Teashops and Time Lords by Juliet Greenwood

Last week, I travelled to London for the launch of Trisha Ashley’s latest heart-warming, life-affirming novel, The Little Teashop of Lost and Found.

Trisha Ashley

I left a chilly North Wales, with snow on the mountains and a few daffodils braving the wind, to a London bathed in spring sunshine. The blossom was out in St James’ Park, along with banks of crocuses and daffodils, and tourists speaking every language on earth (so it seemed) were out in force, as gleeful as ever as actually being in London.

London

I used to live in London, and I'm always surprised that it’s still the same buzz whenever I go back. This visit was made particularly special by Trisha’s launch at the wonderful Daunt Books in Marylebone. I was there as the unofficial paparazzi, clutching my new, still unfamiliar, camera, wishing my old faithful hadn’t just decided to give up the ghost. We arrived at dusk, and there in the window, we could see rows of Trisha’s books, taking pride of place, the pretty cover glowing out into the darkness. Daunt’s itself was just what a bookshop should be, opening up into Edwardian splendour, with a long galleried main room complete with an arched window and books everywhere you looked. A bookworm’s dream.

Trisha Ashley, outside Daunt Books

The launch itself was fun and relaxed. The large space soon filled with Trisha’s friends and supporters, and representatives from her publishers, Transworld. There was even a Time Lord, in the form of Peter Davison, accompanying his wife, author Elizabeth Heery.

Peter Davison, Trisha Ashley, Elizabeth Heery

Trisha signed books with style, chatted to everyone, making the many people there feel welcome, and was presented with a bag of teashop-related goodies from Transworld to celebrate. Thank goodness my camera behaved itself (apart from having to switch it off a few times when it did something far too sophisticated for me to understand), and the lighting in Daunt’s was perfect. Everyone there was so relaxed and enjoying themselves my paparazzi duties were great fun.

Margaret James, Trisha Ashley

Trisha Ashley, Poppy Stimpson

Trisha Ashley, Norma Curtis, Minna Howard

Trisha Ashley, Francesca Best

So, as you can see, it was a wonderfully enjoyable evening, and the perfect way to celebrate the launch of a new book. A new bestseller has been well and truly launched. Here’s to the launch of the next book!

Anne Bennett, Trisha Ashley, Margaret James

The Little Teashop of Lost and Found

by Trisha Ashley

Alice Rose is a foundling, discovered on the Yorkshire moors above Haworth as a baby. Adopted but then later rejected again by a horrid step-mother, Alice struggles to find a place where she belongs. Only baking – the scent of cinnamon and citrus and the feel of butter and flour between her fingers – brings a comforting sense of home.

So it seems natural that when she finally decides to return to Haworth, Alice turns to baking again, taking over a run-down little teashop and working to set up an afternoon tea emporium.

Luckily she soon makes friends, including a Grecian god-like neighbour, who help her both set up home and try to solve the mystery of who she is. There are one or two last twists in the dark fairytale of Alice’s life to come . . . but can she find her happily ever after?

Exeter Story Prize 2015 & The Trisha Ashley Award by Juliet Greenwood

I recently had the privilege of being on the panel of writers speaking at the Exeter Story Prize and Trisha Ashley Award.

Since I live in North Wales, this first meant getting down to Exeter, nearly 300 miles, and the longest I’d ever driven in one day. And since Trisha lives just along the coast from me, it also meant being responsible for ensuring Trisha Ashley actually got there to deliver the Trisha Ashley Award (no pressure then)!

The Venue

We set off at 7am, when the roads were quiet. This meant we reached Gloucester Service Station (eco and not at all like a service station) for an early lunch in a painless manner, with just the last bit of motorway to Exeter to go. This was when the Satnav decided we urgently needed to return to Kidderminster, and when gently corrected went into a sulk and abandoned us to our fate among the scary motorway lanes around Bristol. However, between us we managed to get past and arrive safely for a warm welcome at Margaret James’ lovely home in Exmouth.

Trisha Ashley and Juliet Greenwood

The next morning we travelled into Exeter by taxi (hurrah!) for lunch, before heading off to the awards. I hadn’t been to Exeter before, but I shall be definitely going back. I loved it, with its mixture of very old and new, and the church where the awards were taking place was a hidden gem. It was great to see so many people there. It was also a chance to meet up with old friends and new, and friends I’d known via Facebook and Twitter for years, but had never met in person, which is always a buzz. The panel seemed to go well - I certainly enjoyed it! It’s always stimulating to hear other writers’ experiences and opinions, and to be made to think about your own writing process to answer the questions. 

Trisha presents the Trisha Ashley Award
to the winner, Simon Kettlewell

The awards were then presented with aplomb, with some very excited winners. I’d almost forgotten that being shortlisted for short story awards was the way I began my writing career, so it was great seeing it from the other side. Then in the evening, we celebrated by going out for a delicious meal in Exeter, a chance to unwind and catch up with fellow authors.

