Andrea Montgomery's Blog: Andrea Montgomery's Blog, page 9

The Phone Box at the Edge of the World, Laura Imai Messina

I was inspired to transition The Phone Box at the Edge of the World from browsing to buying, by the intriguing title and by one of the cover reviews which was from Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo, a stunning novel that gifted me an insight into the desperate plight of refugees. The cover quote simply says ‘breathtaking’ but the inside sleeve gives a fuller ...

Today’s Caller

I’ve always been good at recognising voices; faces less so; names hopeless, but voices, they’re my thing.

I close my eyes and relax, just letting the voice fill my head, then a face appears, sometimes instantly, sometimes taking a few minutes, like I have to drag the picture forward from some rusty old drawer in the filing cabinet of my mind. But if I’ve heard the...

A-Wassailing We Will Go

“Do you want to come wassailing at the village orchard on Saturday afternoon?”

Our neighbour has his head through the open dining room window, his elbows resting on the sills. It’s his habitual communication method, our window being on the direct path to his vehicles and the woodshed. We stare blankly. He grins. He loves it when he baffles us with yet another local tradition. Since we moved in, it’s become his favourite hobb...

Merry Christmas!

A short seasonal message from me to you, along with a Christmas extract from The Banana Road.Have a fabulous Christmas!Andy x

 

The post Merry Christmas! appeared first on andrea montgomery.

A Black Fox Running, Brian Carter

I really don’t know what made me take copy of A Black Fox Running by Brian Carter off the shelf in Waterstones, I think it must have been the sleek, midnight blue cover with its gold embossed branches encircling the silhouette of a fox that called to my imagination.

The cover accolades talked of ‘…strange, mesmeric power’; ‘A breathtakingly beautiful novel’, and ‘…lost classic of nature writin...

My Initiation into the Local WI

I stare at the paper:

Where Refined People Live

All Sorts of Girls

Belly Dancers perhaps?

The theme of the quiz is sweets, or candy as Americans refer to it, and my 18yr absence from the UK and its associated sweets and chocolates market, is placing me at a distinct disadvantage. I have no idea what’s supposed to go in the blank ‘answer’ square alongside each stat...

Venus in Blue Jeans

I’m sitting on the circular bed, watching Mum as she applies her make-up in the huge mirror with its halo of light bulbs. This room is full of mirrors; one whole wall consists of mirrored doors which lead to the dressing room and en suite bathroom. There’s a huge mirror on the ceiling, above the bed; when I lie down and look up I can see myself and it makes me dizzy.

Mum brushes her cheeks and they darken to shadow making her face look thinner, sharper. Then she paints he...

The Castaways, Lucy Clarke

I was browsing the ‘Buy one get one half price’ books on Waterstones’ tables when the assistant picked up a copy of The Castaways by Lucy Clarke and said: “If you’re looking for a good page-turner, I could hardly put this one down.” Well who doesn’t like a recommendation from someone whose opinion you think is probably okay?

And he was spot-on.

Narrated in paral...

The Double-O Mystery

“Have you seen the double blank anywhere?”
“The double what?”
“The double blank.”
“What does it look like?”
“Nothing, it’s blank.”
“Are you takin’ the piss?”
“There’s no need to be crude, it was a perfectly reasonable question.” George shakes his head slowly in disdain at Dick’s response and shuffles his way back to his room.

“Ignorant oaf” he mutters as he takes out a list of names and scrolls down it, using his finger as...

Resurrecting My Creative Writing

Reluctant creativity

After months of being embroiled in ‘the day job’, a lull in deadlines has allowed my thoughts to turn to writing fiction, something I haven’t done since The Banana Road was published back in May. Unfortunately, my creative writing doesn’t respond well to being switched off and on like a tap. If I spend long periods of time travel writing and producing copy for travel websi...