The next Amy is out on Thursday and it’s called ‘One Wife too Many.’ My dear husband jokes that one wife can sometimes feel like one wife too many, but the truth is that bigamy does happen and it must be devastating to discover. You wonder what sort of person would choose to live another life and what else they’re capable of doing and how you could have missed the obvious signs. Or at least I think I would do, anyway. Thankfully, I haven’t had to and it’s only 3 weeks till my 39th wedding anniversary which proves how lucky I am.
I’m really enjoying watching Amy grow from the uncertain woman who tagged along behind wondering what on earth she’d found and dropping herself right in it to a valued and dare I say senior member of the team. Yes, she still finds trouble. Yes, she regularly wishes she had less to do and more time to sew and do nothing much. And most of all yes, if someone needs help then she’ll be there. Those are common but underestimated qualities in my opinion. Some people even laugh at those of us who like a smaller life, and it amuses me that they’re quite often those who talk most loudly about a woman’s right to choose. But choose what? To be like them? What happens if that’s not what they want to be?
I was quite regularly told I was letting down other women by making my life around my children and home. Never mind that my children were complicated and, putting it bluntly, no one else wanted them or that my husband was seriously ill. Never mind that I got up at stupid o’clock to write and earn. I was at home all day so I wasn’t valuable. So today I shall stand stiffly on my soap box and say, as Peter Cunningham does, either everyone matters or no one matters. What’s more, women’s work is important and needs and deserves to be valued.
I am NOT NOT NOT saying that all women should follow the path I did. I’m saying that they (and men too!) should be able to follow the path that is right for them at that time and that caring is incredibly valuable whether you are paid for it or do it for love or necessity. It’s all wrong that it’s thankless and overlooked and even denigrated.
Now, climbing down off my soap box and getting on with this week’s special offers at 99p in the UK and 99c in the US.
Starting with Amy, we have The Prodigal Daughter, A Prayer for Peace, To have and to hold, Let the Dead and She didn’t mean to find trouble, which is an anthology of the first 3 books. These are some of the early books in the series, back when she hadn’t realised who she was capable of being or what Peter was trying so hard to walk away from. As requested, I’ll talk a bit more about him another time.
Then there are 2 more anthologies - Love by the Sea, which is the first 3 Windy Bay books and The Scent of Lavender which is the first 3 Lavender House books. Both cosy, both unashamedly romantic, and both about finding the right place for you and people who love you for what you are, which ties in with what I was saying.
Last but very not least is my Chess Game trilogy which I write as Eleanor Neville, who is a little tougher, a little more violent and sometimes sexier. This trilogy explores bondage and domination because it struck me that it could very easily be misused and also that the tougher life is the more you might need to be able to give up control sometimes so like so many things in life it can be good or bad. Hence the other name, so you know what you’re getting. These books are Knights Move, Knight to Pawn and Pawn to Queen.
So that’s it for today, apart from a nice photo of a sunny day by the harbour where you wouldn't guess how cold it was. I hope all your days are sunny till we meet again.
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