A Line of Blood by Ben McPherson

You find your neighbour dead in his bath.
Your son is with you. He sees everything.

You discover your wife has been in the man’s house.
It seems she knew him.

Now the police need to speak to you.

One night turns Alex Mercer’s life upside down. He loves his family and he wants to protect them, but there is too much he doesn’t know.

He doesn’t know how the cracks in his and Millicent’s marriage have affected their son, Max. Or how Millicent’s bracelet came to be under the neighbour’s bed. He doesn’t know how to be a father to Max when his own world is shattering into pieces.

Then the murder investigation begins…

A Line of Blood by Ben McPherson is published in hardback and ebook by Harper Collins on 26 March 2015, and is the author's debut novel.

Scottish Alex, his American wife Millicent and their eleven-year-old son Max live in an area of Finsbury Park, London that is known as 'Crappy'. Alex and Millicent married quickly thirteen years ago, they both work from home in the media industry. From the outside they appear to be a regular, modern family. They are untidy, they swear in front of their son, they spend time apart, but on the whole, things seem to be going well.

Until the day that Alex and Max find their next door neighbour dead in his bath, with an erection, and an electric iron submerged alongside him. Alex's initial thoughts are for Max, no father wants his young son exposed to that sort of thing, what will it do to him? It soon becomes apparent that this is no straightforward suicide, the police are looking for a murderer, and Alex discovers that Millicent and the dead man had a little more than the usual neighbourly relationship.

As the investigations continue and the police question Alex and Millicent, more truths are uncovered. Max knows much more about his parents than they realised, he's an astute little boy, at times he shows intelligence and maturity far beyond his years, whilst at others, his childish reasoning is at the forefront.

Every now and again, a story comes along that grips me, shakes me and totally messes with my head. A Line of Blood is one of those books. With the exception of Max, and maybe Alex's friend Fab5, we are introduced to a bunch of particularly loathesome and selfish characters, whose actions create waves affecting those around them. The author's ability to create these people, yet to also ensure that the reader finds them compulsive enough to continue reading is incredible. I was hooked totally, the plot weaves and twists and turns with an increasing pace. Just when you feel as though you've guessed exactly what has happened, Ben McPherson throws another curve ball your way, and another, and another.

The central theme of A Line of Blood is the damage that can be done to young minds, not intentionally, for Alex and Millicent are loving and open parents, but their young son has seen and heard things that no child of that age should. Max thinks he understands these things, but he also thinks that he has a solution, he wants to help and to make things better - and despite his above average intelligence, he is is still a child, and it is his child-like reasoning that consumes this novel.

This is not an easy read, and it is dark and it is disturbing, but Ben McPherson has such a talent that he holds the reader entralled through each and every unsavoury episode, raising questions along the way, questions that will buzz in the reader's head long after turning the final page.

A Line of Blood is a complex, subtle and captivating psychological thriller, with characters who are flawed, dangerous and at times incredibly vulnerable.

My thanks to Lovereading.co.uk who sent my copy for review.

Ben McPherson is a television producer, director, and writer. He studied Modern Languages at King’s College, Cambridge, and worked for many years in film and television production. From 1998 to 2007 Ben worked as a director and producer for the BBC.

Ben currently lives in Oslo with his wife and son. He has lived in Norway since 2012 and speaks the language fluently. He is the features editor of the Norwegian internet newspaper TheForeigner.no, and is a columnist for Aftenposten, Norway’s leading quality daily newspaper.

Ben’s first novel, A LINE OF BLOOD, was sold at auction to Julia Wisdom at HarperCollins as part of a two-book deal. It is due to be published in the UK in Spring 2015. Dutch and Italian rights were pre-empted at Frankfurt by Luitingh-Sijthoff and Rizzoli. 

Things We Never Said by Susan Elliot Wright

In 1964 Maggie wakes to find herself in a psychiatric ward, not knowing who she is or why she has been committed. 

She slowly begins to have memories of a storm and of a man called Jack and slowly the pieces of the past begin to come together... 

In 2008 Jonathan is struggling to put his differences with his parents aside to tell them he and his wife are expecting a baby, when a detective arrives to question him about crimes committed long ago... 

