Jessica Blair – 10th December 2010
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Jessica Blair – paperbacks
There has been a change of date for the re-issue of the paperbacks of Jessica Blair’s first six novels.
THE RED SHAWL
A DISTANT HARBOUR
STORM BAY
THE RESTLESS SPIRIT
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER
THE SEAWEED GATHERERS
will now appear in their new covers on 10th December 2010.
Information about these and pictures of their covers appear on their individual entries on my blog.
Jessica Blair – The Seaweed Gatherers
Published on 10th December 2010 in paperback by Piatkus an imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group
1802
“the de Northbys owe you’
The dying words of Lucy Mitchell’s father make her determined to find out who they are and why her father should utter these words. Her determination to find out lead her to obtain employment as a seaweed gatherer for the alum works at Ravenscar, on the Yorkshire coast, owned by the de Northbys. Attempting to unravel a mystery of the past throws her into conflict with Zilpha, the spolt daughter of the de Northby family.
Jessica Blair – The Other Side Of The River
Published in paperback on 10th December 2010 by Piatkus, an imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group.
From a well-to-do family, Genetta Turner’s circumstances change when she defies her father. Amidst poverty she finds love but can that survive her burning ambition to return to the life she knew on the other side of the river?
Set in Whitby’s 19th Century thriving jet industry this is a heartwarming Yorkshire saga.
Jessica Blair – The Restless Spirit
Will a rift between two families ever be solved? Against the turbulent background of Fighter and Bomber Command, and the dangers of occupied France, lives and loves are tested to their upmost.
THE RESTLESS SPIRIT is published in paperback on 10th December 2010 by Piatkus, an imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group.
Susan Hill – The Small Hand
A new book on my bookshelves – THE SMALL HAND by a favourite author of mine — Susan Hill. I have just finished reading this which is subtitled A Ghost Story.
Susan Hill, as is evident not only from this one but also from her The Woman In Black, The Mist In The Mirror and The Man In The Picture, is a master with the ghost story. Writing in an easy simple style she nevertheless handles the words skilfully to convey unease and eerie atmosphere in everyday surroundings, yet makes everything so convincing. As with all these books she demonstrates her belief that a good ghost story should also carry a good narrative.
Try it, savour it – you’ll not regret doing so.
Jessica Blair – Storm Bay
STORM BAY reissued in paperback on 10th December 2010 by Piatkus an imprint of Little Brown Book Group.
A ruthless gang of smugglers operate out of Robin Hood’s Bay; pedlars working their trade across the wild Yorkshire Moors go missing. Emma Dugdale’s father becomes involved. She hopes Mark Roper recently returned to Whitby from London can help and save her father but unknown to her he is engaged on a secret mission.
A stirring tale set on the Yorkshire coast in the eighteenth century.
With towering cliffs guarding the bay, and a hilly and valley-marked hinterland, Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Yorkshire coast was ideally suit to smuggling. Access to the houses, climbing the cliff-side, was by narrow streets and passages, allowing easy means of transporting smuggled goods and giving those engaged in the trade good escape routes when pursued by government officials and Preventive Men. The atmosphere of these eighteenth and nineteenth century days can still be felt in this village today
Jessica Blair – The Red Shawl
A riveting story of Whitby’s nineteenth-century whaleships, the men who braved the perils of the Arctic and the women who waited their return. A romantic adventure; a story of ambition, intrigue and revenge.
Publication date is now 10th December 2010
Jessica Blair – A Distant Harbour
A stirring story of seafaring menand the women with the courage to love them.
Set in Whitby, Shetland, Nova Scotia, America and the Pacific.
Publication date is now 10th December 2010
RNA Meeting
4.30pm Just back from an RNA meeting – the monthly meeting of the Northern branch of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Informal, we nattered over lunch and then had a talk about the Gothic Novel by one of our members, Ruth Pattison, herself a successful Gothic novelist. Very interesting and enlightening. Had a good chat with Val Wood who like myself writes historical sagas set in Yorkshire. It was good to have Helene Wiggin back with us. She writes under the name of Leah Fleming. I have just read a review copy of her book Winter’s Children – a moving story linking the past with the present set in North Yorkshire where the secrets of an old house can only be unravelled by a child. Danger lurks when the past tries to impinge itself on the present in the midst of winter. An appropriet read for Christmas holidays or to enjoy any time. Curl up with it in front of a roaring fire.