Posts Tagged ‘Patricia Scanlan’

Patricia Scanlan is one of the biggest names in women’s fiction, and has held her place at the top for a good many years now. I first heard of Patricia because my mum absolutely loves her books, and is always trying to get me to read the City Girl trilogy which I must find the time to read! I recently had the pleasure of reading Patricia’s latest book, a Christmas themed title called Coming Home. It was a lovely read, and Patricia was kind enough to do an interview with us, so here it is!

Q1. Tell us about your latest book “Coming Home”.

Coming Home is about two sisters who have different perceptions about each other’s lives, Alison Dunwoody’s high flying financial career is on the skids when she’s made jobless due to the financial melt-down, her Upper East Side apartment is now way beyond her means and she’s far from financially secure. But pride prevents her from telling her family back home. Her sister Olivia is finding it difficult to juggle family, career, caring for their elderly uncle, trying to make preparations for Christmas and organize a surprise party for her mother’s seventieth birthday. She envies and sometimes resents Alison whom she thinks has a great life in New York. Coming home is the last thing Alison wants to do especially now that she’s met a rather dishy, sexy, down to earth neighbour who doesn’t believe in ‘non exclusive dating’ unlike her wealthy boyfriend, Jonathan. But family ties are strong and Alison comes home and gets to really know her family again especially her young nieces who are having a magical time, stirring the puddings and making wishes, lighting the candle in the window on Christmas Eve, performing their Nativity play in Church on Christmas Morning, after the excitement of Santa’s arrival, and having a very merry Christmas dinner. Alison comes to realise that the love of her family is far more important than wealth and success, Olivia recognizes how lucky she is to have a happy marriage and three lovely children and how great it’s been to have her sister home to share good times with their parents. At the end of the day, family is more important than anything.

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** Read our exclusive interview with Patricia Scanlan here **

Alison Dunwoody thought she had it all - a great job, good salary and a great life in New York City. But when the recession hits, Alison is shocked to find that she’s lost her job. She’s too embarassed to tell her family, and instead decides to fly home to Ireland and have Christmas with her parents, sister and 3 gorgeous nieces.

Alison loves the feeling of being back home, but misses her new friend Jack from New York - he knows about her job loss and she can confide in him. Will Alison be able to keep her secret away from her family for her holiday? Or is Coming Home exactly what Alison needs to make her feel happy again?

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Cally Taylor - Heaven Can Wait - 15th October

‘What would I do without you, Lucy Brown?’ he said, and kissed me softly. I held his face in my hands and kissed him back. I felt that life just couldn’t get any more perfect. And I was right, it wouldn’t. By the end of the next day, I’d be dead.

Lucy is about to marry the man of her dreams - kind, handsome, funny Dan - when she breaks her neck the night before their wedding. Unable to accept a lifetime’s separation from her soulmate, Lucy decides to become a ghost rather than go to heaven and be parted from Dan. But it turns out things aren’t quite as easy as that. When Lucy discovers that Limbo is a grotty student-style house in North London she’s less than thrilled.

Especially after meeting her new flatmates: grumpy, cider-swilling EMO-kid Claire; and Brian, a train-spotter with a Thomas the Tank Engine duvet and a big BO problem. But Lucy has a more major problem on her hands - if she wants to become a ghost and be with Dan she has to complete an almost impossible task. How the hell does a girl like Lucy find a girlfriend for the dorkiest man in England? IT geek Archie’s only passions are multi-player computer games and his Grandma. But Lucy only has twenty-one days to find him love.

And when she discovers that her so-called friend Anna is determined to make a move on the heart-broken, vulnerable Dan, the pressure is really on…

Jessica Ruston - Luxury - 15th October

Sexy, smart New Yorker Logan Barnes knew how to take what he wanted to get where he wanted to be. But you can’t win the girl, make the money and live the high life without picking up enemies along the way…

There’s only one enemy who matters, and that’s the friend Logan betrayed years ago – Nicolo Flores. He got mad, but better still he got even, waiting in the wings to pull the plug on Logan and see his fortunes come crashing down.

