Hello….Editor Des here. Well it’s all sport, sport, sport in our household at the moment, so I thought I would write a piece about a famous cricketer! By the way, the local coach once told me that I had a great future as twelfth man for Blackheath
Read more →THE GENESIS OF THE LAUNCH I hadn’t considered a separate launch for The Water Doctor’s Daughters in Australia, but a few months ago a generous offer came from Sydney’s Ashfield Library to do a book signing. It was to be part of their very popular ‘Authors
Read more →THE SOOTHING LINIMENT THAT COULD LEAD TO DEATH There is a chapter in my true crime book The Water Doctor’s Daughters titled; AS EASY AS ABC. The letters are a reference to a popular 19th century rubbing liniment made from three powerful, but potentially fatal compounds;
Read more →One of the true joys of writing narrative non-fiction is visiting all the places associated with the story. Of course the research for my book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, took me to Paris (such a chore..ha ha) Hastings and St Leonards, Malvern and Cheltenham. Accompanied by
Read more →Hello, this is Editor Des back from the West Country of Olde England. I’ve chosen this little piece because I liked the story Pauline told me about the nursery rhyme and the 15th century cathedral clock at Exeter. I’m sure you know you how it goes;
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There is such a strong association between Christmas and bells. Images of them adorn our trees and greeting cards, and the faithful are summoned to church by them on Christmas morning. I wasn’t sure whether to post this as history or humour, but the humour is
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In The Beginning..The Water Doctor’s Daughter’s When I was writing my true crime book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, I had a moment of panic and said to my husband Rob, ‘Oh dear, what if someone publishes this one day and I have to give talks about it?’
Read more →Have just spent a wonderful but busy few days in Great Malvern and Worcester finalizing arrangements for the launch of the Water Doctor’s Daughters on March 23rd. It’s to be held at 2.00pm in the spacious Morgan Bar at Malvern’s historic Foley Arms Hotel. I will be
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In my non-fiction book, The Water Doctor’s Daughters, Queen Victoria is a central figure. Early in 1842, Victoria employed a well educated young Frenchwoman as one of her wardrobe mistresses. Célestine Doudet was born in Rouen on June 15 1817, to a highly regarded French army officer
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MISGUIDED MUSICAL AMBITION After watching too many episodes of Australia’s Got Talent, my associate Editor Des has decided he wants to become a famous musician. He desperately wanted to play a keyboard instrument, but let’s face it, he just doesn’t have finger dexterity. After a lot of
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