Publication of The Hilltop Hour

The Hilltop Hour, my novella published by Ad Hoc Fiction

I'm so delighted that The Hilltop Hour, runner-up in the 2026 Bath Novella-in-Flash Award, has been published by Ad Hoc Fiction.

Grateful thanks to Jude Higgins, the competition judge, who said this about it:

'The novella-in-flash tells the story of Cassie and Susan, both of whom contracted polio (probably in one of the last outbreaks in the UK in the 1970s), Joanna shows how Cassie, a young girl of eleven at the time, and Susan, a newly qualified teacher, manage the experience being in an iron-lung and learn to breathe again. After they leave hospital, we follow their different journeys as they slowly manage without the ventilator and each make a new life. This engrossing novella is striking in many ways not least in how vividly it portrays life inside an iron lung and how frightening and painful it is to breathe unaided. I like that this novella is particularly pertinent at the moment, when, often due to people not being vaccinated, this incurable disease is to be found again in countries where it was eradicated decades ago.'

The cover design is one of my own watercolour paintings. I tried to capture the rugged beauty and healing power of nature, a recurrent theme in the narrative.

The Hilltop Hour is available to buy now, either directly from me, if you would like a signed copy, or from Amazon.