Blog | Alison Morton Author

Helen Hollick: Writing the past

What happens when a historical fiction writer turns to crime? No, I’m not talked about me and the Mélisende crime thrillers, but Helen Hollick who has just published her third cozy crime. But she can’t shake off the historical fiction writer’s magic cloak. Her 1970s set series feature heroine Jan is the result.

Over to Helen!

“I do sometimes wonder why I decided to write historical fiction. As with any fiction you have your plot, your characters, their loves, hates, triumphs and tragedies. How they get into and out of situations. What happens – or what doesn’t. But on top of all that for anything historical there’s the research. The what happened when, where, why and how.

Of course, other genres also require research: science-fiction needs the science bits. Tell your reader that the North Star is in the constellation of Orion, and you’re done for. (It’s in Ursa Minor – also known as the Little Bear and the Little Dipper.) Romance needs research: your story will be deemed implausible if blue-eyed blonde Miss x is dating glamorous film star Mr X and he picks her up for their first date in a clapped out old Ford Escort. Unless he’s deliberately hiding his identity. Even so, I doubt Miss Blonde will be impressed. (Even we thriller writers need to know our Glocks from our Sig Sauers!)

Historical fiction can be hard to research when you’re writing about a period that has little written record, so for an author there is quite a bit of ‘making it up’ to be added in between the factual bits.

Not so easy when writing history that is within memory of your readers, though, It’s the nit-pick things they notice. Was the scent of Flash floor cleaner lavender or pine? Was Ty-phoo tea more popular than Tetleys? (And this would be loose tea, not teabags.) When did Izal, that scratchy toilet paper which we used as children for tracing paper, fall out of use? And that awful sterilised milk…? (I had the similar problem with videotape CCTV and changing from thermal fax paper to plain paper fax in the 1970s for AURELIA – my sympathies!)

The lead character of my cosy mystery series is Jan Christopher. She is a young library assistant working in a North London suburb public library in the early 1970s. Orphaned at a young age she was adopted by her father’s brother, DCI Tobias Christopher and his wife, Madge. One rainy day, she is to meet her uncle’s new detective constable, Laurie Walker. It’s love at first sight.

I chose the 1970s because that’s when I was a young library assistant working in South Chingford Library. I wanted to write an easy-read series where I could use my ‘library knowledge’, along with background detail of horse riding in Epping Forest. Outside of TV cop shows – Lewis, Vera, Foyles War, Poirot and such – I know very little about police procedure, so the cosy mystery appealed to me as these lean towards amateur sleuths and daily life revolving around a crime, rather than the other way round. All well and good, but I soon realised that there is a lot about the 1970s that I’ve either forgotten or was oblivious to as a naïve sixteen-to-nineteen-year-old! Politics seem to have completely passed me by.

The 1970s was the era of the workers’ Three Day Week and scheduled power cuts. I’m utterly amazed that I barely remember them! I do recall trying to convince people that, yes, I know you’ve got a torch, but for safety reasons we really do need to close the library if we have no lighting. I do not remember sitting at home by candlelight, annoyed that I was missing whatever was on TV. Maybe because there was only one television in the house and that was in the sitting room? No TV up in my room, and I don’t think I acquired my own stereo system until the mid-70s.

I do remember demonstrating to my Dad the wonders of Dolby. I played a track where it sounded like an aeroplane had flown right across the room. Stunning back then! Just for the record while I’m here: I saw the original first release of Star Wars, and was blown away by that opening scene where the Imperial Star Ship comes in overhead. The entire cinema shook, and it felt as though that ship really had passed over the top of us. Common stuff now, but back then…? Awesome!

So I’m finding that I’m having to do just as much research for my cosy mysteries as I had to do for my serious historical fiction, or my seafaring nautical adventures. But how on earth did we manage without smart phones, e-readers, computers, Netflix or Google…?

What one item would you miss the most if you found yourself transported back into the past?”

Brilliant, Helen! Both you and I have learnt just how selective our own memories can be. I think writing historical/alternative historical fiction has trained us to doubt everything – a valuable lesson when writing in a different era even when relatively modern!)

What’s the third Jan Christopher mystery A Mistake of Murder about?

Was murder deliberate – or a tragic mistake?

A series of burglaries and an elderly person is murdered. Can library assistant Jan Christopher help discover whether murder was a deliberate deed – or a tragic mistake?