And as these two tales interweave, the secrets of the past, long kept hidden, start to come to light in unexpected and sometimes startling ways. T 

he Things We Never Said is a powerful novel about fatherhood and motherhood; nature and nurture; cruelty and kindness; and mental breakdown. 

Written in beautiful, compelling prose, it is by turns revealing, witty and moving.

The Things We Never Said by Susan Elliot Wright was published in paperback by Simon & Schuster in May 2013 and is the author's debut novel.

I have a lot of books. I have a lot of books to review, and sometimes the books that I've chosen and bought myself get put to one side so that I can keep up with my review copies. Every now and again I decide that I'm going to pick out a book that has been on my shelf for far too long; a book that I haven't promised to review. The Things We Never Said  has been on the shelf for well over a year, probably closer to two years. I am so so glad that I finally got around to reading it, I have been totally swept up by this wonderful story, it's just gorgeous.

The Things We Never Said is a story told in two voices and during the prologue the reader finds themselves in 2009 on a cold, wet and windy day. This is a gentle introduction, with flash backs to the past that really sets the pace for the story that follows.

The first voice of the story is Jonathan; a teacher, a father-to-be. Jonathan is a complex and worried character, his memories of childhood are not happy, he is struggling to know how to tell his ageing and controlling father that he is to be a grandfather. Jonathan's world changes beyond recognition, it happens so fast, with work problems and family issues, a visit from a policeman who is investigating crime that were committed over forty years ago is a huge shock, and one that will change his past, and his future.

The story goes back to 1964; Maggie is a confused and scared woman, she's locked up in a psychatric hospital, taking tablets, undergoing electric shock treatment. Maggie cannot remember why she is there, what happened to her?  One small incident sparks off the beginning of Maggie's recollections, and as she gradually remembers her past, the reader accompanies her on her painful and traumatic journey.

At first, it is difficult to see how Maggie and Jonathan's lives can be connected, but as Susan Elliot Wright gently and carefully relays their individual stories, the links between them are uncovered.

The Things We Never Said is elegantly intriguing, the writing is passionate and authentic, the characters have flaws, yet are so very human. The sharp contrasts between the 1960s and the present day are clear, and fit together quite perfectly.

Susan Elliot Wright has explored many themes within this novel; the shock and shame of illegitimacy during the 60s; the pressures and political correctness of the modern-day teaching profession. The story centres on loss and deceit and the title is so very apt, for many people, certainly the lead characters in this story, it is the things that are not said that can have such a long-lasting and damaging effect on lives, and on futures.

There is a quote from author Veronica Henry on the cover of The Things We Never Said, she says "if you love Maggie O'Farrell, you will love this".  I'm usually not so keen on comparisons and Maggie O'Farrell is a fabulous author, I was worried that comparing this debut novel with such an accomplished and successful author was a big big ask. However, I am delighted to say that I agree with Veronica Henry. Susan Elliot Wright has produced a superb story, she writes beautifully. I loved every page.



Susan Elliot Wright grew up in Lewisham in south-east London, left school at sixteen and married unwisely at eighteen. She didn't begin to pursue her childhood dream of writing until she left her unhappy marriage and went to university at the age of thirty. After gaining a degree in English, she decided to choose a new name, and began flicking through the phone book for ideas. She settled on Elliot and changed her name by deed poll. Then she met 'Mr Right' (actually, Mr Wright) to whom she is now happily married. 
She has an MA in Writing from Sheffield Hallam University, where is now an Associate Lecturer. Several of her short stories have won or been shortlisted for awards, and one of these, 'Day Tripper', was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

To find out more, visit her website www.susanelliotwright.com
Follow her on Twitter @sewelliot

GALAXY® QUICK READS 2015

Roddy Doyle and JoJo Moyes add short stories to the GALAXY^® Quick Reads series, helping people to rediscover the pleasure of reading

On 4 February 2015, six new GALAXY^® Quick Reads books written by renowned authors will launch, aimed at helping adults across the UK rediscover the pleasure of reading.

Priced at just £1, the GALAXY^® Quick Reads titles are the same as mainstream books in every respect but simply shorter and easier to tackle for adults who are either less confident in their reading skills or over time have become lapsed readers.  Previous high profile authors who have penned Galaxy Quick Reads titles include Jeffrey Archer, Lynda La Plante and Andy McNab.  

