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Writing and Teaching: A Happy Mix

When my pupils find out that I'm a writer, there is a general air of fascination for a while. They Google my books and ask if they can buy them on Amazon (they can, but - by and large - they don't) and want to know why I need to teach if I'm a published author.  The answer is simple, of course: when I'm doing well, I break even as an author, I never make actual money.  But recently I've realised that being an English teacher is something I would continue even if I had a sudden jackpot win on the lottery. I love my job. Take today for example: I got to teach Seamus Heaney's Digging to a group of S1s, held a mock trial for Dr Frankenstein with my S3s, read a chapter of The Graveyard Book with my S2s, and - perhaps best of all - began the analysis of M.R. James' A Warning to the Curious with my S4 class. Who wouldn't want that job? I think writers make great English teachers - and editors make even better ones! We are used to spotting little details here an...
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#HistFicThursdays - A Meadow Murder - Helen Hollick

  


Today, I'm delighted to be shining a spotlight on Helen Hollick's brilliant book, A Meadow Murder, as part of her Coffee Pot Book Club tour!

So, let's meet the book...


"As delicious as a Devon Cream Tea!" ~ author Elizabeth St John

"Every sentence pulls you back into the early 1970s... The Darling Buds of May, only not Kent, but Devon. The countryside itself is a character and Hollick imbues it with plenty of emotion" ~ author Alison Morton

***

Make hay while the sun shines? But what happens when a murder is discovered, and country life is disrupted?

Summer 1972. Young library assistant Jan Christopher and her fiancé, DS Lawrence Walker, are on holiday in North Devon. There are country walks and a day at the races to enjoy, along with Sunday lunch at the village pub, and the hay to help bring in for the neighbouring farmer.

But when a body is found the holiday plans are to change into an investigation of murder, hampered by a resting actor, a woman convinced she’s met a leprechaun and a scarecrow on walkabout...

A Meadow Murder is on #KindleUnlimited via this Universal Link


Now, let's meet the author...


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, 'Cosy 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. The front cover of episode #4 A MEADOW MURDER is Helen’s actual hay meadow on her Devon farm.
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...

You can keep up to date with Helen on her

To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner below!
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Comments

  1. Cathie Dunn31 August 2023 at 12:06

    Thank you for hosting Helen Hollick today, with her intriguing new mystery, A Meadow Murder.

    Cathie xx
    The Coffee Pot Book Club

    ReplyDelete
  2. Helen Hollick31 August 2023 at 12:17

    Thank you so much for inviting me - and A Meadow Murder - onto your blog today!

    ReplyDelete

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