Instructions for the Working Day: in bookshops and on audio

It is always a thrill to see your book in the shops. Here is Instructions for the Working Day in Waterstones, alongside new hardback releases in this gorgeous front-facing display, which was a fabulous surprise.

Another wonderful piece of news: it is now available as an audio book read beautifully by the divine John Sackville.

Instructions has also received some hugely gratifying reviews. As an example, it was shortlisted for The Independent's Book of the Month in August. Martin Chilton said: 'Instructions for the Working Day, a clever reflection on the ramifications of the Stasi era in East Germany, is an elegant, chilling reminder of what happens when people set out to deliberately disintegrate another person's spirit.'

I painted another scene from Marschwald, the setting for the book, by way of celebration.

Winter Heron

I'm thrilled that my watercolour painting is a finalist with the Broadway Arts Festival 2022 competition. I didn't expect this at all. I'm looking forward to the exhibition in October when the work of all the finalists will be on show.

Inspiration for Winter Heron came when I was writing Instructions For The Working Day, which features a brutal sweep of marshland and the cry of a lone heron. Although the book is not set in winter, it felt right for this lonely, yet clear-sighted and optimistic painting.

Publication Day for Instructions For The Working Day!

It's publication day for Instructions For The Working Day and I would like to thank Fairlight Books for all their hard work and for being such a fabulous team to work with.

To celebrate I painted this watercolour sunrise with images of Berlin rising from the early morning mist. I also had to include the silo in the village of Marschwald, to which main character, Neil Fischer, is so drawn, and which features in all its mystical eeriness on the cover of the book. The hot air balloon gliding through the clouds represents the characters' hope for escape from their own troubles and from the tumultuous history of Berlin.

Instructions For The Working Day is available to buy now in hardback and on Kindle at Waterstones and Blackwells.