Founded in 2006, the Quick Reads initiative was launched to help the country’s one in six adults of working age who have difficulty reading, as well as the one in three adults who do not read for pleasure.  Through demonstrating that books and reading can be for everyone, Quick Reads has now distributed over 4.3million books to libraries, workplaces, hospitals, schools, parents, family groups and even prisons, where literacy continues to be significantly low.

2015 will see another bumper crop of well known and much loved writing talent join the Quick Reads authors before them.  This year’s participating authors are Roddy Doyle, Jojo Moyes, Sophie Hannah, Fanny Blake, Adèle Geras and James Bowen.  Between them, their Quick Reads titles cover a range of different themes from a holiday romance to a true story based on a homeless man and his cat.

The 2015 Quick Reads titles 

Dead Man Talking by Roddy Doyle

Pat had been best friends with Joe Murphy since they were kids. But years ago they had a fight . A big one. And they haven’t spoke since – until the day before Joe’s funeral. What? On the day before his funeral Joe would be dead, wouldn’t he? Yes he would…

Paris for Two One by JoJo Moyes

Nell is twenty-six and has never been to Paris. She has never even been on a weekend away with her boyfriend. Everyone knows she is just not the adventurous type. But, when her boyfriend doesn’t turn up for their romantic mini-break, Nell has the chance to prove everyone wrong. Alone in Paris, could this turn out to be the most adventurous weekend of her life?

Pictures Or It Didn’t Happen by Sophie Hannah

After Chloe and her daughter Freya are rescued from disaster by a man who seems too good to be true, Chloe decides she must find him again to thank him. But instead of meeting her knight in shining armour, she comes across a woman called Nadine Caspian who warns her to stay well away from him. The man is dangerous, Nadine claims, and a compulsive liar. Alarmed, Chloe asks her what she means, but Nadine will say no more. Chloe knows that the sensible choice would be to walk away – after all, she doesn’t know anything about this man. But she is curious. What could Nadine have meant? And can Chloe find out the truth without putting herself and her daughter in danger?

Red for Revenge by Fanny Blake

Maggie is married with two grown-up children. Her twenty-five year old marriage to Phil has lost is sparkle. Carla is widowed. She understands life is short so she lives it to the full.  But is her new romance all that it seems? When the two women meet in the beauty salon, they soon find they have more in common than the colour of their nails… The discovery that they are sharing the same man is shocking. How will he be taught a lesson or two he won’t forget?

Out of the Dark by Adèle Geras

Rob Stone comes back from the horrors of the First World War with a ruined face and a broken heart. Lonely, unable to forget the things he has seen, and haunted by the ghost of his dead Captain, all that Rob has left is a picture of the Captain’s family.  Rob sets out to find them, hoping by giving them the picture, he can bring peace to the Captain’s ghost – and to his own troubled heart.

Street Cat Bob by James Bowen

When James Bowen found an injured street cat in the hallway of his sheltered housing, he had no idea just how much his life was about to change. James had been living on the streets of London and the last thing he needed was a pet. Yet James couldn’t resist the clever tomcat, whom he quickly named Bob. 

Galaxy chocolate is a main sponsor for Quick Reads and is committed to supporting the work that Quick Reads does to improve adult literacy skills and encourage the uptake of reading 

Quick Reads was launched in 2006. It commissions, publishes and distributes short books by big name authors to help get people reading

Since its launch, Quick Reads has distributed over 4.3m books and there have been over 3.5m library loans

Quick Reads is a World Book Day initiative to support literacy and reading amongst adults

Arts Council England support Quick Reads. It believes that the arts have the power to change lives and communities, and to create opportunities for people throughout the country

Over the past nine years, Quick Reads has introduced millions of people to the pleasure of picking up a book by providing short, books by bestselling writers.

For more information visit www.quickreads.org.uk

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The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer

She is the missing girl. But she doesn't know she's lost.

Carmel Wakeford becomes separated from her mother at a local children's festival, and is found by a man who claims to be her estranged grandfather. He tells her that her mother has had an accident and that she is to live with him for now. As days become weeks with her new family, 8-year-old Carmel realises that this man believes she has a special gift...

While her mother desperately tries to find her, Carmel embarks on an extraordinary journey, one that will make her question who she is - and who she might become.

