Can I start by thanking Seumas for his great kindness in allowing my ramblings on his wonderful blog page and by saying that I feel very honoured to be here. That said, it has left me with the slight problem of how to introduce myself and explain my presence here. It’s the reason why, this sunny day finds me lolling in a deck-chair in the garden, on the pre-text of topping up my sun-tan but in reality, chewing on my pencil-end, fretting over what I can possibly say that might make anyone want to read it without lamenting poor Seumas’ blog page has taken an inexplicably sad turn for the worse. In other words, I sense you’re an educated lot and I don’t want to be found out.
I am a writer, so I know I’m here to talk about my new book, ‘Villa Cassiopeia’ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Villa-Cassiopeia-mysterious-Greece-perfect-ebook/dp/B073XL11MG which is set on Paxos, a small, inaccessible island, just past Corfu and reachable only by boat – unless you’re someone like Jack Calder, of course, in which case you’d probably cause major mayhem amongst the locals by parachuting yourself in! My heroine, Bryony Bingham, is a middle-aged lady of indeterminate years, beset by personal problems she seeks to escape, by grabbing an unexpected opportunity for a summer holiday. Unfortunately, in the shape of her dysfunctional family, her ex-husband Edward, her alcoholic father Leon, Goth daughter Chloe and wayward son, Max, lies the root cause of her problems and it’s typical of the poor woman that she shoots herself in the proverbial foot by dragging them along, too, leading to a variety of hilarious situations from which she tries to extract herself, with a varying degree of success. There is a serious strand to the book and a mystery at its heart that I hope enriches the story but overall, it is meant to be a light-hearted and humorous read, ideal for summer, just in case anyone has any room left on their holiday reading list. And that’s not a hint, ahem, just a gentle prompt. I love Paxos, we’ve enjoyed so many holidays there and I couldn’t possibly write a sad book about it, I think that’s probably why I’ve enjoyed writing this book more than any other. I hope that shows through. Paxos is beautiful, a step back in time, to a gentler pace of life and brimming with an indefinable charm – a series of plateaus, dotted with olive groves and cyprus trees, shelving down to a limpid blue sea. I don’t mean to sound like a travel brochure but it is exactly like that and the more times I visit, the harder it is to leave.
But back to the book and its publication day, tomorrow and for which I’m hosting a digital launch party on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/events/209768726215861??ti=ia There are competitions and prizes, one of which is an ebook of (one of the fabulous Jack Calder novels), very kindly donated by Seumas himself, for which I thank him very much. There’s oodles of fun, so please feel free to join me. I’m looking forward to seeing you there…
…thanks for sharing, Sally… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!
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Seumas Gallacher 