Harriet Springbett's Blog, page 6

Day 4: Spying and Lying

Writing Residency Day 4 – June 2017

[image error]I wonder if people in the village noticed the way I hung around today, scribbling in my notebook and taking photos of strange things like the grill on the road?

Perhaps the old man I said hello to was suspicious. Perhaps that’s why he came out and pretended to be weeding while I was taking a panoramic photo from his front gate – though it’s hardly my fault that my protagonist is going to live in his house (not the one in the picture, I hasten to add).

Luckily I had my map. Maps are useful for times when people are unlikely to understand the link between research and peering in through windows to take photographs. I think I convinced him I was lost… And actually I learnt he was born in the valley and knew the names of all the mountains. And he also told me loads of useful stuff about sheep.

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[image error]Yes, today was calm, which meant that after a morning of writing I let myself slip into my protagonist costume and go for a walk around the village of Arras.

There’s an art circuit where you have to find what features in the landscape the silhouettes on the signs depict, and my protagonist thought he’d take a photo of one for you.

Outside, I discovered the mist had lifted from the valley and the sun was coming out. I had water in my bag, boots on my feet, a map in my hand and a swiss army knife in my pocket. (The swiss army knife was in case I saw the bear).

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So it was no surprise that my protagonist found himself walking up to the top of the nearest mountain instead of around the village. The tops of mountains are much more his type of thing.

I say mountain but, at just 1097m, the Mont de Gez is really a hill. It was playing at being a mountain while all the real, rocky mountains were being snooty with their heads in the clouds. There’s a gorgeous view from the top: you can see valleys heading off in all directions. A group of dancers in a previous residency created a stunning video set there.

On my way home, I popped into Le Kairn, where I managed to get a photo of Karine. For once she was actually sitting down, relaxing – well, testing new recipes (read ‘eating lunch’ there). So here is the lovely lady! You may recognise her from one of the many mountain refuges she’s worked in.

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Back at the Maison des Arts, I was surprised to find the doors wide open and the exhibition rooms empty.

Had thieves broken in? I hoped the man weeding hadn’t given the police a description of me.

Then I remembered: it was the final day for Raphaël’s photos and Roxane’s ceramics displays: tomorrow, Véronique Strub is moving in with her Dracula costumes.

Which means, I suppose, that I may bump into headless, half dressed vampires in my museum if I happen to go sleepwalking.

Never mind. It will be worth it if I can see how costume-makers work, in which case I’ll talk more about Véronique and her project later this week.

[image error]In the evening I watched the clouds lift as I wrote, and it wasn’t until night had fallen that I remembered my walk around the village.

Hoping the man wasn’t still out weeding, I picked up my camera and went out on a night expedition (with my swiss army knife).

I may not be courageous enough to spend a night alone at the Col des Bordères, with Pascal’s sheep and cows, but the village was another matter.

And this is what I saw: cool, huh? An owl and THE EYE!!!

Now it’s time for bed. Tomorrow I’m going to brave those hairpin bends and crazy French drivers and hit the heights (which is what my protagonist does the minute he can).

Goodnight, sleep well.

Day 3: That’s SO Cheesy!

Writing Residency Day 3 – June 2017

[image error]Did you think that life in the mountains was tranquil?

I did. But that was before I met Françoise and Karine; before they introduced me to the friendly valley folk; before I got talking to the artists and culture-lovers who drop into Le Kairn bistro-bookshop.

It’s non-stop activities and invitations here, I’m telling you. If you want to meet like-minded people, Arras-en-Lavedan is the place to be. Even some famous bloke from French television will be here on Thursday, so I hear.

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Anyway, after the exertion of yesterday’s transhumance, today was a little less physical but just as wet and busy.

It was also far less spooky (although the exhibiting photographer here at the Maison des Arts, Raphäel Paya, did have a go at making me scream).

