In Her Wake by Amanda Jennings *** BLOG TOUR ***

A tragic family event reveals devastating news that rips apart Bella's comfortable existence. 

Embarking on a personal journey to uncover the truth, she faces a series of traumatic discoveries that take her to the ruggedly beautiful Cornish coast, where hidden truths, past betrayals and a 25-year-old mystery threaten not just her identity, but her life.

Chilling, complex and profoundly moving, In Her Wake is a gripping psychological thriller that questions the nature of family - and reminds us that sometimes the most shocking crimes are committed closest to home.  

I'm thrilled to welcome everyone to the Blog Tour for In Her Wake by Amanda Jennings which was published by Orenda Books.  The ebook was available on 11 February, and the print paperback will be available on 7 April 2016.

I was lucky enough to read a very early pre-publication copy of  In Her Wake  and stayed up until the very early hours to make sure that I finished it, it is gripping and I loved every page. I posted my full review of In Her Wake here on Random Things in January 2016. Here's a snippet from my review, please click on the link above if you'd like to read my full thoughts:

"In Her Wake is psychologically chilling, but it is also a beautifully observed story of a story of self-discovery. Amanda Jennings' words are alluring, persuasive and so incredibly elegant, the reader is carried along effortlessly into Bella's world. Her characters scream with realism, her settings are well observed and precise, and the insight into the human mind and the power of family relationships is both unsettling and convincing."

                                            

I really honoured to have Amanda here as a guest today on Random Things, she's written a piece about the road to becoming a published author, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did.

It's All A Bit Bananas

" The story of route to becoming a published author isn't unusual. There were no headline-worthy six figure sums, no ravenous editors scrapping over my book at auction, but there were a number of long, and sometimes lonely, years of bringing up babies and writing whenever they fell asleep or got the Lego out. There was a first book written. Then the second. (The first crashed and burned). The trawling through the Writer's Yearbook in search of a suitable (read 'any') agent, agonising over evil (still so evil) synopses, the excessive printing of chapters and introductory letters, and remortgaging to cover postage. Then there was the awful wait before rejection letters fell like confetti through the door. There was the email from Intern8@wellknownagency.co.uk (Intern EIGHT?! Not even Intern 1, 2 or 3), a two line message with two spelling mistakes, saying, thank you this wasn't what they were looking for but good luck anyway ...

We all know rejection is part and parcel of the process, that all writers go through it, that Harry Potter was rejected by everybody, and knowing this helps for a bit, but as much as I reminded myself that this was normal, the barrage of rejection began to get to me. I could feel my confidence ebbing and I was pretty low. But then there came a ray of light. Well, two actually. Two agents asked to read the rest of my manuscript. One said my writing had a 'haunting quality'. The other liked my 'voice'. I was ecstatic again. (It's a good time to note here that this emotional alternation between extreme high and extreme low is something the would-be writer needs to become accustomed to.) Another excruciating wait followed before the two rejections appeared within days of each other. This was Tough with a capital T. However, through my tears I spied a blurry chink of hope. One of the agents said if I happened to do any work on the book she would take another look. I dried my eyes and wrote her a thank you letter (if I can pass any advice on it would be to send thank you letters. People like being thanked. Thank you is a greatly underused phrase in this industry considering its weight to impact ratio) and then did what any caring mother slash desperate author would do, I ignored the children for four months and rewrote the entire thing. Then I managed to pluck up the courage to contact the agent and asked if she was interested in seeing the rewrite. I explained that I had fed my three girls nothing but bananas - quick, nutritious, with no need for time-consuming washing up - for four months and that I was quite pleased with the result (of the rewrite as opposed to the neglected off-spring). She wrote back to say she would take a look, but only if I promised to feed my daughters.

Two weeks later an email appeared to say the bananas had been worth it and shortly after, over a pizza and a glass of wine, we signed a contract. It wasn't plain sailing after that - more rejection, more tears, a decision to abandon that book and write another one - but then finally I was offered a contract to publish Sworn Secret and then another for The Judas Scar. And now, eight years later, the book my agent said 'haunted' her, the book I rewrote in a frenzy of bananas and desperation, a book that has subsequently been rethought, rewritten, and renamed In Her Wake, is at last seeing the light of day, and I honestly couldn't be happier.

Amanda Jennings - March 2016 

Amanda Jennings made her literary debut with the internationally best selling novel Sworn Secret. Her second book, The Judas Scar, was optioned by a film and television production company shortly after release. 

She is fascinated by the ways people react to trauma and deal with its long-lasting effects, and also the complex relationships within a family unit. 

She used to work at the BBC, but now writes full-time and looks after her three daughters and a menagerie of animals.

She writes a popular blog and is a regular guest on BBC Berkshire's Book Club.

She enjoys running writing workshops, is a judge for the Henley Youth Festival creative writing competition, and is involved with the Womentoring Project, which offers free mentoring by professional literary women to talented up-and-coming female writers who might otherwise not have access to such an opportunity.

She is a regular speaker at festivals and book events, combining her childhood love of the stage with her love of writing.

She likes to be active, preferably beside the sea or at the top of a snow-covered mountain, and when she isn't writing she can usually be found walking her dog and enjoying the peace and solitude of the great outdoors.

Visit her website www.amandajennings.co.uk

Find her Author page on Facebook 

Follow her on Twitter @MandaJJennings

Praise for In Her Wake

'Hauntingly beautiful' ~ Clare Mackintosh

'Atmospheric and moving ...deserves to be a bestseller' ~ C L Taylor

'Thoughtful, atmospheric and deeply immersive, it wields an almost mesmeric power over the reader, from the first page to the last' ~ Hannah Beckerman

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