On International Women’s Day, I can’t resist the chance to mention just a few of my favourite female writers. I am not one of those women who only read books by women. Nor am I someone who thinks that male writers can’t write as well about subjects that might be seen as preoccupying their female...
Author: Jude Hayland (Jude Hayland)
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March News
Two dates already booked for March! First of all, the independent book shop, Brook’s in Pinner is holding a Local Writers’ Event on Thursday March 12th at 7.00pm. As I spent most of the first 30 years of my life living, going to school and teaching in the area I can evidently count as ‘a...
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DATE AT UXBRIDGE LIBRARY!
To keep in with the spirit of the month that provides us with Valentine’s Day, Hillingdon libraries is presenting an event at Uxbridge library called READ DATE. On Saturday February 1st. – from 12 noon until 2.00 pm – I will be among 10 writers pitching my novels to tables of readers and hoping that...
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SPOTTED IN PINNER!
THE LEGACY OF MR JARVIS is on the shelves of independent bookshop, BrOOK’S in Pinner – in fact, two copies are displayed! Pinner is where I lived for the first few years of my life and where I started school at West Lodge Primary. I also spent many years at the Studio School in Marsh...
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MR JARVIS REACHES EASTBOURNE!
Excellent to hear that Eastbourne library has just bought a copy of THE LEGACY OF MR JARVIS for their fiction shelves. With so much of the novel set on the south coast – my protagonists, Mary and her parents Ida and Jack Foster (not to mention Mr Jarvis, their lodger) living at 8, Sea View...
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THE WONDER OF BUSES!
As a child, buses were an everyday feature of my life. At the age of 8 or 9, I went by bus to primary school – yes, in those days, it was quite normal for children of that age to take themselves on bus journeys unaccompanied by an adult. In day time, at least. And...
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BOOK FAIRS
Book fairs are the most unpredictable events imaginable. In advance, the idea of spending a day in the company of fellow writers and potential readers seems full of promise. What could be more enjoyable than talking books, stories, spreading the word about one’s novels and making some valuable sales? And surely, anyone who walks into...
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EARLY REVIEWS OF ‘THE LEGACY OF MR JARVIS’
‘The writing is simply extraordinary …this is a novel about family, keeping your own council, second chances, self-discovery and, ultimately, hope …a literate and compassionate look at the lives we lead.’ https://shelleyann01.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-legacy-of-mr-jarvis-by-jude-hayland.html ‘I absolutely loved this book, it’s such a vivid depiction of family life decades ago. It took me back to my own childhood...
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‘Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont’ – and other overlooked riches …
I have just finished reading ‘Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont’ by Elizabeth Taylor – and cannot imagine how I have managed to get to this stage in life without reading it before. But then, as Taylor is described in the notes in my paperback copy, she is ‘the unsung heroine of British 20th century fiction.’...
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LONGLISTED FOR …
…on this very wet, grey, dark and dismal November morning, it was encouraging to hear that I have reached the longlist of RETREAT WEST flash fiction competition for this quarter. The theme was WATER – particularly appropriate, then, to today – and a maximum of 500 words for the story. As the competition is ongoing...