 

First of all, I drove back to Pascal and Dominique Gainza’s farm in Marsous to learn all about a special technique. So here’s today’s challenge: look at these photos and guess what Dominique is up to:

Yes, she’s making cheese – today’s batch was Tome Des Pyrénées made from ewes’ milk. She also makes goat cheese and mixed-goat-and-ewe cheese, all of which you can taste and buy at their farm.

I’m not going to try to teach you all about cheese in a 500-word blog post, but if you read the novel I’m researching (and writing in the small hours here), you’ll pick up some tips (EDIT during reblog Sept 2020: er, actually, you won’t learn much about cheese at all in Tree Slayer. Sorry).

Here’s a brief explanation to go with the photos, though, because if I keep meeting interesting people it will be ages before my notes become a story.

Before we entered the room, which was lightly perfumed with ‘suckling baby’, Dominique had already begun her daily task of heating a vat of the day’s milk to 55°C. While we watched, she made the milk curdle by stirring it with that strange guitar-like instrument. Then she de-curdled it, this time stirring it with her arm for 30 minutes until the curds and whey separated. Next, she gathered the curds, threw away the whey (ooh, those words sound nice together), gathered up the curds into a doughy ball, which she cut into chunks and kneaded into the moulds.

[image error]I had lots of ideas while watching and listening: muscular right arms; music and goats; listeria and salmonella… And I liked the mix of traditional and modern when Dominique stirred with her right arm and answered her mobile phone with her left hand.

But time was pressing, and I had to go to Le Kairn to prepare my Tree Magic talk. In reality, this meant eating lunch with Karine and meeting French writer Manoell Bouillet, who had dropped by and introduced herself to Karine.

Manoell writes plays and creates soundscapes, and may help Karine create a poetical circuit around the village. I told you Le Kairn was a networking hotspot. Karine went back to work behind the bar, Manoell and I had writerly discussions – and then I introduced her to Alex (who I met on Saturday, and who works on the art circuit in the village) before welcoming my first talk guest.

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Here’s a photo of me during the talk. There are actually at least 500 fans sitting just out of sight and lots of security guards to keep back the screaming crowds who forgot to book and couldn’t squeeze in.

Seriously, it was great to meet some readers and discuss writing experiences. The lovely Scottish playwright Gloria Carreno was a real inspiration to me because she writes plays in English and French.

She has produced them in Edinburgh and London – in fact one is currently under consideration with La Comédie Française – and it was fascinating to listen to her experiences of how a script becomes a play. She’s also keen to meet other playwrights – and theatres which would like to produce her work.

With the day’s activities over, I was able to return to my little room, where I typed long into the night.

Tomorrow is going to be a calm, writing day.

In theory.

Day 2: Wet Sheepy Stuff

Writing Residency Day 2 – June 2017

Following yesterday’s apprehensions, something did go bump in the night. Several times. It was rather like a severed head bumping–… actually, let’s not go there. I kept my eyes squeezed tight shut so as not to discover a ghostly lady in long skirts standing over me, and soon fell asleep again in my museum.

[image error]As predicted, today was very sheepy and very wet. I’m proud to announce that I did the transhumance (accompanying the sheep from the valley to the mountain pastures), and I did it no less than twice in one day.

The first was the traditional ceremony, in which flocks of sheep left from their individual farms and joined at Estaing, where they took the road up to the Lac d’Estaing lake.

There were three types of flock:

In other words: flocks of sheep; flocks of tourists walking behind each flock of sheep; and flocks of cars driving behind each flock of tourists, which walked behind each flock of sheep. (I could go on with this game, but I’ll stop there).

It was a fascinating sight, and I particularly liked the way the sheep would snatch mouthfuls of grass from the verges at any opportunity. One flock of 5 sheep was led by a pony and children from the local villages, who sang their hearts out during the whole length of the 12km (4-hour) hike.

At the lake, the sheepdogs rounded the sheep into pens, the tourists bought local products and then everyone went off for a good, French midday meal to the music of clanking sheep-bells.

