Rubery Book Award Review

Here is the Rubery Book Award's review for Instructions for the Working Day!

I couldn't be more delighted with this wonderful response, especially the references to its offbeat nature and snatches of humour. I love that it is 'a pleasingly unconventional novel', as this was how it felt to me when I wrote it.

It is quite a challenge for a quiet, slightly strange literary novel like mine to gain a foothold, attract attention and gather reviews. I hope this accolade will help Instructions for the Working Day to reach more readers.

Published by Fairlight Books and available in hardback, paperback, audio or Kindle from all good bookshops

A Shortlisting for Instructions for the Working Day!

It's a great honour that Instructions for the Working Day has been shortlisted for The Rubery International Book Award! Thank you so much!

Paperback Publication Day!

September 1st 2023 is publication day for the paperback edition of my novel, Instructions For The Working Day from Fairlight Books.

To celebrate, I painted this monochrome watercolour of the marsh featured in the story. It's hard to know how to mark the occasion, but this felt fitting. I set out to captures the bleakness, but also a kind of radiance to represent hope.

Instructions For The Working Day is available in hardback, audio, on Kindle and now the paperback edition -with its new glow on the cover - from all good bookshops.

The story centres on Neil Fischer, who has left England for the former East Germany, where he has inherited a village left to rot after reunification. His desire to renovate it, and possibly even to live there, is met with hostility. But he does make one friend, Silke. They are damaged people, haunted by the torment of their pasts. Their friendship offers an opportunity for both to recover and rebuild their lives, But are they both strong enough to move on?