January 1972. The Christmas and New Year holiday is over and it is time to go back to work. Newly engaged to Detective Sergeant Lawrence Walker, library assistant Jan Christopher is eager to show everyone her diamond ring, and goes off on her scheduled round to deliver library books to the housebound – some of whom she likes; some, she doesn’t.

She encounters a cat in a cupboard, drinks several cups of tea… and loses her ring.

When two murders are committed, can Jan help her policeman uncle, DCI Toby Christopher and her fiancé, Laurie, discover whether murder was a deliberate deed – or a tragic mistake?

About Helen

First accepted for traditional publication in 1993, Helen became a USA Today Bestseller with her historical novel, The Forever Queen (titled A Hollow Crown in the UK) with the sequel, Harold the King (US: I Am The Chosen King) being novels that explore the events that led to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Her Pendragon’s Banner Trilogy is a fifth-century version of the Arthurian legend, and she writes a nautical adventure/fantasy series, The Sea Witch Voyages. She has also branched out into the quick read novella, ‘Cozy Mystery’ genre with her Jan Christopher Murder Mysteries, set in the 1970s, with the first in the series, A Mirror Murder incorporating her, often hilarious, memories of working as a library assistant.

Her non-fiction books are Pirates: Truth and Tales and Life of A Smuggler. She lives with her family in an eighteenth-century farmhouse in North Devon and occasionally gets time to write…

Buy A Mistake of Murder

Available from an Amazon near you, or order from any bookstore. Paperback and e-book available. https://mybook.to/MISTAKEofMURDER

Helen’s Amazon author page: https://viewauthor.at/HelenHollick
Helen’s website: https://helenhollick.net/
Subscribe to Helen’s newsletter: https://tinyletter.com/HelenHollick

Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series.Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, a new Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, is now out.

Find out more about Roma Nova, its origins, stories and heroines and taste world the latest contemporary thriller Double Identity… Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. You’ll also be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

Enfin française!

Receiving my certificates and livret de famille from the Préfète des Deux-Sèvres, Emmanuelle Dubée

In November 2019, I applied for French nationality.

On 14 April 2022, I had an official email informing me I had achieved it.

Last week, on 1 February 2023, I participated in an official ceremony and handed a sheaf of documents.

So, it has been a long road.

Why?

Ah, that’s the question they ask you at the interview (I explain that below.) I’ve been going to France since I was seven and armed with a few words, I managed to play and interact with French kids. I later studied and worked in France. My first degree was in modern languages and economics. And I’ve loved Astérix le Gaulois since I was nine.

More seriously, I feel at home here. We moved permanently to France in 2010 having bought a house here in 2005, and haven’t looked back. Speaking French is as natural to me as English and I do rather like the direct French way of expressing themselves.

We were perfectly settled, digging ourselves in locally, including voting in local and European elections. I was writing books, hopping back and forth to the UK for launches and events with the greatest of ease. Life was beautiful.

I did think about becoming French then, but where was the need?

Then along came Brexit and the need for registration as ‘foreigners’ as the politicos argued and wrangled about the conditions for exiting the European Union. This was a nightmare for many people, especially those not used to dealing with officialdom. I wrote a long post about it in August 2018 which reflected people’s anger, confusion and anxiety. The upshot of no longer being Europeans? We became guests in our own home town. We lost our right to vote; some friends of working age lost their job security; others were turfed off their local council where they had served their communities for years.

This was the final push for me. The right to vote is extremely important. People died for it.

So what did it involve?

Draw up a chair, get a coffee or tea and set some time aside. As a precursor, you have to show you’ve had the right of residency for 5 years. Then start assembling a mountain of documents…

Next, I had to foster a close relationship with the UK General Registrar to obtain new birth and marriage documents for me, my parents, husband, son, husband’s family, then commission an official translator for each document. Luckily, I knew the perfect person who worked for me when I ran my translation company, Marie-Noël Générau who is highly recommended. This is not cheap.

Unless you have a really good excuse, you have to produce a certificate that you have passed an exam in functional French. Then there’s proving you have enough money to live on, whatever the source, you have a stable homelife, you’ve paid your taxes for the past five years, etc. etc. All this requires documentary proof. Oh, yes, and you pay a fee of 55 euros.