The sheep contented themselves with chewing the cud, sleeping, er…praying? singing? (look hard at that last photo, behind the black sheep).

[image error]Three hours later – I’d had lots of time to study the sheep, take photos and scribble notes by then – the flocks were blessed by a priest.

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This particular priest was a visitor from Madagascar, and I loved his big smile.

He flicked holy water from a red bucket (that made me smile) over the flocks –  and then over the crowd (though I’m not sure if this was protocol or him having a laugh).

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I caught the shuttle bus back ‘home’ and just had time to dry out my coat and trousers before I met up at my next appointment.

[image error]This was at Pascal and Dominique Gainza’s farm, where I’d been invited for a proper, real-life transhumance. An evening transhumance. And I had to be there at 6:30pm on the dot.

Someone, however, was missing.

“Where’s the dog?” asked Pascal.

I don’t know if this is tradition or real life, but the next 15 minutes were spent driving around the village looking for Dora the border-collie-cross. Without Dora, we could forget taking the sheep anywhere.

We eventually found her hiding in her kennel, and proceedings were able to begin at 7:15pm. [image error]

What came next was the most magical of mountainous experiences, and I felt very privileged to be included.

With Dora nipping at the sheep’s heels and Pascal and Jerôme telling sheepy anecdotes, we threaded through magnificent, ancient woodland to the Col des Bordères at 1500 metres high.

From there, we continued upwards, arriving at a tranquil pasture as dusk fell, three hours after we left the valley.

[image error]The sheep amazed me because once we were past Aucun, they knew exactly where to go – even turning left at a road junction. They did ignore the No Entry sign, though.

I swear the horned cows we met in the open pastures recognised the sheep. They joined the woolly party and continued heading upwards all together after we left them, no doubt gossiping about the shameful behaviour of that good-for-nothing Sally Sheep from the neighbouring flock.

Or perhaps they were heading to a cow-bell rave party on the heights above the Col du Soulor.

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In any case, we headed back down the track in the dark, admiring the lights of Arrens and Marsous from our lofty lodge. And I resolved that one day I would spend a night up on those restful pastures.

Many thanks to Pascal and Dominque for their generous invitation.

(The late hour and misty weather explain the poor quality of photos – nothing to do with me being exhausted).

And, by the way, I may not have done any proper writing, but I had some fantastic experiences and took lots of notes. Does that count?

Pyrenees Writing Residency – Day 1

In June 2017 I was invited to be a writer-in-residence. The venue was the Maison des Arts arts centre in Arras-en-Lavedan, a small village in the beautiful Val d’Azun valley in the Pyrenees mountains, France.

The aim of my visit was to research my second novel, Tree Slayer, which is partly set in the village. I hasten to add that I’ve created imaginary settings and characters in the book. But I thought that if you read Tree Slayer, you might like to see some of the photos I took.

I met so many great people in Arras-en-Lavedan and discovered so much that I decided to blog about each day’s activities. My readers seemed to enjoy my ramblings about mountain life. I was even contacted by an editor of the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, who liked what she read and invited me to contribute to the famous guide. (You can find my offering, ‘Going Public’, here.)

To celebrate the publication of Tree Slayer on 6th October I’m going to re-blog these posts over the next week. So here we go, starting with the first day.

Behind the Scenes at the Maison des Arts

 

Have you ever been locked up in a museum overnight?

[image error]No, me neither, but that’s exactly what has happened to me tonight in the empty, locked-up arts centre. And there’s an eye looking at me through the window. I know it’s just part of an exhibition – at least, I presume it is – but it’s kind of spooky.

Outside, thunder swallows the sound of cowbells and the wash of invisible rain. And every so often, the church bell chimes. I could be feeling lonely and scared – but luckily I have company. I have the company of a mountain. Let me explain.