The only real drama came the next morning, when the taxi taking Trisha to the station to catch the train home didn’t arrive. Fortunately I’d waited to leave at the same time before setting off on a research trip round Cornwall, so I was able to take Trisha and Margaret into Exeter, braving the chaos of roads being blocked off for the Great West Run taking place that day. We went quite a few times round a very large and scary roundabout – but girl-power prevailed, and we finally found a way out and to the station.

The rest of my trip round Devon and Cornwall was easy–peasy after that – and the unplanned detour meant that the Satnav took me right past the door of Lanhydrock, which I’d decided I didn’t have time to visit, but when you arrive at a beautiful house and gardens just as the sun comes out – well, what can you do? 

Lanhydrock

The Gardens at Lanhydrock

I loved my trip down to Exeter. Trisha and I had fun going down (despite the rebellious Satnav), and everyone was wonderfully welcoming. Much as I love the peace and quiet up here, it can sometimes feel far away (despite London being less than four hours away by train). Suddenly Exeter, and all the friends, old and new, don’t seem quite so far away.

So congratulations to the winners and all those short-listed for the Exeter Story Prize and the Trisha Ashley Award – and see you next year!

Trisha Ashley

You can find out more about the Exeter Story Prize at Creative Writing Matters.

My Sunlounger Experience by Valerie-Anne Baglietto

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It started with a handbag. Well, OK, no. It didn't. But a handbag does feature in this blog post. 

It actually started with an email from the lovely, industrious Belinda Jones early in 2013. Fellow Novelista Trisha Ashley had recommended me (and Louise Marley and Margaret James) for an anthology Belinda was planning called SUNLOUNGER. The criteria was, it had to be set somewhere foreign and preferably sunny, transporting the reader to exotic shores, cities, temples, mountains... anywhere but here. Pure escapism, in effect.

And so I took up the challenge, selected Gibraltar as my setting, as I was born there and still have a lot of family on the Rock, and decided there ought to be an unconventional genie in the tale. Of course. Why not? A brass lamp and a fit genie and a young woman desperately in need of a miracle.

Now I hadn't really written a short story in years. I always scribble on until it turns into a novel. But I took up the challenge (yes, I know I've said that already, but it really WAS a challenge for me) and penned a story under five-thousand words. And something wonderful and unexpected happened - I loved the experience! I loved learning to be brief and to spin a plot that would span a single day rather than months or a year. I relished keeping characterisation spare and painting a picture of the heroine's back-story that would leave the reader with a sense of heartbreak and hope. And from reviews I received afterwards, it worked.

Then, guess what? I was asked if I was interested in doing it all over again for SUNLOUNGER 2. So I bit Belinda's arm off and plucked Gran Canaria from a list of potential sun-soaked destinations. Again, it was a pleasure to write *coughs* - when it was going well - and I ended up with an eight-thousand word story this time. But I allowed my narrator to tell the tale, and that was the length she wanted. As it fitted with Belinda's new maximum word count, I gave my narrator a break. She deserved it; she'd pulled the story straight out of her soul and I think it was painful for her. Sometimes I feel as if I am a medium, and some spirit is telling me their story, murmuring their heartbreak and dreams in my head, especially when I'm working in the first person POV. Anyway, it got written, and now it's there in black and white, or sepia, or whatever colour you prefer for your eBook reading, for the world to hopefully enjoy.

And so now we come to the handbag. Seriously, I'm a bag-aholic (it's in my surname, after all) so there had to be a handbag coming into it somewhere. Directly below, in fact. 

I treated myself to it with birthday dosh, and took it proudly down to London when I attended the Sunlounger Party at Trader Vic's at the end of May. As bags go, I felt it perfectly encapsulated the whole Sunlounger ethos, and I got a few comments about it. I also took a man with an Hawaiian shirt to the party, but it turns out he felt surplus to requirements and went for a wander along Park Lane instead, where he promptly managed to get himself lost for an hour. I know, don't ask.

Made by the lovely Tracy of Tracy's T-cakes

With debut author Stephanie Wahlstrom (left)

So here are a few photos from the party, mainly involving cocktails and cakes. Unfortunately fellow Novelista Louise Marley couldn't come along to London with me, so I had to enjoy the Mai Tais and the gorgeous cupcakes on her behalf as well as indulging for my own sake. It was a hardship, which you can probably tell from my face. No? Oh. Well, hopefully, if it's repeated in 2015, I'll be able to drag her along.

Belinda Jones (left) and a few of the SUNLOUNGER authors at Trader Vic's

To make up for it this year, though, Louise and I are throwing a mini SUNLOUNGER 2 launch with our Novelista friends early in July. I hope the sun shines, and even though there won't be cocktails, as anyone familiar with the Novelistas can testify, there will definitely, categorically be cake!

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