The Saxon Tapestry / A Saxon Tapestry

I thought I would let you all know that there is life in an old dog - never despair and believe that books die. They can be resurrected.

In the eighties I wrote a novel called "The Saxon Tapestry" that was published by Robert Hale Limited. Since the rights have reverted to me, I decided to publish again in e-book (and perhaps paperback format). I did some work on the book but the story is much the same and it will be published next week as "A Saxon Tapestry"
I am not sure why I altered the title, just one of those things that flew into my head. I like to think that The/A/Saxon Tapestry is still a Hale book - the copy is sitting on my shelf even now, and in pristine condition. Although I do rather prefer the new cover, which is beautiful and just a little mysterious.

Cheers!

APRIL AND MAY

The cover of my new story [published on 31st May] shows sunset over Constantinople.
It is May 1804 and Tom Hawkesleigh is engaged on urgent secret business for the Sultan. The last thing he needs is for three English ladies to arrive at the embassy, demanding help, especially when he finds that one of them is Rose, the girl he has been trying to forget.
Rose is no better pleased to meet up with Tom, the man who abandoned her.
But life in Constantinople is bewildering and dangerous. And the Sultan's chief minister, Kerim Pasha, draws Rose into the secret plan. Danger follows even when Rose returns to London. Tom is desperate to help but she remains fiercely independent. Yet, underneath, as she discovers what drove Tom away four years previously, all her barriers come down. But by this time it may well be too little too late...

Istanbul [as Constantinople is now called] is a magical city and one I've been visiting for over forty years. One day, while crossing the Bosphorus in an 'ordinary' ferry boat, I saw a small wooden caique with red and gold cloth draped over the cabin and being rowed by a dozen sturdy young men in traditional costume with sleeveless red jackets. It's a tourist attraction and costly, but it must be a wonderful experience to glide from Europe to Asia in such a way. Of course, I had to make use of a caique in my story.

Having a Turkish husband, I've been fortunate to experience much hospitality in many homes and many different regions of Turkey. I've tried to convey the sheer kindness of the welcome they give to visitors.

Lady Farquhar's Butterfly

My latest Regency Historical, Lady Farquhar’s Butterfly will be published on May 31.

You can read the synopsis below.

Falsely branded an adulteress and separated from her child by her vengeful late husband, Lady Olivia Farquhar unexpectedly discovers a deep and mutual love for her son's guardian, Max Atherton.

But happiness with Max can never be possible when Olivia is blackmailed into a union with her late husband's confessor. Unaware of the sinister motives behind the reverend's desire to make her his wife, or of Max's efforts to clear her sullied name, Olivia is bereft of hope. Can Max turn things around in time?

Where will it end up?

There has been some interesting facts and figures emerging about e-books, self publishing, self promotion and the possible demise of small publishers if they don't respond to the so called 'revolution' in publishing, that it leaves me wondering if the web is little more than overkill, and the promised revolution will not happen. Like many of us, I presume, I have tried to use the web to promote my books. I've joined Squidoo, Twitter, Facebook, International Thriller Writers and set up my own website (three different sites at different times) plus my own blog. Result? The only people who regularly write to me are the spammers! Everything else turns out to be a damp squib. In the last eight months or so, I have had about five, genuine contacts through my web page and blog. When I look at the Hale Blog, the last entry was April 10th. It's now May 6th. This leads me to think that we are suffering from web fatigue. So will the web revolution take off and leave small publishers like Hale to suffer the consequences? And if we authors embark on self publishing and self promotion on the web, will we really make any difference? It would be interesting to know what others think. After all, we're all in the same boat.