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This morning I left Pau, where I stayed last night (see yesterday’s blog post): I could say ‘with a heavy heart’, but, actually, if there’s one thing I love more than the town of Pau, it’s what lies south of Pau…

The weather wasn’t promising and there were no mountains in sight – until I reached Lourdes, when I was able to make out some dark outlines on the horizon.

[image error]My excitement doubled, tripled, quadrupled as I turned each bend and saw the sketches of mountain gradually become rocky reality, patched with snow. By the time I reached Argelès-Gazost, the peaks began to look familiar from last year’s camping holiday.

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Arras-en-Lavedan is 2km up the Val d’Azun valley from Argelès, and I overtook several brave (crazy?) cyclists on their way to the Cols d’Aubisque and Soulor before I turned off the main road and into the heart of the village.

[image error]Most of the village is below the road, its narrow streets winding in a seemingly haphazard way around the small barn-houses and colourful gardens.

[image error]The Maison des Arts, with its stone tower and metal sculptures in the grounds, brought back memories of the day I spent here last summer, discovering this exhibition centre and chatting to Françoise Gourvès, one of the Abbadiale association members responsible for the exhibitions.

Françoise showed me to the living quarters: a bare, roomy bedroom with creaky floorboards and a desk.

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But I hardly noticed the bedroom. My attention was immediately drawn to the window, and what lay outside. At least, what I thought lay outside.

[image error]It was a steep, wooded valley with a cute, pointy mountain at the top, poking the tip of its nose into the clouds. The trees waved the tips of their green fingers at me in the breeze, and when I opened the window I was charmed by the riot of exotic birdsong. The whole scene was enchanting.

And then the sun broke through the clouds.

[image error]What I’d been admiring was simply the foreground of my view. Before my eyes, the clouds lifted and out of the mist loomed another triangular peak, but higher. And then a third. The effect of the misty apparitions was like the double and triple of a rainbow, and I had to watch them for a few minutes before I was convinced all the peaks were real.

Luckily for Françoise, the mist drifted back across the peaks and I was able to leave the window and concentrate on what she was telling me – which was that some costume-making artists were meeting for lunch at Le Kairn bistro-bookshop, and that I could join them if I liked.

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Le Kairn has only been open for 3 weeks, and Arras is a tiny – albeit dense with artists – village. So I was in no way prepared to see it installed in a huge building in the most prominent position next to the mairie.

[image error]The next surprise was the range of books: there’s an eclectic mix of unusual works, organised by theme in such an unconventional way that you spend hours browsing because you keep coming across something unexpected. This bookshop is going to become a reference in the whole region, I believe – and people will come to the village just to linger and buy. There are even books in English.

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The bistro side is light and airy, perfect for writing while drinking a coffee. My attention was caught by the artistic tabletops, covered by pages from books, handwritten manuscripts and pictures from graphic novels.

[image error]And it was here that Karine, the owner, served us a Ploughman’s style lunch followed by the most delicious strawberry tiramisu. I was welcomed into the group of costume-makers, who were preparing for the Dracula open-air theatre play to be held this summer near Gavarnie. I’ll tell you more about them in a future blog post, as they will be in residence with me later this week.

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While Valentine was taking my payment, Karine mentioned a local shepherd who told her I’d be welcome to visit. So that’s what I did. I met Pascal Gainza, from Marsous, who turned out to be the husband of Dominique, the friendly goat farmer I visited last summer. Pascal invited me to take part in his private transhumance – the moving of the ewes (a ewe is a female sheep, in case you’re a townie) from the valley to the mountain pastures for the summer.

[image error]‘Be here at 6:30 tomorrow evening, and we’ll show you the best viewpoint up there,’ he told me, adding that the Estaing transhumance is good for folklore traditions, but it’s better to see a real one.

So that’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow: firstly a touristy transhumance festival in the morning, then a real one in the evening.

At least, that’s what I’ll be doing if I survive my first night locked up in the museum. Actually, I have to go now, as I’ve got a burning desire to see where that staircase leads. And what’s behind the door at the top.

