Proud Parent Moments

It's no secret to any of you that I am THE proudest Mummy in the entire world for having the most beautiful, funny, intelligent, caring and talented daughter ever (even if she DOES still spill tea on her duvet cover in the morning).
And the past couple of weeks have made me want to toot my horn of proudness even louder.

Since finishing her AS Levels she's been on study leave and so has been accompanying me to school to help out with the mountain-load of stuff that I always seem to have there.
She's helped  produce the biggest, loudest, most creative display in the entrance hall we've ever known, she's been a constant source of delight and brought me back to earth when all I've felt able to do is flail wildly; and she's turned mad situations into areas of relative calm.

She's also made me laugh so much I can't imagine going back to work without her now and everyone's been telling me how clever and lovely and helpful she is. Things I already know but am incredibly proud to hear repeated over and over and over.

Which reminded me that she designed me a book cover a little while back and I only came across it just now when I was trawling mindlessly through my archives (also known as writers procrastination) and I wanted to share it with you.

Isn't she just amazing?

‘The Unseen’ by Katherine Webb

Three words.

Oh. My.  Giddy (19^th Century) Aunt. 

Okay, that’s more than three, but you get the gist, right?  This book has turned my head.  Usually I get sniffy and apathetical towards anything with a ‘period/historical’ tag. Unless it’s on telly.  Because, I think I have a real problem with not having enough detachment from my current surroundings to relate properly to another era. I’m better with televisual things because they’re straight in my face, so to speak.

Not so with ‘The Unseen’.

I can’t tell you the last time I got so involved in a book so quickly and so effortlessly.  Because there hasn’t been a time.  I couldn’t just see the characters and watch their lives unfurl as cinematic pictures in my head, smell the canal and the wildflowers, feel the awkwardness and the rigidity of the times, I was actually there.  Living with these people.  This is a pure delight from start to finish.  And what a finish. 

The title gives nothing away.  Neither does the cover picture.  In fact quite the opposite.  There I was, expecting to be a bit scared and a bit ignorant of the language of the time, but I couldn’t have been more wrong.  The story is just so simple and yet so powerful and so evocative of the time that I’m still not sure who I loved the most.

Leah, the heartbroken journalist who is given the chance to write a story of a lifetime (or two) by her Ex. 

Cat the fresh-from gaol 19^th Century suffragette who somehow knows she wasn’t born be a servant girl. 

Hetty, the incredibly patient wife of the uptight, obsessive (about their recent enigmatic Theologist guest) Reverend Canning, or Sophie Bell, the larger-than-life cook of the Canning household.

Following Leah as she traces the story of the 19^th Century household, we’re drawn into their suspicions, their desires, their secrets and their quite tragic personal circumstances.  ‘The Unseen’ was such a moving, beautifully drawn piece of work which drew me in so completely that I was walking about with it in my head in the real world and actually felt a little bereaved when I knew I was nearing the end.

I shall be ordering Katherine’s last novel, The Legacy, on the strength of this lovely writing.

And now I’m a Historical convert. Something I never thought I’d hear myself saying.

Oh, and I should say a massive THANK YOU to the lovely Virtual Victorian, Essie Fox, for drawing my (winning) name out of the competition hat and posting me this fabulous book - serendipity.

Nervous tension? Create a book cover!

Too much time on my hands...

I don't know if this makes me feel better or worse...

... but I like it!

I'm not really here - but I HAD to post this

CAN this happen?  Is it allowed?  I know Emily Giffin's book (right) has had a couple of new covers since this one - but really?  The SAME lady-holding-bag thing?  Don't publishers go through and check the image hasn't been used before?
Too many questions, only Keris will know the answer to, I'm certain.
After all, if I, a struggling-to-be-represented author goes to the tedious trouble of making sure a title hasn't been used before I go ahead and name my next book ("my next book" - ha!  would you just listen to me!) then surely the least they should do is check a cover image hasn't been used before.
Hmm?
Okay, rant over - back to the hoovering, dusting, cleaning, NaNo-ing.  I wasn't here. You didn't see me.