So you send it all off (November 2019) and you wait… The paperwork would be processed at department level, then sent to the Ministry of the Interior in Paris so they can check that you really are who you say you are and you are not a master criminal pursued across five continents. The next step, I was informed, was the nationality interview in 6-12 months’ time.

Then the world is struck by a pandemic. Everything grinds to a halt. We are locked down. I keep writing books to distract myself. As France and the UK both allow dual nationality, I wrote the Mélisende thrillers featuring a heroine who was a dual national, perhaps unconsciously reflecting the state of my mind.

I’m still waiting when we come out of le confinement stricte. But let’s be fair – masks, gel and vaccinations rather occupied most people’s lives at that time. Governments were starting to put their countries back on their feet and dealing with the new normal.

In late June 2021, I ran across our local deputé, equivalent of member of parliament, at the AGM of an association I belong to. I mentioned my situation to him and within a few days had a formal appointment with his chief assistant. He contacted the préfet (chief government representative in my department) and, quelle surprise, under a month later, I received a letter from the préfecture calling me to my nationality interview four weeks later.

There followed an intense period of revision of the Livret du Citoyen, the basic stuff every French person needs to know about liberté, égalité, fraternité, (not forgetting laïcité). Now, I have a fairly reasonable grasp of French history, but I sat there every evening after work reading and making copious notes. From a Facebook group, ‘Applying for French Nationality’, I received loads of hints and tips about the interview, including knowing rivers, mountains, naming cabinet ministers, books, films, local cuisine, current affairs, plus being able to talk about an event in history. Being me, I picked the clash between Syriagus, the last Roman ruler in Gaul and Clovis, leader of the Franks. The interviewer said it made a very welcome change from the Revolution. Phew!

Anyway, it all went well and in April 2022, I received an email…

“J’ai le plaisir de vous informer que vous avez acquis la nationalité française depuis le 14/04/2022 00:00:00 .

Votre nom est inscrit dans le décret n°012/1146 portant naturalisation et réintégration, signé à cette date et publié au Journal officiel du 17/04/2022 00:00:00 “.

Yippee!

The next day I went online to apply for my voting card. I’d missed the presidential elctions, but I voted for the legislative one for members of the Assemblée Nationale. With a bit of pushing and shoving (Bureaucratie is a French word, after all.), I received it and voted!

Next came national identity card and passport applications and the inevitable interview with an appointment with the green fingerprint machine. Luckily, I could book this appointment online and do this at my local mairie. The new passport arrived in time for my trip back to the UK at Christmas.

But I hadn’t had my cérémonie d’accueil dans la citoyenneté française – the formal presentation of your certificate and family documents. It’s not strictly necessary, but after the time taken to get there, who wants to miss it? I couldn’t make the original date as I was in York at the Eboracum Roman Festival. There’s some sort of irony there as France, or Gallia, was a key Roman province. Anyway, on Wednesday 1 February, I went to the préfécture in Niort with forty or so others and their families and friends. Smiles were the order of the day.

Class of February 2023. (I’m at the very right second row)

It’s the end of a rather long road. You need the persistence of a professional author, the organisational skills of a true paper-shuffler and the patience of Job. But enfin, je suis française!

10 years of indie publishing – why?

When I set out in 2010 to find out what to do with the 90,000 words I’d bashed out in 90 days, I didn’t have a clue about the publishing world. A business friend, Denise Barnes, also a novel writing beginner, guided me towards the Romantic Novelists’ Association who has a mentoring scheme for new writers. From there, I joined various associations – the Historical Novel Society, the International Thriller Writers, the Society of Authors, recently, the Crime Writers’ Association, but most importantly the Alliance of Independent Authors.

After honing and polishing the manuscript and attending classes and courses and absorbing knowledge from mentors I sent INCEPTIO off to agents and publishers so they could put my work out to the world. However, alternative history Roman thrillers seemed not to be the hottest cake on the tray. They said lovely things about my writing – intelligent, absorbing, insightful, exciting, good plotting, well-researched, etc. etc. so I gathered the impression my work was of publishable standard. Independent assessments had said the same.

Hooray!

However, they didn’t know how to sell it: ‘doesn’t fit with our list’, ‘not in a defined genre’, ‘loved it but not sure we could take it past the sales & marketing team’.