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See you tomorrow for the next writerly instalment – a wet, sheepy one, judging by that thunder and the new whiteout view from my window.

And, yes, by the way, I did get some writing done between today’s social encounters.

Three on the Go

[image error]It’s been a hectic month of September at my writing desk – and that’s before counting the time I spent procrastinating and sharpening pencils.

Being a writer isn’t just about writing (and sharpening pencils). It isn’t simply a case of diligently writing one story from beginning to end – even though that’s pretty much what happened for my first novel, Tree Magic. However, having several publishing contracts changes the rhythm of your writing days. Let me explain.

As I’ve already detailed in a previous post, a second edition of Tree Magic was released in the summer with a new cover and blurb. My lovely publisher, Impress Books, organised a book tour with 34 hosts over 10 days in early September. During this time I visited each book tour host, read reviews (with bated breath), put up posts on Facebook, retweeted quotes and thanked the book bloggers – who aren’t paid for their reviewing work. They generally receive a free book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, you generous bookworms!

I can’t believe how lucky Tree Magic was with the reviews. It received plenty of 5* appreciations and apparently gave enjoyment to lots of readers. Here are a selection of my favourite quotes:

“Remember the feeling you had when you discovered the Harry Potter books for the very first time? I experienced a similar magical feeling when I entered Rainbow’s world.” Booky Charm

“Move over The Time Traveler’s Wife because Kim has a new favourite book of all time! Oh my god I am OBSESSED with this book and actually cannot wait to read the sequel, which never happens to me, as usually I like to have a good gap between books in a series.” Kim Howell

“Wow this story is magical! Even though it’s a good 400 pages you definitely don’t feel like it’s a chore. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next – it’s the definition of a page turner!” Abbi Reads xx

“They are strong, compelling characters and I loved how they engendered so much emotional response from me.” Living in my Own Private Library

“Springbett’s writing definitely pulls the reader in and I thought this was a lovely and very original story.” Books, Beans and Botany

“On a side note, as an Indian, I also loved the Indian ‘fictional’ folklore references to Amrita Devi and the Bishnoi People.” Rajiv’s Reviews

“Springbett has done such a beautiful job of pulling us into the scenes and helping the reader bring the story to life from the page; so much so that at times I wanted to run outside and hug my own tree!” Curled up with a Good Book

The whole point of re-launching Tree Magic was because the sequel, Tree Slayer, is due to be published on 6th October.

Omigod, that’s in just over a week!

My publisher felt that, given the delays to its publication – which were due to Impress Books joining the Untold Publishing group – it would be beneficial for readers to have Tree Magic fresh in their minds before embarking on Tree Slayer.

[image error]Although Tree Slayer was ready for publication in November 2019, it had a cover that matched the previous edition of Tree Magic. Impress scrapped that and asked designer Molly Phipps to create the current cover.

The changes in management also led to problems with recuperating the source files, which meant that I had to go through the book at least 4 times to check and correct the files. (And tinker a bit, I must admit).

So while I was dealing with marketing Tree Magic, I was still proof-reading both the Tree Slayer ebook and the pdf file for the paperback, though of course they went through professional proofreaders too.

In between marketing Tree Magic and proof-reading Tree Slayer, I’ve also been rewriting parts of the third book in the series, whose working title is Tree Sacrifice. I sent my ‘finished’ manuscript for Tree Sacrifice to my publisher back in January. My brilliant editor, Julian Webb, then read it and suggested structural edits.

What I love about Julian’s input is that he shows me how the story can go further, how it can be improved. He pushes me to find ways to fully develop the characters and the plots.

What I hate about Julian’s input is that this always means more work! Actually, that’s a joke. I don’t hate it at all. I love working on structural edits, bringing certain themes to the foreground, changing the way plots and storylines bounce off each other, trying to push my poor characters to their limits. I might even say this is my favourite part of writing a book. I suspect Rainbow disagrees. I think she’d just like to live in peace and not have to go through any edits at all.

