I’m not sure why I haven’t thought of putting special offers on my books on my blog before. It’s always nice to know about bargain books, isn’t it? Some of these offers end on 31st August so you’ll need to be quick!
Under the Italian Sun on is down to 99p on UK Kindle. Grab your chance to travel to Italy with Zia and discover all her family secrets.
Home is where the heart is…but what if your heart is broken? When Judith loses her partner, she loses her life in Malta too – including the beautiful view from her sun-warmed balcony of the sparkling blue waters of Sliema Creek. Back in England, Judith finds a spare room in her sister’s house where she grew up – but with it comes a whole host of family dramas. Nursing a broken heart, Judith knows she must find happiness again – and rebuild her life on her own terms. Could an island in the sun be the answer she is looking for?
(Hint: well, it’s not going to be enough on its own, is it …? I’d have nothing to write about!)
A Home in the Sun is the updated, relaunched version of my very first book, Uphill All the Way, and you can read how the revamp came about here.
Published by: Avon Pages: 384 Date published: 19/08/2021 Date read: 09/08/2021
Home is where the heart is…but what if your heart is broken?
When Judith loses her partner, she loses her life in Malta too – including the beautiful view from her sun-warmed balcony of the sparkling blue waters of Sliema Creek.
Back in England, Judith finds a spare room in her sister’s house where she grew up – but with it comes a whole host of family dramas.
Nursing a broken heart, Judith knows she must find happiness again – and rebuild her life on her own terms. Could an island in the sun be the answer she is looking for?
Thanks to Avon and Sue Moorcroft for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I never used to like the beach-read, happily-ever-after type books, preferring edge of your seat thrillers. But as the…
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today, despite recovering from Covid. (Dear Readers, please note that Sue and I did not meet up for this interview.)
Can I offer you a drink? Tea? Wine?
I’m right off tea at the moment! I love it, usually, but Covid seems to have changed it. I’ll have a nice glass of chilled white wine, please.
*Hands Sue chilled wine*
Congratulations in having a book out this Thursday. I just love this cover. In fact, I like all your covers. I hope you’ll bewell enough to celebrate on the day of publication. How many books is this now?
It’s a tricky question. Nineteen novels and a writing guide is the cautious answer but A Home in the Sun is a relaunch of my very first novel, Uphill All the Way; Family Matters was a hardback…
A gorgeous summer read about new beginnings from theSunday Timesbestseller.
Home is where the heart is…but what if your heart is broken?
When Judith loses her partner, she loses her life in Malta too – including the beautiful view from her sun-warmed balcony of the sparkling blue waters of Sliema Creek.
Back in England, Judith finds a spare room in her sister’s house where she grew up – but with it comes a whole host of family dramas.
Nursing a broken heart, Judith knows she must find happiness again – and rebuild her life on her own terms. Could an island in the sun be the answer she is looking for?
A wonderfully escapist summer read, perfect for fans of Katie Fforde and Carole Matthews.
A Home in the Sun was my first published book, back in 2005. Then, it was called Uphill All the Way and went out with an independent publisher called Transita, the fiction arm of How-to Books. It was incredibly exciting. It was launched at the London Book Fair and I have a copy signed by everyone on the stand that day. It went into large print and audio and launched my career as a novelist.
Uphill All the Way had a lifetime of four years with that publisher before going out of print. As readers still asked after it, I put it out as a self-published ebook for several years thereafter, under a new cover that a friend’s daughter kindly designed for me.
Time went by. I published other books with other publishers and, one day, I was talking about backlist titles with my lovely agent, Juliet. She said, ‘I wonder whether Avon might be interested in relaunching Uphill?’ They were! In fact, they leapt at the chance. We’d published eight or nine books together by then and they’ve made me a Sunday Times bestseller and taken me to #1 on UK Kindle and top 100 in the US. They were happy to give readers another chance to follow Judith’s journey from Malta to Northamptonshire and back again.
Preparation was an experience. People have often asked me how I feel I’ve developed as a writer over the years and my stock reply has been, ‘I’d like to think I’ve developed and improved but it’s hard to judge your own work.’ Well … I was wrong. Faced with rereading something I wrote fifteen-or-so years earlier, I could suddenly see that there was quite a lot of work to be done.
The story is just the same. Judith’s living a happy life in Malta with her younger lover when he has an accident that changes everything. She returns to the UK and tries to find her feet in her old life, realising how much her mum’s missed her and what a scrape her sister’s got into. She finds that her beloved stepson Kieran is facing heartbreak and her ex-husband Tom has not improved while she’s been living in the sun. She also has to evict the tenant in her house, Adam, who she crushed on at school, and she somehow ends up working for him instead.
So what have I changed? I’ve made a flashback into a prologue and I have added a lot more emotional detail and generally aligned the book with my current writing capabilities. That’s it, really. I always liked the story. I still like it. According to NetGalley readers, a lot of other people like it, too. And I hope you do!
15th FEBRUARY 2023, 5.30pm-6.30pm – Oakham Library, Catmost Street, Oakham, Rutland LE15 6HW. Sue will be the guest of Oakham Library to talk about her writing life. Signed books will be on sale and Sue will be happy to join you in a photo. Further information from the library.
23rd MARCH 2023, 2pm-3pm – Bingham Library, Eaton Place, Bingham, Nottinghamshire NG13 8BE. Sue will be joining readers at the newly refurbished Bingham Library in Nottinghamshire to chat about her books and writing. Q&A, signed books on sale. Sue’s happy to join you in a photo. Contact the library for more information.
25th MAY 2023 – Publication day for An Italian Island Summer – paperback, ebook and audio.
25th MAY-7th June 2023 – blog tour for An Italian Island Summer
4th JULY 2023, 7pm-8pm – WI Wanderers online book club.
Sue will be talking about her books and her writing online as the guest of WI Wanderers. Find out more about WI Wanderers here
5th-10th AUGUST 2023 – Swanwick, the Writers’ Summer School.Sue will be leading a two-part short course, The Trickier Bits of Fiction, a workshop on The Fast Track to Writing Romantic Fiction and appearing with Juliet Pickering, agent at Blake Friedmann Literary Agency in an after-dinner spot: Building a Bestseller.Find out more about Swanwick here, including booking.
Sue Moorcroft blog 