Tag Archives: middle grade fiction

One year on

Friday marked one whole year since The Tiger Who Sleeps Under My Chair hit bookshop shelves. I spent that day visiting schools and bookshops to talk about the book and sign copies. The following week I would visit more schools … Continue reading

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Spy badgers

April has been such a dry month this year. I’d been panicking about sowing my seeds too early at the allotment after the temperature dropped, and then decided I’d maybe done right, glad my sowings had at least got a … Continue reading

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The Railway Tunnel

At the weekend, we travelled up to North Devon to finally celebrate my mum’s 70th, eighteen months late. We’d re-booked the holiday cottage three times. It was a wonderful, glowing time of family, good food, long walks, and pottering around … Continue reading

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In Conversation

I’ll be honest, I took September hard. It started with being away in Scotland when the swifts left. This year more than any other, I was desperate for the light to linger, and the darkness and damp to stay away. … Continue reading

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Six months!

Saturday marked the six-month birthday of The Spellbinding Secret of Avery Buckle hitting bookshop shelves so I couldn’t resist celebrating with a cat cake! Publication had already been delayed by a year due to Covid, and even then, released just … Continue reading

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Folktales: My Baddies

At the beginning of my book The Spellbinding Secret of Avery Buckle, Avery has a horrible feeling she is being followed by something not nice… and it turns out she’s correct! There’s a few baddies in the book, and my ideas for them … Continue reading

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Folktales: Hearthfolk

In my book The Spellbinding Secret of Avery Buckle, Avery meets a character called Knuckle. He is broad-shouldered, with hands the size of teapots. He has black freckles clustering his shoulders, arms, and hairline, and every time he sneezes, sparkling embers … Continue reading

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Folktales: Giants and Standing Stones

In my book The Spellbinding Secret of Avery Buckle, Avery journeys to a circle of standing stones in Orkney called the Stones of Callanish. She is surprised to find that the stones can come to life, as a band of craggy … Continue reading

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Folktales: Scottish Faeries and ‘othering’

I’ve written in my previous post about the Cat Fae element of Avery’s character in my book, The Spellbinding Secret of Avery Buckle. For those of you who don’t know, one of Avery’s secrets is that she is a Cat Fae. … Continue reading

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May Day

Today is May Day or Beltane, the traditional British festival in celebration of the coming of summer. Between now and Midsummer – a time of elves, faeries and magic – I’ll be writing a series of posts celebrating the folktales … Continue reading

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