The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer is published by Faber & Faber in hardback on 5 March 2015 and is the author's debut novel.

This book is one of those that needs to be read in huge chunks, just a few pages here and there does not work. It took me quite a while to get totally immersed into this story as I just didn't have time to sit down and lose myself in it and so the first few chapters were snatched reads. When I finally got the opportunity to have a couple of hours reading time I soon became wholly involved in the lives of Beth and Carmel.

The author has taken a huge gamble by attempting to tell this story in two very distinct voices, and although both Beth and Carmel have a sort of other-wordly feel about them, Kate Hamer has succeeded in creating two characters who really do come alive, who are realistic and are consistent.

Carmel is eight years old, she lives with her mother Beth. Beth is struggling with life as a single mother, she wants to do her very best for Carmel, she wants to make sure that her small daughter has everything that she wants, but it's not easy. Carmel is a bright and questioning young child, she has an awareness that makes her appear for more mature than her years and often displays frustration towards her mother.

Beth and Carmel visit a children's festival, the event is crowded with tents and stalls and attractions and Carmel's frustration at not being allowed to wander freely grows. Beth worries that she will lose Carmel in the crowd, after all it wouldn't be the first time that she has wandered off alone. When Beth's fears become reality and she searches for a glimpse of that red coat, the story really begins.

The reader follows both Beth and Carmel through the following five years as Carmel crosses continents and matures and Beth lives in hope, blaming herself and questioning everything and everyone.

The Girl in the Red Coat is a difficult book to define, not that I think every book has to be labelled, not at all. The story is one of difficult family relationships, especially the mother-daughter bond with its complexities, dangers and unconditional love. It can also be seen as a coming-of-age story, albeit in a unusual manner; Carmel's voice matures throughout the story, growing with her as her world expands.  There is the mystery element and a splash of crime thriller too.

Complex, clever, unusual and incredibly well-crafted, The Girl in the Red Coat is a story that will stay in the reader's head for quite a while after the last page is turned. I enjoyed this but will admit that there were times when I found it just a little hard going, especially at the beginning when I struggled with the two very separate voices. I have questions about the final chapter, but I know that many readers will be incredibly pleased with the outcome - I'd certainly be interested to read the author's thoughts on what happens next.

My thanks to Sophie from Faber & Faber who sent my copy for review.



Kate Hamer grew up in Pembrokeshire. She did a Creative Writing MA at Aberystwyth University and the Curtis Brown Creative novel-writing course. She won the Rhys Davies short story award in 2011 and her winning story was read out on BBC Radio 4. She has recently been awarded a Literature Wales bursary. She lives in Cardiff with her husband and two children.  The Girl in the Red Coat (March 2015) is her first novel.

The New Arrival by Sarah Beeson MBE

‘I hadn’t been in Hackney for 24 hours but I knew that the way I saw life and people had changed forever. There was such goodness here but there was a sadness I had never imagined before, and it wasn’t even lunchtime yet …’

On a hot summer’s day in 1969, fresh-faced 17 year old Nurse Sarah Hill arrives at Hackney General Hospital in London’s East End.

Battered suitcase in hand, she takes eager steps in her white calf-length Mary Quant boots towards the towering sandy-grey building of the Nurses’ Home. Looking up at the rows and rows of little windows, full of nervous excitement, she couldn’t have guessed just what she was getting herself into …

It’s the end of the swinging sixties, Britain is changing and the everyday life of the nurses and patients plays out against a backdrop of a failing government, strikes, immigration and women’s lib. Nurse Sarah Hill, together with her companions; the serious minded, politicised Maddox, the quick witted Lynch, who falls in love with an upper crust young doctor, golden girl Nursery Nurse Appleton, and ex-musical hall star turned midwife Wade are thrown in straight at the deep end, working long hours with few days off under the watchful eye of the stern matron.

More than just a hospital, Hackney General was part of the community just as much as the Adam & Eve pub the staff frequent. A place where the poorly children of Hackney were nursed to health, a place where young nurses would discover just want they wanted from life, fall in love with shy photographers and grow into women. But it’s not all smooth sailing in Hackney: for every baby that goes home to its loving family another is abandoned, unloved, or never gets to go home at all.

Funny, warm and deeply moving, Sarah Beeson’s poignant memoir captures both the heartache and happiness of hospital life and 1970s London through the eyes of a gentle but determined young nurse.

