Monthly Archives: September 2012

Jessica Blair and Scarborough

   I live about 40 miles from Scarborough and as it figures in some of my Jessica Blair novels I  include it as part of Jessica Blair Country. I visited Scarborough recently and watched a lively beach soccer match. That and  the fish and chips I enjoyed took me back to 2008 when  WINGS OF SORROW was published. Jane Harvey makes friends with Nell Franklin  and her family and friends through a game of soccer on the beach. The men are drifter-men making their way south to their home port of Lowestoft and have put into Scarborough to take a day at the Scarborough Cricket Festival. Friendships develop, lives become entwined and are tested to the limit in the tides of war that follow in the aftermath of 1939.

Letter Writing

I have just put on to one of my bookshelves KIND REGARDS,  by Liz Williams, sub-titled The Lost Art Of Letter Writing.  It is a pleasant, entertaining, factual book,  as you may guess it is about letter writing. It looks at the letter and its reason for its existence; it offers advice on the various forms of letter and how to write them and it looks at how we can learn from examples of letters from the past, love letters, letters in war time , letters in literature, farewell letters and so on. Lovely to dip into. For me it evoked memories of my father. He was the letter writer in the family. His letters, which he used to write weekly to several family members, were beautifully handwritten and were always full of news. He love penmanship and, as these were the days before computers and he ignored the typewriter, his handwritten letters were a joy to behold. I should try and emulate him and take up the pen but I could never match the beauty of his writing. I have to compose my letters on the computer otherwise they would be almost unreadable but I think I could match him with the dispersal of news. Thanks Dad and Mum for stimulating my interest in words so long ago. It led me into the wonderful world of writing books.

Fashion and writing

I recently found a second hand copy for £5 of  IN VOGUE: Six decades of fashion by Georgina Howell published by Allen Lane,  Penguin Books. It is in very good sound condition with a very good dust cover. It is the 1976 reprint of the first edition published in the same year. The text gives a run down on each decade but its pictures are its outstanding asset. As the sub title indicates, these deal with the fashions of each decade. For me, an author of fiction, who needs to describe dress to help give life to my characters, this is a wonderful addition to my bookshelves containing other works of reference to fashion. It is one of the delights of scouring second hand and antiquarian bookshops to find a gem.

 

New books

Publishing day in February for IN THE SILENCE OF THE SNOW gets nearer. A few days ago I finished checking the proof copy. With that out of the way I got back to my present novel,  titled A Tapestry of Dreams. I am 55,000 words into it. Another 45,000 to go. Thankfully it is flowing well at the moment and is not presenting any problems. Long may it remain that way.  Check my Blog out on my Website jessicablair.co.uk