cream

 

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 via the contact form here.

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Claire Dyer
JG Harlond
Shelley Weiner

Sue Moorcroft

 

‘A Town Like Alice’ by Nevil Shute [UK: Vintage Classics]

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does @SueMoorcroft love A TOWN LIKE ALICE by Nevil Shute? http://wp.me/p5gEM4-260 via @SandraDanby #reading

#Books @ClaireDyer1 chooses her Porridge & Cream read #amreading

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Poet and novelist Claire Dyer chooses her ‘Porridge & Cream’ book, her comfort read… The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows. Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows“I read this book when it was first published and return to it for a multitude of reasons. I guess the main one, however, is that it’s essentially about good people and reading it reminds me that there’s more goodness in the world than sometimes is apparent. The novel is set in 1946 and tells the story of author Juliet Ashton who stumbles into a correspondence with Dawsey Adams of Guersney. In this respect it reminds me of 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff (another favourite). Dawsey is a member of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and, as letters fly back and forward between them, other members of the Society and Juliet’s friends and admirers in England, much is revealed about these good-hearted people and the lives of those who lived in Guernsey under German Occupation.
“On the surface it’s a light-hearted and easy read. The letters are jaunty, wry and funny and the correspondents nearly always put a positive spin on their hardships and heartaches, but underneath there are dark threads: threads about loss, sacrifice, grief and impossible love. Despite this, this is a book where these losses, sacrifices, grief and love prevail and rise triumphant.
“There is much I learn each time I read it about how goodness can endure and also how it is often what we say between the lines that matters most.
“I believe it’s due to be made into a film and I will be first in line at the cinema to see it and will keep re-reading the novel at regular intervals because it gives me a warm glow each time I do.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

And read my review of THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY.

Claire Dyer’s Bio
A novelist and poet from Reading, UK, Claire’s poetry collections, Eleven Rooms and Interference Effects are published by Two Rivers Press. Her novels, The Moment and The Perfect Affair, and short story Falling for Gatsby, are published by Quercus. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway, University of London and is a regular guest on BBC Radio Berkshire’s Radio Reads with Bill Buckley. Claire also teaches creative writing at literary and writers’ festivals and for Bracknell & Wokingham College and runs Fresh Eyes, an editorial and critiquing service.

Claire Dyer’s links
Read more about Claire’s books at her website.
Follow her on Twitter at @ClaireDyer1

Reviews of Claire Dyer’s books 
Interference Effects (poetry, Two Rivers Press): ‘This collection flickers with language as quick as the fish that swim in the poems, as the butterfly whose “light interference” is as real as it is suggestive, as illusory as it is sensuous. Meaning turns in a flick of a word, a phrase, an image, the familiar made strange: family love, sexual love, grief are turning silvers in darkness, the other side of the ordinary.’ — GILLIAN CLARKE Claire Dyer THE PERFECT AFFAIR (fiction, Quercus): ‘An exquisitely written, emotional book about impossible love and the moments that make like beautiful.’ – JULIE COHEN Claire Dyer

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. Sandra DanbyWhere 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. 

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Judith Field
Rhoda Baxter
Jane Lambert

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
#Books #amreading Why does @ClaireDyer1 love THE GUERNSEY LITERARY & POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY? http://wp.me/p5gEM4-22a via @SandraDanby

A poem to read in the bath… ‘Japanese Maple’

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Most of us came to Australian broadcaster Clive James via his witty television programmes and writings. In recent years he has turned again to poetry. It is four years now since he was diagnosed with ‘the lot’: with leukaemia, emphysema and kidney failure. Now his poetry is full of dying – reflections on life and death – and the poems are beautiful and incredibly moving.

poetry

[photo: Rex Features]

‘Japanese Maple’ is about a tree, given to him by his daughter, and how witnessing the tree change through autumn signals a change for him. I defy you to listen to this, and not have moist eyes.

Because of copyright restrictions I am unable to reproduce the poem in full, but please search it out in an anthology or at your local library.