Deep breath…

I vaguely knew about this thing called self-publishing, so I investigated. I even hacked through a mountain of HTML and experimented in 2012 with putting Military or Civilians? a version of my MA history dissertation on Amazon. (It still sells now and again!), but I was an amateur.

Fed up with having rejection letters piling up and finding out how little most authors actually received for their work and how bound they were to deadlines, contracts and publishing house demands, I decided to explore self-publishing further.

After a great deal of research and one near miss, I discovered an ethical publishing services company, SilverWood Books in Bristol. They did all the donkey work and hand-holding I didn’t want to do. They would produce upload and print-ready files and publish them for me.

Their product of INCEPTIO was stunningly beautiful and so professionally put together that I nearly burst into tears of joy. But it was up to me to get on and market and sell my books. I’d run a business or two, so I knew the territory of juggling production, PR, marketing, customer relations, networking and similar arcane skills.

How well or badly was up to me. What I chose to have on my cover and inside my book was up to me. I was a the one paying SilverWood to work for me.

I had a breathtakingly enjoyable launch at my local Waterstones and sold fifty-five books, thirty more than they had ordered in. SilverWood had warned me to take an extra box of books!

Sue always said she’d be my first customer at my launch.

And broadcasting star Sue Cook was my first customer as well as speaking that evening!

After a few years and books, the SilverWood director suggested that I was now so at ease in the publishing world and at marketing my own books I should ‘graduate’. I already had my Amazon KDP account and quickly set up my additional retailer accounts with Apple, Kobo and Barnes & Noble.

And off I went!

Top London agency Blake Friedmann sold the audio rights for four of my books to Audible Studios, but I retained all the other rights – an indie benefit.

JULIA PRIMA is the tenth book in the “unsaleable” Roma Nova thriller series (and has just been awarded the “Editors’ Choice” accolade by the Historical Novel Society) . Double Identity in my second thriller series became one of BookBub’s best books in March 2021. All the books are sold worldwide and (probably immodest of me to say so) INCEPTIO has been #1 in UK, US, Canada and Australia on Amazon several times. The reviews are nearly all 4 and 5 star and readers, reviewers and fellow authors have said some lovely things about the books.

That’s the history. But is it real publishing?

It’s not just me. Self or indie publishing is now firmly established as a route into publishing. Whilst it’s been a tough road, I’ve loved being part of the pioneering wave. Whilst most most authors mirror their mainstream colleagues by making modest or comfortable income, often one supplementing their main one, some indie authors make stellar, six-figure amounts.

Standards? Of course, standards vary and like mainstream publishing, there are some ropey books out there. However, readers are a canny lot and will tell all their friends if what they’re reading is rubbish. They are the judges! Any indie who doesn’t have a professional cover and at least a copy edit is asking for trouble. But make no mistake – it’s hard work being creator, project manager, advertising manager, marketer, graphic manipulator, content manager, typesetter, accountant, blogger, reviewer. Professional indies who have exacting standards and are prepared to put the hours in are the ones who will survive.

Cutting edge. Many innovations in ebook and print on demand production, marketing techniques, the growth of email lists, blog tours, publishing software such as Vellum, etc. have been developed by or incited by the needs of indies (and often latched onto by mainstream publishing houses).

Left to right: Catriona Troth, me, Jessica Bell, JJ Marsh, Gillian Hamer. Seated in front: J D Smith (Photo: Jessica Bell)

Going it alone? Not on your life! Indie authors are famous for their mutual support across genres and continents. Whether in an association, at events, blog swaps or just simple messaging, they will give generously of their time and experience. Here’s an example when I launched RETALIO in 2017. (Photo right)

It’s down to you anyway. Only the top slice of mainstream authors have extensive marketing support. Most authors have to do the legwork anyway: social media, radio interviews, blog tours, mailouts. They are usually required to maintain a digital platform: website, blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Unlike indies, they could also not have their contract renewed and their books could be remaindered or, worse, pulped.

Reasons why people publish independently

Debbie Young, cozy crime writer, United Kingdom
” ‘Because it’s there’, as Hillary said about tackling Everest. Actually, because self-publishing in its modern form is so much more inviting and enabling than the traditional route, and it leads so much faster to the finished product, and, if done well, without compromising on quality. It also means that publication is inevitable, rather than just the wafer-thin possibility offered by with the Big 5. I truly believe that there has never been a better time to be an author than in the present day.”

