I am delighted to kick off a new series of Thursday Themes with one of my fellow Bloodhound authors, Paula Hillman. Paula’s new book, Cemetery Lodge will be out on November 8th, and is available to pre-order now.
My journey to publication
I took early retirement from teaching at the end of 2019. The job was killing me; I had no life away from it. I’d always wanted to be a writer, to see a novel of mine published, so I enrolled on a creative writing master’s degree course, and it changed my life. Being an avid reader hadn’t been enough to teach me the craft of writing; the degree course did this, and so much more. I wrote an early draft of Seaview House for the course, and started submitting to agents and publishers at the end of the two years. Agent rejections consisted of simple declines or comments that I was too old, too northern and not marketable. Bloodhound Books loved Seaview House, so I was happy to sign with them. I had two other novels at this point, which they also took. Their business model is digital publication first. The publishing industry is changing and as an eBook reader myself, I appreciate this. Bloodhound Books’ way of doing things worked in my favour. After the first three novels were published in close succession, I wrote Chapel Field and Halfmoon Lane, which came out earlier in 2024, and Cemetery Lodge is my last publication this year. I’ve recently submitted a seventh novel which is based around a beachside community. I’ll have to see what happens with that one.
My novels are cross-genre: they have a mystery to be solved, some suspense, perhaps psychological, and sometimes there is romance. They are set against the landscape of South Cumbria, and incorporate the Lake District. One novel in particular, The Cottage, has generated so much local interest that people have set up a ‘trail’ to follow of the places mentioned. The stories are all stand-alone, and no knowledge of the locality is needed to enjoy them. I write marginalised characters whom you can fall in love with and root for, and I have to end with redemption…it’s in my nature!
When I left teaching, I felt my identity had been destroyed. It was disorientating and stressful. Writing has given me back that identity, and has been therapeutic in ways I could never have imagined. I have a local fan-base, and they stop me in the street to talk about different aspects of my books. I love that!
I live in Cumbria, in a large industrial town called Barrow-in-Furness. It’s on the coast and at the foothills of The Lakes. I studied science at college and specialised in it for my Batchelors teaching degree, but my heart has always been tied up with books and reading. I walked away from a long teaching career because I wanted to write. I wrote many texts and playscripts as part of my job as a teacher, and wanted to do more. I am married to a photographer and have two children- a thirty-nine-year-old daughter, and a twenty-two-year-old son, who is still at home with us. I am a passionate advocate for local communities- Barrow has a deep Victorian heritage and a Cistercian Abbey- and I have studied these in depth for my own interest and within my teaching career. Barrow people are community driven and welcoming, and their character is unique in so many ways. I want to capture all of this in the books I write. I’ve got a master’s degree in creative writing, and a post graduate diploma in regional and local history. Seaview House was my debut novel, followed by The Cottage, Blackthorn Wood, Chapel Field, Halfmoon Lane and now Cemetery Lodge, all published with Bloodhound Books. My novels are of a mystery/suspense genre, and set in the Cumbrian landscape. I have just submitted novel number seven and opened a tab for novel number eight.
The links to my books on Amazon are:
geni.us/SeaviewHouse
geni.us/TheCottage
geni.us/BlackthornWood
geni.us/ChapelField
geni.us/HalfmoonLane
amzn.to/3XTrY3r (this one will change on publication day…it’s the pre-order link)
About the book:
‘Not all secrets will remain buried forever…
Archaeologist Cherie Hope makes a gruesome discovery in the grounds of a local cemetery. She’s desperate to know more, and wonders why caretaker Ash Black is being so guarded.
Delving deeper, and liaising with the police, Cherie is drawn into a story that circles back fifty years. Entangled in a web of deceit, she soon uncovers a missing person, an inherited heirloom and hidden cemetery logbooks.
The lodge has been in Ash’s family for generations, but his elderly father’s dementia means unlocking the truth of what really happened all those years ago will be a challenge.
Is the caretaker really protecting his father or is he worried about what his father is hiding?
Ash may be hell-bent on keeping Cherie at a distance, but she’s determined to find the truth – at any cost…
Cemetery Lodge is a suspenseful novel about families, and how far they’ll go to protect each other.’