Now Logan’s back, in London with a perfect wife, perfect family, and the perfect jewel to crown his rebuilt hotel empire: a stunning island getaway for the truly über-rich. Nicolo’s crazy to find a way to crush him again – but with gambling, addiction, sex and scandal all knocking on the Barnes’ family door, maybe they’ll destroy themselves before he even has a chance to…

Patricia Scanlan - Coming Home - 22nd October

Two sisters…two very different lives. Alison’s American dream is in tatters. Her highflying career is on the skids in the financial meltdown. Her Upper East Side apartment is now way beyond her means . But pride prevents her from telling her family back home just how bad things are.

Olivia is fraught trying to juggle family, career, preparations for Christmas and organize a surprise party for their mother’s seventieth birthday. How she envies, and sometimes resents, her sister Alison and her life of excitement and affluence in New York. Coming home is the last thing Alison wants to do, especially now that she’s met a rather attractive, sexy, down to earth neighbour who doesn’t believe in ‘non exclusive dating’ unlike her wealthy boyfriend, Jonathan. But family ties are strong.

Alison and Olivia sort their differences, the party throws up a few surprises and Christmas brings changes for Alison that she could never have imagined before coming home.

Amy Silver - Confessions of a Reluctant Recessionista - 22nd October

Cassie Cavanagh has never minded being ‘just a PA’. In fact she’s quite content with her lot. She has a city job she kind of enjoys - after all she is indispensable, you know. She has a boyfriend who showers her with gifts - what more could a girl want? And she earns enough to (just about ) finance the luxuries she’s become used to.

But Cassie hadn’t banked on being made redundant. Nor had she pictured her boyfriend leaving her for an older woman! Nor had she ever imagined needing to take financial advice from her student flatmate. Reluctant to embrace the art of being thrifty, if Cassie’s going to survive the recession in style, she’s a lot to learn about budgeting.

And even more to learn about herself…

Harriet Evans - I Remember You - 29th October

Heartbroken Tess Tennant is leaving London and moving back to her picture-perfect home town to take up a teaching job. It’s time for a fresh start, one with warm stone cottages, friendly locals in oak-beamed pubs and of course Adam, her best friend since childhood.

But something isn’t right in the town: Adam is preoccupied with a new girlfriend and the past is looming large again. So by the time she has to take her class on a trip to Rome, Tess is feeling reckless. Swept off her feet by a mysterious stranger, she finds herself falling in love. But her magical Roman Holiday is about to turn into a nightmare! Back in Langford, as autumn creeps towards Christmas, Adam is gone and everything has changed.

Tess has to decide, once and for all, where she belongs and who with.

Julia Williams - Last Christmas - 29th October

Catherine Tinsall is gearing up for Christmas – in the middle of summer. As the Writer in Chief on Happy Homes magazine, she is putting together a ‘perfect Christmas’ competition, to remind readers of the festive season’s true meaning.

In the sleepy Shropshire village of Hope Christmas, Marianne Mistletan enters with the suggestion that her village’s nativity play be held in the ancient chapel of Fitzcross Manor, home to the St Nicholas family. Catherine is completely entranced by the idea, and Marianne to her delight finds that she has won.

Waiting in the wings to help Marianne organise the set design is the cool and charismatic Joe Carpenter, who may or may not be just what she wants for Christmas. Meanwhile, for Catherine, the Happy Homemaker image is wearing thin, as her fifteen-year old marriage appears to be in trouble.

Then tragedy strikes and Catherine is forced to reassess her priorities, and work out what the perfect Christmas really means. And overseeing it all, is the figure of John St Nicholas, lord of the manor and perhaps, for some, a Christmas angel! For anyone who’s wondered whether Christmas is over-priced hype, think again

Sara Shepard - All the Things We Didn’t Say - 29th October

Emotional, issue-led fiction perfect for all fans of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter and Jodi Picoult Tragedy came as if so often does: a teenage party, emotions running high, followed by a horrific car crash. A girl is left dead and a boy is forced to leave his home town, with a secret that he will carry with him forever! Years later, when Summer’s mother disappears one summer, she is left with her father who is going slowly crazy.