I began work on the edits in June. Due to an unexpectedly busy summer, I wasn’t able to work for 2 months, so in September I picked up Tree Sacrifice again. Structural editing calls for intense concentration to follow through storylines and themes, so having to work on both Tree Magic and Tree Slayer at the same time as Tree Sacrifice made this quite a challenge.

Still, such is the life of a writer, and I’m certainly not complaining (my partner might, however, be complaining about a lack of proper food / company / help about the house). I’m lucky that the books are all part of the same series. Just imagine how hard it must be when you’re writing standalone books and have to deal with three sets of characters and settings. I’d be interested to know how other writers cope with having several books on the go.

Things will be unsettled for a while yet, because there is still a lot happening on the publicity side for Tree Slayer‘s release into the wild.

Over the next week I’ll be reblogging my posts from the writing residency I did in the Pyrenees mountains while researching for Tree Slayer.
Before publication day, the first review and an interview with Jacqui from French Village Diaries will be published on 28th Sept and 2nd Oct.
Publication Day – Tuesday 6th October  – will demand time on Social Media.
I’m the guest author on Twitter’s #ukteenchat on Tuesday 23rd October.
Tree Slayer‘s blog tour takes place with Love Books Group from 26th October to 1st November.
Helen Millar from the AngloFile show on the local RCF Radio station has invited me for a reading / interview at some point this autumn. I also did this in 2016 as you can see in my blog post here .
Finally, I’ll be leading a writing workshop in English at my local French bookshop, Le Texte Libre, at 3pm on Sat 28th November, which will be followed by an interview and Q&A session with the public at 5:15pm.

[image error]Between these events, I’ll continue working hard on the edits to Tree Sacrifice. Hopefully it’ll be with you at some point in 2021. More on that next year, by which time I’ll be working on my fourth (and fifth?) novels too. Or I’ll be having a rest.

 

Tree Magic book tour dates

Today sees the start of Tree Magic‘s ten-day book tour – Woohoo!

Due to popular request (well, one person asked…) here is the list of dates and the website hosts for the tour. You’ll find the original list on the Love Books Group website – scroll to the bottom of their page to find this list.

Date
Blog Name
Handle
Blog


7th Sept
Chells and Books
@chellsandbooks
http://www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com


7th Sept
Madwoman in the Attic
@LisaReadsBooks
http://lisareadsbooks.blogspot.com/?m=1


7th Sept
The Magic Of Wor(l)ds
@MagicOfWorldsBE
https://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com/


7th Sept
Curled Up With a Good Book
@curlupwithbooks
Www.curledupwithagoodbook.co.uk


8th Sept
Between The Pages Book Club
BTPBookclub
Www.gemmasbookreviews.wordpress.com


8th Sept
B for Book Review
@BookreviewB
https://bforbookreview.wordpress.com/


8th Sept
Manic Mumdays
@manicmumdayscas/
http://www.instagram.com/manicmumdayscas


9th Sept
Kim Howell
Instagram @duckfacekim09
http://www.instagram.com/duckfacekim09


9th Sept
Rajiv’s Reviews
@rajivsreviews
https://www.rajivsreviews.com/


9th Sept
The Book Reader
@the_b00kreader
https://www.instagram.com/the.b00kreader


9th Sept
Varietats
@Sweeet83
https://varietats2010.blogspot.com


10th Sept
Wonders of Books
@wonders_of_books/
http://instagram.com/wonders_of_books


10th Sept
Jane Hunt Writer
@jolliffe03
https://www.jolliffe01.com/blog


10th Sept
Caffeine Addled Ramblings
@GKSihat
https://www.gksihat.com


11th Sept
mandy_w87

http://www.instagram.com/mandy_w87


11th Sept
Books Beans & Botany

https://booksbeansandbotany.com


11th Sept
Daisy Says
@daisyjhollands
daisysays.co.uk


11th Sept
Chicks Rogues and Scandals
@ChicksandRogues
https://chicksroguesandscandals.wordpress.com


