Peter Owen Jones, author of Everest England, believes that the greatest story that exists is the one inside every one of us. “You have a unique story and when you write in your voice you enter a vein of authenticity. The reader will sense you are telling the truth.”
Every writing journey is a little like climbing one’s own personal Everest, I learnt.
Read MoreToday is World Book Day and a good excuse to have a natter about books and the role of storytelling with Helen Tarver, a brilliant brand storyteller. In this interview with Helen, I talk through my thought processes in writing The Hidden Village and why I believed there was a gap in the market for my story.
Read MoreFrom Tuesday 5th February and for 3 days only you can download an ebook of THE HIDDEN VILLAGE for free
Read MoreStories like Selma Engel’s should never be forgotten. Born Saartje Wijnberg, as a young Dutch Jew, she was sent to Sobibor Camp in Poland in a sealed freight train in 1943. She was one of the lucky ones, not only to survive, but to meet her future husband Chaim. Both survived and managed to escape following a prisoners’ revolt. After emigrating to the US in 1957, she changed her name to Selma Engel, where she lived until her death, aged 96, in December 2018.
Read MoreThe Publisher Association released figures showing that download sales rose by 22 per cent last year to £13 million: audiobooks are the fastest growing sector of digital publishing and sales have more than doubled in five years.
Read MoreThe story of what happened in the Veluwe woods 75 years ago continues to intrigue me long after I finished writing The Hidden Village. I visit the place at least once a year when on holiday and it seems only right that I keep writing about the extraordinary stories associated with the real hidden village.
Read MoreI’ve returned from sunny Miami where I picked up my first (and hopefully not last!) book award for The Hidden Village. And what a weekend it was!
Read MoreAs I pieced together his story, it was so like the episode I had envisaged in The Hidden Village, when Jan discovers an English pilot whose plane had come down. What is remarkable is that I knew nothing about the pilot, also English, who was shot down over Nunspeet…
Read MoreIt’s exciting to be at the start of a new journey to bring my new novel to fruition.
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