The New Arrival by Sarah Beeson MBE was published by Harper Collins in paperback in March 2014.

Although the majority of books that I read are fiction, I do try to read at least a couple of non-fiction every month; usually biographies.
I'm not a nurse, but have spent a lot of time around nurses in my life. I worked at a psychiatric hospital for many years, and my long-term medical condition has meant that I've been cared for by a wide assortment of nurses over the years. I have the greatest respect for the nursing profession, and have a particular fondness for books and TV programmes, both fiction and reality that concentrate on this subject.
I was really interested to read Josie's review of The New Arrival at Jaffa Reads Too as Josie herself was a nurse and I felt that her experiences would flavour her feelings on this book. Josie really enjoyed it and I can honestly say that I've really loved reading about Sarah's experiences too.

Sarah was only seventeen-years-old when she arrived as a student nurse at Hackney General Hospital. Sarah was well-educated, from a fairly wealthy family, and London's East End was a whole new world for her. The fact that she stayed and completed her training when so many other students left is an indication of her strength of character and commitment to nursing that shines through her writing in this quite poignant and eye-opening memoir.

Times have changed within the NHS so much since Sarah's training in the early 1970s; changed for women, changed for nursing as a whole, and changed for the patient. Long gone are the Matrons who ruled with a rod of steel, yet many of the problems within society are still with us, some would say that these are worsening. In the days of unheated houses and poverty, many of the illnesses that Sarah treated were to be expected, yet some of these illnesses and problems remain with us today, exacerbated by the financial crisis and difficult choices such as 'heating or eating' experienced by so many.

The New Arrival is a real joy to read. Sarah writes with warmth and humour about her experiences, and yes, about her successes. Her determination to ensure that she used her training for the best of others, rather than just for herself is palpable, and we as patients should remember and be grateful to all of those dedicated health workers who continue, against the odds, to provide such a magnificent service to us.

Historical, funny and memorable; The New Arrival is well written memoir, I enjoyed it very much.

My thanks to the publisher, Harper Collins who sent my copy for review.

In 1969, 17-year-old Sarah arrived in Hackney in the East End of London to begin her nursing career. Six years later she went into health visiting, practising for over 35 years in Kent and Staffordshire, and building up a lifetime's expertise and stories through working with babies and families. In 1998 Sarah received the Queen’s Institute for Nursing Award and in 2006 was awarded an MBE for Services to Children and Families by Queen Elizabeth II. She divides her time between Staffordshire and London.

For more information about Sarah, visit her website www.sarahbeeson.org
Find her on Facebook
Follow her on Twitter @NewArrivalBook 

The Ties That Bind by Erin Kelly

Could a soul, once sold, truly be redeemed?

Luke is a true crime writer in search of a story. When he flees to Brighton after an explosive break-up, the perfect subject lands in his lap: reformed gangster Joss Grand. Now in his eighties, Grand once ruled the Brighton underworld with his sadistic sidekick Jacky Nye - until Jacky washed up by the West Pier in 1968, strangled and thrown into the sea. Though Grand's alibi seems cast-iron, Luke is sure there's more to the story than meets the eye, and he convinces the criminal-turned-philanthropist to be interviewed for a book about his life.

Luke is drawn deeper into the mystery of Jacky Nye's murder. Was Grand there that night? Is he really as reformed a character as he claims? And who was the girl in the red coat seen fleeing the murder scene? Soon Luke realises that in stirring up secrets from the past, he may have placed himself in terrible danger.

The Ties That Bind by Erin Kelly was published by Hodder in paperback on 29 January 2014, the hardback was published last year.

The prologue draws the reader in with bang as we find Luke in a desperate situation and fearful for his life, and then, all of a sudden Erin Kelly leaves the scene, and the reader hanging and goes back to begin Luke's story.

At first I was raging; I didn't want to go back, I wanted to know what was happening now, how could the author do this?  As I read on, I realised that this is Erin Kelly's strength; she builds up scenes, and characters with the greatest of ease, creating heart-stopping moments and uneasy tension along the way.