Anna Belfrage, historical novelist, Sweden
“I like being in control. As an Indie, I have the last say on cover, editing and pricing. This doesn’t mean I don’t take advice – I use professional editors and cover artists – but I make the final call, ensuring my artistic integrity.”

Charlene Newcomb, historical fiction and sci-fi author, USA
“I watched talented writers in three different critique groups struggle to have manuscripts accepted through traditional publishing. As I learned more about that process through other writers and looked at trends in the historical fiction genre, I knew my medieval series was in niche that wasn’t popular – it wasn’t Tudor or Regency era, and it included a gay romance. It would be a hard sell to a publisher. When I heard about CreateSpace and KDP, B&N, and Smashwords I decided to go that route. Self-publishing has given me more creative control, including the ability to work directly with my chosen cover designer. Deadlines are self-imposed, and can be altered. Publication date is set by me. Now if only I could write a new novel every year…”

Keith Dixon, crime fiction writer, France
“I started self-publishing in 2008 when it first became possible, through CreateSpace, which published paperbacks. I’d been trying to get commercially published for years and came close but no final takers. So I had a go with the novel I was just finishing, largely as a proof of concept. Then it just seemed easier to carry on with it.”

Helen Hollick, historical novelist and non-fiction author, UK
“As a ‘hybrid’ author I have the best of both publishing worlds. The advantage of traditional publishing is that my books are more likely to be for sale in bookstores, but being Indie is much more satisfying because of being in total control. Marketing is hard work but it is necessary for indie and traditional. Being indie I can also write what I want, change genres, explore different things to write about. Traditional publishers prefer their authors to stick to the same tried and tested type of novel. Of the two? I prefer indie, errors can usually be quickly and easily put right, not so with a traditional publisher, errors stay there.”

Kathryn Gauci, historical fiction author, Australia
“Self-publishing has come a long way since I wrote my first book, The Embroiderer, published 2017. That’s when we first met Alison, and you helped me enormously along the way as we both reached out further. I am happy I made that move now. I knew I was in it for the long haul but I am in control of my own destiny and, to be honest, make more money than some of my traditionally published friends. Once you start to build up a profile, Amazon especially, starts to promote you. If a traditional publisher offered me a contract tomorrow I would most likely knock it back. Downside is getting the books translated. I was lucky with The Embroiderer, but as yet haven’t got the others translated. Working on that one though.”

Elizabeth J StJohn, historical biographical fiction author, USA
“I independently published my first novel when a well-known agent told me she would accept the book, but only if I cut it to 90,000 words and gave it a happy ending. As a work of biographical fiction, I couldn’t do it, so I discovered Create Space and self-published. The book became an immediate best-seller on Amazon. Now, seven years later, it is still successful, reaching #1 on Amazon in Medieval Historical Fiction just this week. I love working with professional editors and cover designers to create my work; the freedom of writing what, when and how I want, along with being responsible for my own marketing, pricing and promotions is a privilege I would find impossible to give up. My revenues are mine, the rights remain with me, and, most of all, I enjoy being part of a thriving community of independent authors who support and encourage our creative and commercial goals.”

Cathie Dunn, historical novelist, France
“I first self-published in 2012. I’d written a romantic medieval murder mystery, and for years, I didn’t know where it was going. Murder mystery? Romance? Historical Fiction? All in one? As you can see, it didn’t fit into any pre-determined boxes, and whilst I was published with a US-based indie press with one book at the time, this new one was not strictly a romance. It also contained murder and battle scenes. It was tricky to find publishers who wanted that combination back then. So I decided to self-publish it on Amazon and Smashwords, though it’s currently exclusively available on Amazon. Then, five years ago, I joined several author friends and we set up Ocelot Press, an author cooperative. Each of us self-publishes our own books, but it’s all under one banner. Iit’s a system that works well, as you have a small, trusted network of author friends to help you with everything.”

Jean Gill, Novelist, photographer and poet
“At first I enjoyed ‘freedom from’; no rejection letters, no waiting; no disappointment with publishers (when they did accept a book) over cover choice or wrong-headed editing (a chapter was cut once and I afterwards learned it was to reduce page count and costs); above all, no accountability to anyone but me for sales performance. Now I take all that for granted and what I love is ‘freedom TO’; publish what and when I want, with my professional partners for covers and editing; define success on my terms; see sales instantly and control my finances (royalties coming in and marketing/publishing expenditure); and to enjoy being part of the supportive Indie/ self-published community.”