12th Sept
Bookread2day
@bookpage5
http://www.bookread2day.wordpress.com


12th Sept
Karen and her Books
@karenandherbooks
https://www.instagram.com/karenandherbooks/


12th Sept
Living in my Own Private Library
@livinginmyownprivatelibrary
https://www.instagram.com/livinginmyownprivatelibrary/


13th Sept
Vicky Book and Family
@Vickybooksandfamily
https://www.instagram.com/Vickybooksandfamily


13th Sept
@sewshereads
@sewshereads
https://www.instagram.com/sewshereads/


13th Sept
Bookmarks and Stages
@Lou_Bookmarks
https://bookmarksandstages.home.blog


14th Sept
Readerofrivendell
@readerofrivendell
https://www.instagram.com/readerofrivendell/


14th Sept
Jorie Loves A Story
@joriestory
jorielovesastory.com


14th Sept
Tangents and Tissues
@tangentsbb
https://www.instagram.com/tangentsbb/


15th Sept
Hannah May Book Reviews
@hannahmaybookreviews
https://www.instagram.com/hannahmaybookreviews/


15th Sept
Fany Reads English
@fanyf4335
https://www.facebook.com/FanyreadsEnglish/


15th Sept
Bookshortie

https://www.instagram.com/bookshortie/


15th Sept
Books Let Us Escape
@booksletusescape_
booksletusescape.wordpress.com


16th Sept
Abbi Reads xx
@abbi_reads_xx
https://www.instagram.com/abbi_reads_xx/


16th Sept
Booky Charm
@jrw1904
https://www.instagram.com/jrw1904/


16th Sept
Book Loving Science Teacher
@booklovingscienceteacher
https://www.instagram.com/booklovingscienceteacher/


16th Sept
thr4sam
@thr4sam
https://thr4sam.wordpress.com/

 

Coming Soon… Tree Slayer

In France it’s La Rentrée – the French term for Back to School – which means that after the lazy summer days of sunshine and aperitifs, it’s time to get back to work. (My summer wasn’t lazy, actually, since my bike and tent featured in a few escapades and I fell in love – but more about that in a later post).

So to begin La Rentrée, I have some book news to share with you. In previous posts, I explained that my novel Tree Magic has been re-released by Impress Books in a second edition. The paperback is now available and looks amazing. I love the woody font used for the section pages.

 

To celebrate the new edition, my publisher has sent Tree Magic on tour. This means that every day between 7th and 14th September, a series of book bloggers – 35 of them at the last count – will be posting reviews, interviews and generally flooding social media with photos. This will lead to millions of book sales and make me a bestselling author. I hope.

The blog tour is organised by Love Books Group. You can find details of the bloggers involved at the link to their Tree Magic page. I’ve also copied the dates into the ‘Tree Magic Series‘ tab on this blog. If you’d like to drop in and comment on their posts, that would be wonderful.

Very shortly after, on 6th October, I’m delighted to announce that Tree Slayer – the sequel to Tree Magic – will be published in both e-book and paperback format. And because you’re kind enough to read my blog posts, I’m going to share the cover with you. Ssshhhh, the official cover reveal (for the whole world and not just you) takes place on 16th September.

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Isn’t it just stunning?

You can already pre-order Tree Slayer from your local bookshop or online. The ISBN numbers are 9781911293392 for the paperback and 9781911293408 for the e-book. And if you want to resort to Amazon, here are the links to the Tree Slayer pages on the UK, US and French Amazon websites.

Tree Slayer is also going on tour with Love Books Group. The dates are from 28th September to 4th October, so hopefully there will be plenty of buzz – or hype or whatever the marketing experts call it – for publication day on 6th October.