Luke is a writer. His career is stalling, the magazine he wrote for has folded and  his big story was snatched away from him by the lure of more money and fame. That's the price that Luke pays for writing about true crime, he has to deal with true criminals who think nothing of double-crossing him.
Working in a bar with his friend Viggo, Luke meets Jem; well-dressed, obviously wealthy and newly out. Jem and Luke soon become lovers, but the comfort and money aren't enough to disguise Jem's controlling behaviour and Luke flees to Brighton.

Luke's nose for a story soon finds him entrenched in the world of Brighton in the 60s. He is intrigued by Joss Grand and the unsolved murder of Jacky Nye that happened in 1968. Luke is certain that Grand's story could be the one that propels him to fame and fortune as an author and becomes determined to find out the truth, and to track down the only known witness to the event.
As Luke becomes more and more involved in the seedy dealings of old-school gangsters, his own life spirals more and more out of control, for although he has left Jem in London, his ex-lover is becoming increasingly obsessed and unstable.

Unlike many authors who set their novels around this era, Erin Kelly does not glamourise the events, her plot is tight, filled with mean and cruel villains who are as authentic as they are intimidating. Both modern-day and 1960s Brighton becomes a character within its own right, with the sleazy clubs, the terraced houses and the iconic pier.

Luke is a likeable but insular character, he appears intelligent and bright, yet acts on the spur of the moment, often appearing gullible and accepting. At heart, he is a good man and seems to crave friendship and protection from those that he meets. All of the characters within The Ties That Bind are expertly created, and I had a special fondness for Sandy who lives her Miss Haversham existence in her large house surrounded by newspaper cuttings.

The author's skill shines through in the way that she dots red herrings throughout the plot, turning the reader's assumptions and beliefs right around as the story twists and turns itself to the explosive ending. This is thriller writing at the highest level, edge of the seat stuff that will leave the reader exhausted by the end.

My thanks to Bookbridgr and Hodder who sent my copy for review.

Erin Kelly is the author of the critically acclaimed psychological thrillers The Poison Tree, The Sick Rose and The Burning Air. In 2013, The PoisonTree became a major ITV drama starring MyAnna Buring, Matthew Goode and Ophelia Lovibond. It was a Richard & Judy Summer Read in 2011, and was longlisted for the 2011 CWA John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger Award. The novel has been translated into eleven languages. The Ties That Bind was her fourth novel, and was followed in August by Broadchurch: The Novel, inspired by the first season of 2013's mega-hit ITV series. 

She was born in London in 1976 and grew up in Essex, read English at Warwick University and has been working as a journalist since 1998, writing for newspapers including The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Express and The Mirror, and magazines including Red, Psychologies, Marie Claire and Elle. She lives in north London with my husband and daughters.

For more information about Erin Kelly and her books, see her website, www.erinkelly.co.uk : she also has a Facebook author page, and you can follow her on Twitter @mserinkelly

Random Recommendations ~ Bernardine Kennedy

 Random Recommendations

Random Recommendations is an occasional feature on the blog.

My recommendations may be a particular author, or a series of books.  I may recommend a particular publisher, or quite possibly, something is not book related at all.

I hope you enjoy these random recommendations.

I've been reading for as long as I can remember, but have only kept a record of the books that I've read since the beginning of 2001.  On my list there are some authors whose names pop up repeatedly, these are authors that I love, whose books I read as soon as they are released.

One of my all-time favourite authors is Bernardine Kennedy. I've read all of her books, and recommend them to everyone, but for some reason, she isn't as well known as she should be. She writes modern fiction with very strong female lead characters, the stories are gritty, realistic and often draw on her own life experiences.

Here's Bernardine's biography, taken from her website www.bernardinekennedy.com

" So, everyone asks……how did I start writing? What was it that set me on the road? It's difficult to say, but I'm sure it was because I spent huge chunks of my formative years abroad because my father worked first in Singapore and then in Nigeria. The constant travelling back and forth, changing schools and therefore changing friends, contributed. There were always friends that I really liked, that I wanted to stay in touch with and, in those days before long distance cheap phone calls and speedy e.mails, that only left the good old skill of letter writing.

This was always, as far back as I can remember, combined with a great love of reading. I started with Beatrix Potter and Enid Blyton 'progressing over many years to my current favourites Harlan Coben and Cathy Reichs via the likes of Harold Robbins, Jean Plaidy, Jackie Collins and Jeffrey Archer, to mention but a few. I avidly read anything and everything that I could lay my hands on. In fact I still do and I firmly believe that reading is vital to becoming a writer.