There you have it. Ten years on, I’m still bashing out my words, and ten years on, my readers are still reading them.

Here’s to the next ten!

Updated 2025: Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers – INCEPTIO, CARINA (novella), PERFIDITAS, SUCCESSIO, AURELIA, NEXUS (novella), INSURRECTIO and RETALIO, and ROMA NOVA EXTRA, a collection of short stories. Audiobooks are available for four of the series. Double Identity, a contemporary conspiracy, starts a new series of thrillers. JULIA PRIMA, Roma Nova story set in the late 4th century, starts the Foundation stories. The sequel, EXSILIUM, is now out.

Download ‘Welcome to Alison Morton’s Thriller Worlds’, a FREE eBook, as a thank you gift when you sign up to Alison’s monthly email update. As a result, you’ll be among the first to know about news and book progress before everybody else, and take part in giveaways.

How to get through the fog of 2022 into 2023

Let’s face it – 2022 has been a weird year.

Coming out of the strict Covid regulations and try to recover a ‘normal’ (ha-ha!) book life, I planned a busy year. And so it turned out:

On 3 January, I published my husband’s fantastic book File of Facts about using personal organisers. (He is a world expert!)
On 12 January, I took part in an Amazon Book Chat Live on amazon.com (US and rest of world) to talk about my favourite books. It was great fun! https://www.amazon.com/live/broadcast/a2dc3d11-8d82-49e8-b884-de1acad34a81
6-17 January saw a blog tour for my second Mélisende French thriller, Double Pursuit.

February was planning, writing and self-editing (JULIA PRIMA mostly), plus promotions for INCEPTIO and AURELIA.

At the beginning of March, I announced the results of the ‘Authors you Love’ competition. That was revelatory!

Then the joy of live events with REAL people!

Portsmouth MysteryFest March, on two panels: Historical Mysteries (as substitute for Edward Marston) and Crime and Mental Health. First live event post Covid!

London Book Fair, April, when I volunteered on the Alliance of Independent Authors’ stand, spreading the word! https://alisonmortonauthor.com/2022/04/london-book-fair-2022/

CrimeFest Bristol, May, where I met up with writing friends I hadn’t seen for 3 years and made new ones. Also I checked out new book trends and met colleagues from the Crime Writers’ Association.

Eboracum Roman Festival June, in the bookroom with a clutch of Roman writing friends, but we escaped from time to time.

Colchester Roman Festival, July – the first one ever! I was on two panels: ‘Colchester, garrison town for 2,000 years. Differences and similarities, the Roman and British armies’ and ‘When does Roman fact become fiction?’ https://www.alison-morton.com/2022/08/08/colchester-roman-festival-2022-the-first-one-ever/

Oh, yeah, my new Roma Nova story, JULIA PRIMA, the first Foundation story, set in AD 370 came out on 23 August! 😉 There followed excerpts, blog tour, special newsletters, reviews and a ton of all kinds of promotion.

Historical Novel Society conference, September, in Durham, UK, where I was on a panel called ‘Twisting Time in Historical Fiction – An Alternative Approach’ with Anna Belfrage and Christina Courtenay. We were just a group of time-twisters but we knew how to have fun with history… https://hns-events.com

October was a busy month! It began with a second blog tour for JULIA PRIMA, this time run by the Coffee Pot Book Club. Next, I was interviewed by the French regional press La Nouvelle République. Slightly surreal as I don’t have any of my books in a French translation. But still fun! And then the local French language class where I help out as an ‘assistant’ decided to feature the article in two of its lessons. Talk about embarrassing…
In October and November, I hosted a run of other authors on this blog: It’s always fun to make others talk! Anna Belfrage, Jean Gill, Helen Hollick, Elizabeth St John

Towards the end of November, I was invited onto French local radio in Poitiers for a live interview. FranceBleu is part of a national network run by the French equivalent of the BBC. After nattering on for there-quarters of an hour in French, I definitely needed coffee!

In December I was appointed Ambassador of the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) here in France. I’m still learning what it entails, but I feel honoured!

