Title & Cover are finally here

The leaves are falling outside my window faster than the teenagers in this house can be corralled into raking them, ideas continue to sprout for Book 4 (albeit, it must be said, much more slowly than the leaves dropping) and Book 3 has muscled its way back onto my desk.

Because something had still been missing there, several small-but-quite-crucial somethings, actually, such as — oh yes — a title! And a cover! Some text to go on the back! And I’m thrilled to report that all those things are finally here.Trepidatious times

When a cover first pings into your inbox, you always get a jolt: thrill, anticipation, the feeling of pulling up at yet another stop on the book’s journey out into the world. But at the same time, there’s always a tiny bit of fear. The cover gives your thoughts a face, it captures that instant, unable-to-put-into-words feeling inside you whenever you think of your story, whisperings of atmosphere and texture and emotion, and then freezes it all into one single image. So, for just a second, worry spirals inside your head (as it does): what if this doesn’t feel like my book? What if it misses the point? What if it’s like watching your favourite book turned into a movie, constantly cringing because everything about it feels different and cattywampus and odd? 

All turns out well in the end

Luckily, the fear always vanishes the moment I actually open those emails (which, really, is what happens with a lot of fears when you stop being a ninny and unpack them properly). I’ve always loved all my covers. I print them out and prop them up on my windowsill and gaze at them mistily like you would at a newborn babe. I pull them up on my phone when no one’s looking and smile to myself with a squeeze of pride. Because those covers do do all the things above — they put a beautiful face on something invisible, they create atmosphere, they give colour to emotions and feelings. And they make that book as real as you can possibly make it until you actually hold the thing in your hand on publication day.   

So, without further ado — meet The Orchard Girls. A story about apple orchards in autumn and land girls banding together to stick up for themselves, about a young woman desperate to hold on to someone she loves, about friendships and loss, triumph and courage, set in beautiful Somerset. I couldn’t be prouder.