Apart from the odd attempt at fiction that never even got finished let alone sent anywhere, that's how it stayed until, following three miscarriages and a lack of available information on the subject I thought, 'I know, I'll write the book'! (Naïve or what???) Anyway I set to it and spent months and months gathering all the information only to realise that, despite mountains of notes, cuttings and letters, I hadn't got a clue how to set it all out in a workable format.

When I saw an advert in 1989 for an Ad-Ed writing class off I went for the sole purpose of learning how to put a book together. However, as always, I got side-tracked en route! A published magazine feature and the accompanying cheque set me on a completely different road. General features and interviews progressed to travel features and, eventually, to THE NOVEL.

The years of writing features must have served me well because my very first book was quickly accepted by first an agent and then a publisher and here I am now. It's been a long and winding road with many a detour on the way but now I'm there! I'm an author.

From school girl letter writing to published author via, air-hostessing, teaching, social work and anything else that brought in the cash, not to mention marriage, children and divorce.

I've got there at last and I'm loving every minute of it. The non-fiction tome never made it out of the mountain of filing boxes but I keep them all as a souvenir! "

Bernardine has written seven novels. My favourites are Taken and My Sister's Keeper (not to be mixed up with the novel that was turned into a film, written by a very famous Canadian author, and in my opinion Bernardine's story is far superior!).


Everything Is Not Enough (September 2000):  When Louise Jermaine's adored father returns to Barbados, she grows up fast with little help from her selfish, depressive mother. Her best friend's home offers some sanctuary - until her step-father hurts her so deeply that she vows to escape from her past for ever. Just fifteen, she reinvents herself as Angie Kavanagh and begins a new life. Discovering a talent for journalism, she becomes a top celebrity interviewer. Years later, she is invited to examine the life of spoilt supermodel and It-girl Rebekah Alari. Angie sees that despite having all the advantages she lacked, Rebekah's life is not as glamorous as she pretends. She, too, hides some secret about her past. Angie seems at last to have found happiness, but her life is littered with emotional obstacles. She can't reveal her true self, even to her lover, and she finds it impossible to leave the past behind...



My Sister's Keeper (September 2001):  In 1975, Vietnamese orphan Cathy Carter arrives in England to begin a new life. Her childhood in the New Forest is idyllic, but when she is fifteen tragedy strikes. Her adoptive parents are killed in a fire, and she is left with her strange, uncommunicative adoptive twin sisters. Sad and lonely, Cathy joins a local theatre group, where she becomes besotted with one of the directors. Nico is forty, and very good-looking, but he preys on vulnerable young girls, and has set his sights on Cathy. She is petite and pretty, and she is due to inherit a fortune.  On her sixteenth birthday, Nico blackmails the twins into allowing Cathy to marry him. Their marriage soon turns sour, and after their daughter, Sammy-Jo, is born Cathy escapes with the child to Spain. But one day, Nico finds them...

Chain of Deception (January 2003):  Lucy Cooper seems to have it all - a smart, attractive PR consultant from a wealthy family, she thinks she has met her perfect match in Donovan, a fitness trainer with a body to die for. After a whirlwind romance, she and Donovan marry but it isn't long before Lucy realises that her new husband is nothing more than a self-obsessed fitness freak. Worse than that, beneath his tanned veneer there lies an ugly and increasingly violent temper.   Marriage to Donovan is turning Lucy into a nervous wreck, eating away at her confidence and putting her career, her health, even her sanity in jeopardy. Lucy knows that she has to make a break before he destroys her - and her loved ones - completely.    Hope comes in the form of Fergus Pearson, a Irish/Jamaican motorbike courier and aspiring actor. He's gentle, laid-back and kind - everything her husband isn't. They embark on an affair but a freak accident forces Lucy to make a discovery that will turn her whole world upside down...

