Hi,

A Happy New Year to you, one and all!

My new year started off with a bang. Straight into ghost writing a memoir for a lady from the Killarney area. Can you imagine being brought up in the house below? It was no different from the others in the parish, and although times were tight, apparently the people living here were neither better nor worse off than any of their neighbours. This house had one main room and two bedrooms, and the external door, straight into the main room was never closed unless there was a wind driving from the north. There was no electricity; oil lights were used until the Tilley Lamp came into being. Electricity came in about 1955, after the author left for full time work as a maid in a hotel when she was fourteen. Water for drinking was drawn daily from a shared well, and the water for washing was collected from the (presumably slated) roof into a barrel. And this was less than 100 years ago. I have yet to discover if the house was originally thatched, and whether there is any clue as to its age...

AUTHORLY NEWS

I'm on the last leg of the Irish book for Bookoutre, which I have now called 'I Will Take You Back, Kathleen', loosely after the song. The old recording by Joseph Locke would bring tears to your eyes. The editor might well have an opinion as to the title, but it feels good to have a title, as if the title lends credence to a tranche of unidentified work. I have the story written save for the grand denouement, which I am writing now...

I'll take you home again, Kathleen, Across the ocean wild and wide,

To where your heart has ever been, Since you were first my bonnie bride.

The roses all have left your cheek. I've watched them fade away and die,

Your voice is sad when e'er you speak, And tears bedim your loving eyes.

Oh! I will take you back, Kathleen, To where your heart will feel no pain,

And when the fields are fresh and green, I'II take you to your home again!

Legend of the Selkie is going to be free on Amazon on 6th January for a few days. Anyone who hasn't read it yet, this is a gentle reminder to grab it and please review. It is the story of a woman seeking her place in a small Irish community where legend is fused almost inextricably with modern life, causing some potentially disastrous consequences.

The Loyalty of Children is out as scheduled, and desperate for more reviews. As always, if you review one of my books online and send me details, I'll let you have another one free!

From starting out somewhere over #80,000 in the Amazon charts just over a year ago (pretty much invisible), the first book in series is now here:

• #226 in Women's Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #247 in Literary Fiction (Kindle Store)
• #676 in Women's Crime Fiction

Isn't this amazing? And it's all down to you readers. A few more reviews might shunt it into the top 100 in the first two categories, and then I might actually be getting somewhere! So, if you've had a free book from me, a review would be seen as a huge gesture of reciprocal goodwill. Here are the links again:

The Silence of Children: Amazon Bookbub Goodreads

The Price of Children: Amazon Bookbub Goodreads

The Loyalty of Children: Amazon Bookbub Goodreads

This book below is one I'm promoting simply because I enjoyed it. I rarely want to read a work of fiction twice, but this is one of them. What a little gem! Well-written, aimed at children, but absolutely full of all the elements of a stonking good thriller. Will the little queen bee escape from the laboratory she was bred in, and if so, can she survive out in the real world? I laughed and nearly cried, reading this wonderful book. It's not on offer at the moment, but is worth the minimal cost of the ebook!

*** BOOKS FREE OR ON OFFER (mostly) ***

I don't have time to check every book that comes via a book funnel, or a 'swap' promotion with another author, so if you get a novella (tip: on Amazon you can page down to the book details to check the page count), a sample, a badly written book, or anything else that you find irritating, let the author know, by way of a review; don't shoot the messenger!

Even if you choose not to take any of the books from the offers, do please click on some links - it would help my 'share' statistics! I have actually been refused entry to some promotions as my share rate isn't high enough. The book funnels seem to be dominated by some very aggressive authors, now, which says more about their characters than their writing. I admit to being a social mediaphobe and live in the hope that writing quality beats the ability to bludgeon my way to readers...

Happy Reading

www.chrislewando.com

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