‘Japanese Maple’
Your death, near now, is of an easy sort.
So slow a fading out brings no real pain.
Breath growing short
Is just uncomfortable. You feel the drain
Of energy, but thought and sight remain:

Click here to listen to Clive James read ‘Japanese Maple’ for the BBC.
For recent poems by Clive James, visit his website here.
Listen here to Clive James talk about ‘taking life slowly’ [Interview: Radio 4’s ‘Today’ programme]

poetry

 

‘Sentenced to Life’ by Clive James [UK: Picador]

Read these other excerpts and find a new poet to love:-
‘Digging’ by Seamus Heaney
‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost
‘My Heart Leaps Up’ by William Wordsworth

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
A poem to think about: JAPANESE MAPLE by Clive James #poetry http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1Rp via @SandraDanby

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My Porridge & Cream read: Rachel Dove

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Today I’m delighted to welcome romance novelist Rachel Dove.

Her ‘Porridge & Cream’ read is Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris which Rachel summarizes as ‘telepathic waitress meets vampires and shapeshifters in the deep south of Bon Temps, finds love and the answers to her very existence.’ Rachel Dove“It was 2009. My second baby in fourteen months had not long been born, and having two boys under two while my husband worked long hours was hard work. I was studying for a degree and writing in my spare time, with dreams of being an author and teacher when the children were older. My days consisted of looking after my children and the house, staying awake and reading to escape, to relax. I remember seeing an advert for the new HBO True Blood series, and seeing it was based on a book series. I immediately went online, newborn in one arm, and found the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. I immediately bought the full set of what she had written so far, and devoured them. They kept me sane for weeks, and made my world feel less small, more exciting than nappy changes and nipple cream. Night feeds meant pages of vampires and shape shifters while my son fed, and the love stories and loss in the books kept me engaged. Since then, I have read all of the books in the series, and watched the series several times, and the first book is my book of choice whenever I feel bored with the mundane part of motherhood. It was my companion in those first few precious months, and it’s like coming home when I reread them. They always pull me out of my reading slump, and Sookie Stackhouse is a perfect character to lose yourself in.”

Rachel Dove’s Bio
Rachel is a wife, mother of two boys, perpetual student, qualified adult education teacher, avid reader and writer of words. She sometimes sleeps, always has eye bags and dreams of retiring to a big white house in Cornwall with two shaggy dogs where she will drink wine on her seafront balcony whilst creating works of romantic fiction. All done with immaculate make up and floaty dresses. In the meantime she nearly always remembers to brush her hair, seldom has time to look in a mirror and writes many, many to-do lists.

Rachel Dove’s links
Facebook
Twitter
Blog

Rachel Dove’s books
Rachel DoveThe perfect escape to the country…
Recently single and tired of the London rat race Amanda is determined to make her dreams of setting up an idyllic countryside boutique come true, and the picturesque village of Westfield is the perfect place to make a fresh start.
Local vet Ben is the golden boy of Westfield, especially to resident gossip Agatha Mayweather, who is determined to help Ben get his life back together after his wife left.
When a chance encounter outside the ‘chic boutique’ sets sparks flying between Amanda and Ben, Agatha is itching to set them up. But are Amanda and Ben really ready for romance?
‘The Chic Boutique on Baker Street’ by Rachel Dove [UK: Mills and Boon] 

Porridge & Cream

 

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 via the contact form here.

 

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Rhoda Baxter
Shelley Weiner
JG Harlond

Rachel Dove

 

‘Dead Until Dark’ by Charlaine Harris [UK: Gollancz] 

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Why does @WriterDove love DEAD UNTIL DARK by Charlaine Harris? http://wp.me/p5gEM4-24Q via @SandraDanby #reading

A poem to read in the bath… ‘Poems’

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Ruth Stone [below] was rocked to sleep in her mother’s arms to the sound of Tennyson’s verse. A poet all her life, she died in 2011 aged 96. In 2009 her collection What Love Comes To was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. This poem, included in her 2002 National Book Award-winning collection In the Next Galaxy, is about ageing, a topic she returned to again and again.