Taken (January 2004):  At 36, Jessica Patterson thinks her life is happy and settled and that all is well in her marriage. She had met American Sheldon Patterson seven years previously when she was on holiday in the Caribbean and fallen for him instantly. Good looking and easy going as well as being financially secure, he was everything Jessie wanted in a husband.    For about eighteen months they lived in California where they had a son - Cameron James, nicknamed CJ - and it was the icing on the cake for them. They then moved back to the UK for Sheldon to try and expand the business. Jessie is besotted with her son and her life revolves around him, while Sheldon's work takes him overseas a lot. So when Sheldon announces one day that he is going to take CJ away for a few days to Disneyland in Paris - just the two of them, to 'bond' with his son - Jessie is persuaded to let them go. Her nightmare starts when they don't come back...

Old Scores (October 2005):  Maria Harman finds it hard to keep her intense and mixed-up emotions in check when it comes to her family. For things are anything but loving and harmonious in the Harman household. Her bullying and spiteful older brothers, Patrick and Joe, make her life as miserable as possible, encouraged by their mother, Finola, who believes her 'golden boys' can do no wrong. Maria is hardened to Finola's scorn and indifference but deep down craves her mother's love and can't understand why her mother chose to adopt her in the first place. Her only solace comes from her warm-hearted, slow-witted brother, Eddie, and browbeaten father Sam. But when the layers of deception that conceal Maria's true parentage are slowly broken away, the already dysfunctional family is thrown into chaos...

Past Chances (May 2007): Eleanor Rivington has always felt like an outsider. Abandoned by her mother and brought up in fear of her father, she's desperate to leave home and live like other girls in London in the seventies. When a barman from work invites her to share a flat with him and two of his friends, it is her chance to break free. But when Eleanor confronts her father the terrible tragedy that follows haunts her forever. And, despite the support of her new friends, Eleanor's life seems destined for further disappointment...

Shattered Lives (September 2008):  When they were orphaned at a young age, sisters Hannah and Julie had to learn to look after themselves. Years later and all grown up, Hannah, with her steady job and happy marriage, seems to have fallen on her feet. The same cant be said for Julie, however. First pregnant at fifteen, and now with three children from three different men and living with a serious drug addiction, she needs help. Its up to Hannah to step in, but in doing so she discovers, in the most devastating way, that her own life might not be so perfect after all

In 2012, Bernardine became Marie Maxwell, and has published three books under this new name. These books are regional sagas that follow the same characters through different eras. So, new name and new genre - but still compelling and excellent written stories. 




Ruby (June 2012): As a former evacuee, feisty Ruby is forced to fend for herself when she returns to her family in London.  Set in the aftermath of WW2, this gripping saga is richly evocative of the period and shows the true grit of our heroine Ruby. Home is where the heart is…    After having lived peacefully in Cambridgeshire as an evacuee, 15-year-old Ruby Blakeley is bought back to reality when her bully of a brother Ray comes to take her home to East London.      Far from being welcomed back with open arms, Ruby finds herself being treated as a skivvy by her widowed mother and subject to a tirade of taunts from her two brothers.       Things get worse when she becomes pregnant. Unable to tackle her family, Ruby runs away and makes a new start for herself in Southend. But she soon finds she can’t escape her past.






Gracie (April 2013): Can you ever escape your past?  Gracie McCabe is building a new life for herself in the Essex seaside town of Southend working alongside best friend Ruby; she’s put her past to rest and is planning her future.  All that is missing is a family of her own, Gracie desperately wants a baby so when boyfriend Sean proposes she accepts without hesitation.  But a chance meeting before the wedding gives her doubts and when old secrets come back to haunt her, it seems that Sean is not the rock of strength she expected him to be.  Will Gracie find her happy ever after or will she be betrayed and abandoned once again?







Maggie (January 2015):  1960s. Maggie Wheaton's life is almost perfect. Confident, bright and popular, she lives with her loving, wealthy parents in a close-knit Cambridgeshire village. But, just days after her sixteenth birthday, her world falls apart: an accident kills both her parents, and then she suffers the ultimate betrayal when she learns a life-changing family secret. Maggie has no choice but to go and live with her appointed guardian, Ruby Riordan, in the seaside town of Southend, where she sets out on a deliberate path of self-destruction. Will Ruby be able to save her from herself, or is it all too little too late?



Find out more about Bernardine, and Marie at her website www.bernardinekennedy.com

Find her on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @BerniKennedy


I really hope that you've enjoyed my first Random Recommendation.  I highly recommend all of these books - go on, give them a try - and come back and let me know what you think.