My first born

Do you think kids instinctively know what they want to be when they grow up, or does it take time for their natural talents to emerge? I recall my sister picking wild flowers and arranging them in jars when she was still a toddler. She’s now a florist with a whole string of letters after her name. A kid in my class used to bring his guitar into school and serenade us. He’s now a newspaper editor in Australia, where his employees benefit from free recitals.

Me, every spare second was spent either on horseback, reading or scribbling stories. Nothing’s changed, except that I don’t have horses anymore.

I wrote my first book at fifteen, my second ten years later. Then life, husbands and horses took over for quite a while but the desire to put pen to paper never left me. Eight years ago, with time on my hands, I took it up again. Lady Hartley’s Inheritance – a fun regency romp and my first serious attempt at novel writing– was accepted for publication by a house in London. So too were the next four but, as all you mothers out there will know, your first born holds a special place in your heart.

Lady Hartley is now making another appearance. This time it’s in digital form with Musa, the impressive and innovate new e-publisher, and has benefited greatly from the attentions of their sharp editing team. Here’s the striking cover.

Clarissa Hartley is distraught when she discovers that her late husband left his entire estate to a son she knows nothing about. Her godmother’s son, Luc Deverill, the Earl of Newbury, suspects fraud.

Thrown together during the social whirl of a Regency season in full swing, Luc is increasingly drawn towards Clarissa, but she thinks him an idle dissipate and finds little to admire in the ways of high society …

Go to my website at http://www.wendysoliman.com to read an excerpt.

Lady Hartley’s Inheritance, available from Musa Publishing http://www.musapublishing.com/  or Amazon.com from October 14^th.

Visit my Facebook author’s page,https://www.facebook.com/wendy.soliman.author?ref=ts 
click like, leave a message mentioning Lady Hartley’s Inheritance and you could win a copy of the book.

Last week I talked about Halloween and asked for suggestions about Father Christmas’s leisure activities. Here’s what Alison Runham said.

Father Christmas is, of course, a kindly soul. So he spends much of his year caring for the other supernatural creatures that don't get out much - you know, ghouls, the Easter Bunny, the occasional Tooth Fairy whose patch is just a tiny hamlet in the Hebrides. And of course when Mrs Christmas demands her sunshine break (well wouldn't YOU, if you lived at the North Pole?), they have to invite Jack Frost to their Barbados villa too. "He's at a loose end," Father Christmas explains to his wife. She wraps her beach kimono around herself and pouts.

"It's intolerable, Crimbo!" she cries, batting her eyelashes at her twinkle-eyed hubby. "He drips all over the floor!"

"He can't help it, dear" says Father Christmas gently. "It's in his nature."

Mrs C sniffs. "You wouldn't say that if YOU were the one who spent the rest of the year scooping up Easter Bunny's pellets. Easter Bummy, that's what I'd call him."
The conversation always ends the same way. She stalks out and Father C sighs, knowing once again his generosity will cost him a brand new 'Mary Christmas by Chanel' suit for Mrs C.

Congratulations, Alison. You win a copy of my novel, A Class Apart.

Wendy