Obsessed with an accident from years ago, he slowly descends into mental illness. And as he becomes more disorientated, he reveals small fragments of a secret that has been hidden since his youth, a secret that changes everything. Summer supports her father as much as she can but eventually realises that she has to escape. She finds refuge with her great-aunt, Stella. Feisty, fun-loving, and dying of cancer, Stella holds parts of the family secret. Slowly, things fall into place for Summer - or at least so she thinks!

This is a story of the importance of family, of the damage a lie can do, and of how nothing is ever what it seems.

Marian Keyes - The Brightest Star in the Sky - 30th October

At 66, Star Street in Dublin, someone is watching over the lives of the people living in its flats. But no one is aware of it – yet…

One of them is ready to take the plunge and fall in love; another is torn between two very different lovers. For some, secrets they want to stay buried will come to light and for others, the unveiling of those secrets will have tragic consequences.

Fate is on its way to Star Street, bringing with it love and tragedy, friendship and heartbreak, and the power to change their lives in the most unexpected of ways…

Patricia Scanlan’s next novel Coming Home is due to be released on October 22nd and the cover has finally been released. It looks festive and is very nice. I like the Christmassy feel. The synopsis reads:

Kristy Dunwoody, a now jobless ex-banking high flier, is moving from her expensive uptown apartment in New York to a fourth-floor walk-up studio on the wrong side of town and she’s vowing not to tell her family of her reduced circumstances when she returns home for her mother’s surprise 70th birthday.

Olivia Morgan, harassed wife and mother of three, put upon daughter and sister-in-law, is trying to organize her mother’s party, do her Christmas shopping and clear out the guest room for Kristy’s homecoming.

Esther Dunwoody is dreading her birthday. She hopes there won’t be a fuss. She’d much rather get on with making the Christmas puddings and look forward to decorating the tree with her precious grandchildren. Little does she know there’s a big celebration in store …and there will certainly be surprises.

A few of my favourite authors have new books listed on Amazon, and of course I have to share them here with you! None of them have covers yet as most releases are for next year, but the titles are there, and a couple of synopsis’ too.

First up is Patricia Scanlan whose latest novel “Coming Home” is due out on 22nd October 2009. I have recently read my first Patricia Scanlan book and loved it, and this sounds like a brilliant read as well. Here’s the synopsis:
“Kristy Dunwoody, a now jobless ex-banking high flier, is moving from her expensive uptown apartment in New York to a fourth-floor walk-up studio on the wrong side of town and she’s vowing not to tell her family of her reduced circumstances when she returns home for her mother’s surprise 70th birthday.

Olivia Morgan, harassed wife and mother of three, put upon daughter and sister-in-law, is trying to organize her mother’s party, do her Christmas shopping and clear out the guest room for Kristy’s homecoming. Esther Dunwoody is dreading her birthday. She hopes there won’t be a fuss. She’d much rather get on with making the Christmas puddings and look forward to decorating the tree with her precious grandchildren. Little does she know there’s a big celebration in store …and there will certainly be surprises.”

Judy Astley is back with her 16th novel in July called Wearing Thin. No synopsis that I have been able to find yet, but Judy always writes an excellent story, and this is bound to be a brilliant summer read. Look out for it in the shops from 16th July.

Irish author Sharon Owens is back with her next book entitled “Seven Secrets of Happiness” through Poolbeg Press on 27th August. No synopsis is up yet, but we will update you when we can about that.$

Erica James, whose book “It’s The Little Things” was a great read and one I highly recommend (review coming soon!) has her next up on Amazon already. It’s due to be released on 18th February 2010 and is going to be called The Queen of New Beginnings. An intriguing title, but again there is no synopsis yet.

Anita Notaro is back with her next book No Ordinary Love on 7th October 2010, so there’s a bit of a wait for that one. However, if its as good as “Take A Look At Me Now”, her last book, it will be worth the wait!

I’ll post the synopsis’ when they become available, but I hope that was enough to whet your appetite for now!