What’s more, the lovely Jacqueline at French Village Diaries will be posting her review of Tree Slayer on 30th September followed by a Q&A interview with me on 2nd October.

Would you like to see the blurb for Tree Slayer? Yes? OK, here you are:

Nine months after the events of Tree Magic, Rainbow is struggling to come to terms with how she’s changed. Her bond with trees has grown, but now they’re under threat from the Tree Slayer.

To save them, she’ll need to leave everything she knows and loves. It will be her greatest adventure yet but she cannot succeed alone. She’ll have to enlist the help of Eole, an enigmatic scientist and sceptic.

Does Rainbow have what it takes to face the Tree Slayer? And can she trust Eole, who has powers of his own?

While writing Tree Slayer, I was invited on a residency in the Pyrenees mountains, which is where part of the story is set. I wrote a series of blog posts about it and will be re-blogging them from the beginning of September. I hope you’ll enjoy (re-)reading them.

[image error]One final piece of good news regarding the Tree Magic series: both books have been selected for the Bookseller Association’s Christmas catalogue. This is where 90% of independent booksellers stock their shelves, so you may even see my books in your local bookstore in December.

Add to all those dates the preparation I’ll be doing for an autumn writing workshop and live interview at my local bookshop, Le Texte Libre, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s going to be a busy month of September, full of highs (good reviews), lows (bad reviews) and important questions, such as: How am I going to find time to continue editing the third book in the series? And what colour will its cover be?

Happy Rentrée to you all!

Some Personal Stuff: An Interview

[image error]Last Friday I had to summon my courage and my speaking skills when the CEO of Untold Publishing, Jeff Collyer, asked if he could interview me about my writing via Zoom.

This is because the second edition of Tree Magic has been released by Impress Books this week and the sequel, Tree Slayer, will be out in September 2020.

Of course I had to say yes. Nowadays, writers are expected to have a level of visibility that many of us would prefer to avoid. But Jeff promised to be kind and I had the support of fellow Impress Books writer Tracey Warr during the interview. Tracey’s final book in the Conquest series has also been published this week, and I’m looking forward to reading the end of her medieval trilogy about the daughter of the last king of Wales.

So here is the interview on Youtube. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me via this blog or on Facebook / Twitter.

Are you sitting comfortably? It’ll take half an hour.

 

 

 

Tree Magic Monday #3

For the third #TreeMagicMonday, Impress Books had this to say:

It’s our final #TreeMagicMonday before release day tomorrow! Below are some glowing reviews for Tree Magic to get you in the mood! Here they are:

1) A  review from book blogger Kelly @kellysrambles

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Kelly said: “Harriet truly knows her craft and I enjoyed her writing style very much. This is an intricate exploration of Rainbow’s character which spans her early life and teenage years.”

 

2) A review from book blogger Bex @MyShelfMyself

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Bex said: “The setting of the book was beautifully written, and I especially the parts of the novel set in France. With a slow paced, in depth story with a plot twist I was not expecting at the end, Tree Magic was truly an uplifting read.”

 

3) A review and my guest blog post at the Melbourne-based ‘YA Room’ about magical realism, metaphors and ideas.[image error]

The YA Room said: “We utterly adored reading this magical and intriguing novel. Set in England and France, this alluring tale follows Rainbow, a girl who can shape trees at her will. As well as being a novel about overcoming fears and fighting her way through parallel worlds, it’s also a touching coming-of-age story about finding yourself.”

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Tree Magic is re-released today in ebook form – the paperback should be available in a month.

If you have any questions once you’ve read it, feel free to comment or ask me via my blog contact page, on Twitter or on Facebook.

Happy reading!

Tree Magic Monday #2

Here’s Impress Books‘ second post regarding the release of Tree Magic on 2nd June 2020. This one has a quote from the book and was posted on 25th May.

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Did you know that: “Tree Magic is structured like a tree: for example, the chapters in The Trunk support the two main branches of the story, and the chapters in Twigs are much shorter.” How fascinating!!