[photo: poetryfoundation.org]

[photo: poetryfoundation.org]

Because of copyright restrictions I am unable to reproduce the poem in full, but please search it out in an anthology or at your local library.

‘Poems’
When you come back to me
It will be crow time
And flycatcher time,
With rising spirals of gnats
Between the apple trees.
Every weed will be quadrupled,
Coarse, welcoming
And spine-tipped.

To listen read a tribute to Ruth Stone on her death, published in the New York Times, click here.

in the next galaxy by ruth stone 3-9-15

 

‘In the Next Galaxy’ by Ruth Stone [Copper Canyon Press]

Read these other excerpts and find a new poet to love:-
‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost
‘Japanese Maple’ by Clive James
‘Lost Acres’ by Robert Graves

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Enjoy this #poem by Ruth Stone http://wp.me/p5gEM4-1Ms @CopperCanyonPrs via @SandraDanby

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My Porridge & Cream read: Rosie Dean

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Today I’m delighted to welcome romantic comedy novelist Rosie Dean.

“The book I have chosen is special because, after reading it, I knew I wanted to become a writer too.

I first read Prudence by Jilly Cooper when I was swotting for my finals. My housemates and I decided we couldn’t survive the exams without some light relief so we joined the local library and, between us, took out twelve books at a time. We mainly chose Mills & Boon romances because they were easy to read in a couple of coffee breaks – and provided wonderful light relief from our studies. Rosie DeanAt the appointed time, we would gather in one of our rooms, coffee, biscuits and books to hand, and read for half an hour, occasionally sharing a juicy passage for further entertainment. One day, Prudence was in the mix and I was hooked.

I don’t know how often I’ve read it – maybe five or six times. I have no idea what prompts me to pick it up – anymore than I know why I call a friend after months of silence. But I always know the comfort I will feel amongst the eccentric Mulholland family and observing the tangled emotional web they have woven.

I’m drawn in by the optimism and innocence of Prudence. She anticipates a romantic weekend as she heads to the family estate of gorgeous barrister, Pendle Mulholland. Instead she finds herself in a chaotic household, where everyone seems to be in love with the wrong person.

It’s very much of its time (1970s) so is almost an historic novel but, as with all Jilly Cooper stories, there are larger-than-life characters, glamour, lots of delicious puns and tons of heart.

A few years ago, I came across this first edition, hardback copy of Prudence in the Mother Goose Bookshop, in St Helens on the Isle of Wight.

Rosie Dean’s Bio
Although Rosie Dean has been writing stories and plays since she was big enough to type, she became an author after teaching Art, Pottery and Woodwork, and writing marketing copy for corporate clients. Now, happily inhabiting the imaginary world of her characters, Rosie loves to write romantic fiction with a sense of humour and, sometimes, a sense of the ridiculous – because we all know life and love aren’t exactly how we’d like them to be.

Rosie Dean’s links
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

Rosie Dean’s latest novel
Rosie Dean

Gigi’s Island Dream
Gabriella Gill-Martin – Gigi to her friends – gives up her privileged life in London’s fast lane, to live on an island, in her dream house. Here she will build beautiful sculptures and grow vegetables. But she soon learns that’s not all she has to give up.
When dreams become nightmares – what’s a girl to do?
‘Gigi’s Island Dream’ by Rosie Dean [UK: R Dean] 

Porridge & Cream

 

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 via the contact form here.

 

Discover the ‘Porridge & Cream’ books of these authors:-
Judith Field
JG Harlond
Rhoda Baxter

Rosie Dean

 

‘Prudence’ by Jilly Cooper [UK: Corgi]

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
Romantic comedy author @RosieDeanAuthor chooses Jilly Cooper’s PRUDENCE as her comfort read via @SandraDanby http://wp.me/p5gEM4-23Z