Oh, and in between I found time to write a few lines of the next book and plan a special project.

So how does this help with 2023?

2022 provided me with reconnection with normal writer’s book life. Apart from writing books, we make connections, meet agents, publishers, fellow writers, service providers and genre experts, but above all READERS. We learn and exchange, we swap techniques, run ideas past each other and share a glass or two of wine. Having had such a frenetic 2022, I feel I have re-established this part of my life.
Reassured me I have not been forgotten. Imposter syndrome is rife in the writing world, however elevated you are and however many or few books you sell or however many five-star reviews you have.
Released me to plan a calmer 2023. I don’t feel quite the same urge to dash all over the place.
Allowed me to say ‘no’ to some opportunities. Nobody can do everything and ultimately it’s up to us to choose what suits us. For instance, wonderful that social media is to publicise our books and interact with readers and colleagues, we can’t keep up with everything or our heads will explode. I’m determined to do more saying ‘no’ in 2023.

Books I've read in 2022

As in 2021, reading books has given me enormous pleasure. This year, I published a historical fiction story, JULIA PRIMA, set in AD 370, the first foundation story to my Roma Nova thriller series, but in this post I’m writing as a reader.

This is not a beauty contest or a selection. The list below contains just books I’ve read this year and enjoyed. Some made me catch my breath, others made me weep with joy or sorrow and others appalled me. But they all enthralled me.

I’m not mentioning those I read or part-read and didn’t enjoy – that’s not fair to the authors concerned as I’m probably not their ideal reader.

I’m a fussy reader. I use Amazon’s ‘Send a free sample’ service mercilessly, especially if it’s an author new to me. But I have discovered some real gems that way.

Oh, and I’ve read a few non-fiction for research and ‘professional development’

Fiction
Desperate Undertaking (Flavia Albia), Lindsey Davis
How to Find Love in the Little Things, Virginie Grimaldi
Pearl Moon, JJ Marsh
The Legacy of Halesham Hall, Jenni Keer
The Secrets of Saffron Hall, Clare Marchant
Legionary: Dark Eagle (Legionary 8), Gordon Doherty
Killashandra, Anne McCaffrey (re-read)
The Anomaly, Hervé Le Tellier, Adriana Hunter
Lady Helena Investigates, Jane Steen
Her Castilian Heart, Anna Belfrage
Gallows Wake, Helen Hollick
And By Fire, Evie Hawtrey
Beyond a Broken Sky, Suzanne Fortin
Men Like Gods, H. G. Wells
Hidden in the Mists, Christina Courtenay
The Berlin Exchange, Joseph Kanon
Ariadne, Jennifer Saint
The Apothecary’s House, Adrian Mathews
A Roman Shadow, H L Marsay
Pandora, Susan Stokes-Chapman
Gold Dragon, JJ Marsh
The Fugitive Colours, Nancy Bilyeau
A Pinch of Pure Cunning: Six Mysteries from Ancient Rome, Jane Finnis
Ascent (House of Normandy Book 1), Cathie Dunn
JUDAS 62, Charles Cumming
From the Ashes, Marion Kummerow
The Khan, Saima Mir
The Wolf Den, Elodie Harper
The Thread, Victoria Hislop
Time and Time Again, Ben Elton
A Bitter Chill, Jane Finnis
Summer Secrets at Bletchley Park, Molly Green
The One, John Marrs
Anachronist, Andrew Hastie
Too Soon the Night (Theodora Book 2), James Conroyd Martin
The Helsingør Sewing Club, Ella Gyland
An Instance of the Fingerpost, Iain Pears
Miss Graham’s War, Celia Rees
The Blood of the Iutes: The Song of Octa Book 1, James Calbraith
Find You First, Linwood Barclay
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot), Agatha Christie
The Ringbreaker, Jean Gill
Siege, Alistair Tosh
Bloody Dominions: The Conquest, Nick Macklin

Non-fiction
Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, Peter Heather
Rome and Italy: The History of Rome from its Foundation, Livy, R.M. Ogilvie, Betty Radice (Re-read)
Julia Velva, A Roman Lady from York: Her Life and Times Revealed, Patrick Ottaway
The Long War for Britannia 367–664: Arthur and the History of Post-Roman Britain, Edwin Pace
Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome, L J Trafford