Book Synopsis:
The new novel by the best-selling author Allie Cresswell**
**A prequel to the award-winning Tall Chimneys**
The Talbots are wealthy. But their wealth is from ‘trade’. With neither ancient lineage nor title, they struggle for entrance into elite Regency society. Finally, aided by an impecunious viscount, they gain access to the drawing rooms of England’s most illustrious houses.
Mrs Talbot intends her daughter Jocelyn to marry well, to eliminate the stain of the family’s ignoble beginnings. But the young men Jocelyn meets are vacuous, seeing Jocelyn as merely a substantial dowry. Only Lieutenant Barnaby Willow sees the real Jocelyn, but he is deployed to war.
The hypocrisy of fashionable society repulses Jocelyn—beneath the courtly manners she finds deceit, dissipation and vice. She stumbles upon and then is embroiled in a sordid scandal which threatens utter disgrace for the Talbot family. Humiliated and dishonoured, she is sent to a remote house hidden in a hollow of the Yorkshire moors, irrevocably separated from family, friends and any hope of hearing about the lieutenant’s fate.
The House In The Hallow is available in ebook and paperback. You can purchase your copy using the link below.
Guest Post: Desert Island Disks
Desert Island Disks is a long-running radio show that asks guests to choose eight old-fashioned records they would choose to keep them company when marooned on a desert island.
The concept is somewhat outmoded these days, when we have hundreds of songs on our phones and our phone is the thing we would cling most tightly to when the wave swept us from the deck. How else would we call home to say we might be just a little late? How else, indeed, would we be able to update our social media feed?
Allie Cresswell is feeling frazzled. 😲
OMG! Can’t believe what just happened! Ship has sunk. So annoying as was due to have facial this pm. 👎 ☂️ 🌊
But I like the idea of choosing, out of hundreds, just a handful of things. It concentrates the mind and requires us to prioritise. So when Jo asked me to choose the eight books I’d pack (hurriedly) into my hermetically sealed and beautifully buoyant trunk before lashing myself to it and committing myself to the sea, I was thrilled.
The rules prohibit any books that might be of use, so no ‘How to survive on a desert island’ manuals, no ‘fishing for beginners’ or, ‘make your own bivouac in moments’ handbooks are permitted. I’d need l o n g books, to help the days and weeks pass before rescue came. And, make no mistake about it; rescue would have to come as I have no practical skills to speak of. Even if I could catch a fish I’m not sure I could gut one. Making a fire is going to be tricky due to a dearth of boy scouts to rub together. I’m praying for a source of fresh water, a shady palm tree, weather that is not too hot, wet or windy, sea that is not infested by sharks or jelly fish, and plenty of low-hanging fruit.
I’d choose four books that are well-known to me. Re-reading them would be like inviting old friends to my encampment beneath that obliging palm tree. Knowing their endings would be a comfort as I think I would have enough uncertainty in my life without inviting more.
The books I’d choose in this category would be Jane Austen’s Emma, The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollop (it’s his longest book), Bleak House by Charles Dickens and Henry James’ The Ambassadors (to see if I can, finally, figure out what’s actually going on in it.)
The final four books are trickier. I’m tempted to choose books written by friends. B Fleetwood is an old friend of mine and her Chroma Trilogy is remarkable for its world-building. Helen Ryan is a writer I admire for the tough subjects she tackles. But I’m going to be brave and choose four books from my TBR pile. They are by authors I already know and trust, so it’s not too risky. All write prose that inspires and enthrals me. They sweep me off to places and situations that will broaden my watery horizon and help me escape, if only temporarily, from that sandy shore.
These books would be: The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker. Her first book, One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow awed me by its elegiac descriptions and subtle nuances of character. I’d hope this one would do the same. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. This is her Pulitzer-prize winning novel. I love the infinitesimally delicate precision of Strout’s prose. Any book by John Boyne is sure to be wonderful but I think I’d choose Next of Kin, just because the title appeals. The Alchemy and Rose is the new novel by Sarah Maine, who writes enthralling time-shift historical novels set in places I recognise.
It’s tradition on Desert Island Disks for a wave to come and threaten the shipwreck survivor’s collection. She’s allowed to save just one. Mine would be Emma. I have spent years disliking Emma Woodhouse and it is only since writing my Highbury Trilogy that I have come to understand her and feel sorry for her. Saving her would be my act of atonement.
I believe I’m allowed one luxury. Although the accoutrements for tea-making would be great, my ability to find water and light a fire is doubtful. I’d ask for paper and pens so I could write my next novel (and, who knows, perhaps also several more after that, time allowing) but no one, least of all me, would be able to read my scribble, so that’s a lost cause. I’d better have a vat of moisturiser, please, so that my face does not implode before rescue arrives.
Thanks so much for this fantastic guest post Allie!
About The Author:
Allie Cresswell is the recipient of two coveted One Stop Fiction Five Star Awards and three Readers’ Favorite Awards Allie was born in Stockport, UK and began writing fiction as soon as she could hold a pencil. Allie recalls: ‘I was about 8 years old. Our teacher asked us to write about a family occasion and I launched into a detailed, harrowing and entirely fictional account of my grandfather’s funeral. I think he died very soon after I was born; certainly I have no memory of him and definitely did not attend his funeral, but I got right into the details, making them up as I went along (I decided he had been a Vicar, which I spelled ‘Vice’). My teacher obviously considered this outpouring very good bereavement therapy so she allowed me to continue with the story on several subsequent days, and I got out of maths and PE on a few occasions before I was rumbled.’ She went on to do a BA in English Literature at Birmingham University and an MA at Queen Mary College, London. She has been a print-buyer, a pub landlady, a book-keeper, run a B & B and a group of boutique holiday cottages. Nowadays Allie writes full time having retired from teaching literature to lifelong learners. She has two grown-up children, two granddaughters and two grandsons, is married to Tim and lives in Cumbria.
Over The Rainbow Blog 