Cheryl Burman's Blog: Blog posts for readers and writers, page 7

All Hallows Eve and River Witch

All Hallows Eve – or Halloween – features in two critical events in the story of River Witch. Both involve Aaron, wise man and mentor to Hester, teaching her the ways of herbal healing – and more.
In this extract, Aaron battles with himself, and the ghost of his first love, Marianne, over how he can best save Hester from the same fate Marianne suffered.

Find River Witch here.

If autumn is never good to Aaron, All Hallows Eve is the worst of all nights. He has determined to stay indoors, to comp...

My 2024 favourite books

My 2024 favourite books came are posted now on shepherd.com, a site for authors and readers.

Not book reviews per se, but authors and readers are invited to contribute to this collection of 2024’s favourite books, and of course I had to jump in!

You can find what I said about why I loved these reads here. And you can click through from this page to the current favourites, a constantly updating list. Find some new authors!

In the meantime, all the books I’ve read this year are on my Rev...

The Shadow Key Susan Stokes-Chapman

The Shadow Key drew me in with its gorgeous cover, the time period (18th century) and the Welsh setting. Throw in some fantasy elements, and I’m all yours.

When Henry Talbot is forced to leave his rising career as a physician at Guy’s Hospital in London, his only option is to take up Julian Tresilian’s offer to become the family and local village doctor in a remote part of Wales.
Henry finds anything but a warm welcome from the locals, but when he discovers his predecessor was apparently...

The dining room was empty

Today’s short extract is from The Herbalist’s Daughters – read more about that here

The dining room is empty at this hour and Aaron relaxes on a bench, his shoulders resting on the whitewashed, cool surface of the wall. The cold cuts have assuaged his hunger, and he lingers over his mug of local beer. The landlord was right – the beer is flavoursome as well as cooling. While his body yearns for sleep, Aaron’s mind dances with images of the day like thistledown in a breeze, and as hard to capt...

Guilty by Definition Susie Dent

Guilty by Definition will expand your mind!

As a matter of principle, I don’t buy books by celebrity authors, but this one was kindly given to me and I like Susie Dent – a feeling enhanced when I read how the book came about and her humility over the whole thing.

Having said that, I found this a good read, mostly because I skimmed a lot of the esoteric erudition (I have had to check both those words to ensure I have them right!), ie the convoluted clues. Expected, mandatory, for the author...

You don’t mind do you?

You don’t mind do you is a bit of nonsense in response to a prompt from a creative writing workshop.

There are two possible answers to that question, despite the implication it should be, ‘No, of course not. Happy to …’ fill in the blank.

Normally when she asks, I go for the above although my heart’s often not in it. Best friends since kindergarten, however, cannot apparently be denied.

‘I’m holding a little supper party and would love you to bring the starter/the pudding/three lots of n...

The Herbalist’s Daughters

The Herbalist’s Daughters – coming 19 November 2024. Pre-order at a special low price here. Read a sample below.

Chapter One

South Australia, 1997

Yellow ochre paddocks glisten under a fierce early afternoon sun, sheep crowding into the scarce shade of the occasional tree. White heat attacks the car’s windows, ineffectual against the state-of-the-art Audi air conditioning.

Cocooned within the cool, Mara’s stomach doesn’t roil because of the weather. No, the cause is two events which ...

SecureYou called but she wasn’t there

SecureYou called but she wasn’t there. Alice made sure of that. She’d heard whispers that if they had your telephone number, your landline, you moved. Before they called in person.

Alice had listened to the voicemail message that afternoon. A deep voice, smooth, politely saying the caller was from a doubtless fictional charity and they had a parcel of clothing and toys for the children and wished to make arrangements to deliver it.

Alice’s blood ran cold. She’d heard of this approach f...

Marcie thought it over

It had been years, perhaps shifting into decades, since John and Marcie had treated themselves. Always excuses, Marcie remembered. No money being the most common, paying for schools, universities, mortgages, bills – living had soaked up all their cash, never any to spare.

Treats had been trips to the mall to stock up on M&S knickers and socks and perhaps indulge in a Costa coffee, even cake if the knickers had been on sale. Once, John had allowed her to take the kids to Bristol Zoo, a wild e...

The night is dark as the inside of a whale’s belly

The night is dark as the inside of a whale’s belly is a writing prompt taken from my 2023 short story collection Who can believe in witches?

THE NIGHT IS DARK AS the inside of a whale’s belly. Eva clings to her berth, heart thudding, her body tossed from side to side to match the frothing, roiling water hurling itself against the little ship.

The boom of the gale, the anguished groaning of the ship, the thunderous surges of water slapping onto the deck, meld with the terrified whimpered p...