Hafan Deg
Safe Harbour
September 2021
Australian-born Karen Miles is a successful London book editor, an attractive single mother in her fifties. She has a good income, a beautiful West London apartment, regular international travel, adult children she adores, and the occasional man, Despite the appearance of having it all, she is deeply unhappy, unresolved issues from the past re-emerging. Add to this her dread of the aging process. A bus pass, Karaoke and Bingo nights all loom large, she jokes. As her days become more deadening, she acknowledges that this is not the life she deserves; this is merely existence.
A derelict house, 'Hafan Deg', in North Wales, becomes the inspirational catalyst for her transformation. A touching and sometimes irreverent observation of an older woman's struggle to reconnect and find validation.
Uncharacteristic
Behaviour
February 2014
Romance writer Joanna Boden has just published her first novel and the book’s moderate success has given her the confidence to leave her 9-5 job to write full-time. With her advance, she has bought her first home — a 1970s city town house, one of twenty-four in the row house development on her street. Not long after moving in, she discovers that her home, along with the rest of the row-houses, was only possible because of the demolition of a dozen or more fine Edwardian houses which had stood on their own large lots. She is intrigued to learn from the elderly owner of the one surviving original house on the block, Rosalie Campbell, that the project had been passionately protested by many, including Rosalie’s own activist daughter, Terry, who disappeared before the development was finished. Obsessed with Terry's story, Jo's own comfortable life (and her writing) changes dramatically. And what’s going on with Jo’s garden and why won’t anything grow there?
Melanie Dwyer has had serious disappointments to deal with lately—she’s lost her job and her lover moved out. Over the hill, is she? Buying an old house, miles from nowhere, with the idea of running a bed and breakfast, might be considered an impulsive decision, but she is undaunted, figuring this is her last chance to prove her true calling: Taking care of people. Along with the usual country education—raising chickens, adopting barn cats, getting a dog, plus a sheep called Marilyn, she makes friends with people who have far more interesting stories to tell than most city folk she’s known. And she discovers that it’s not too late for sex, even love. There is unexpected violence, too, something she is familiar with herself, but it won’t shape this new life. No one messes with Mel—not now that she’s found herself.
Who said country life was boring?
The Attic
November 2013
Young Toronto graphic artist Strachan (pronounced 'Strawn' per the Gaelic) Marshall is a loner and could be considered something of a loser. Things change dramatically when she is compelled to check out an attic in an eerie, derelict building, and finds herself feverishly "transcribing" the journal of Celia, a young Englishwoman from decades earlier, who relates her experiences in war-torn Britain. Naturally, practical Strachan refuses to coin the word "ghost". The whole thing is an exciting adventure. When she produces a poignant memoir, which focuses on the apparently doomed affair between Celia, a WAAF (Women's Auxiliary Air Force), and Alex, an RAF serviceman, with detailed descriptions of the era which appear to be as accurate as if Strachan had lived through it herself, people are bound to have questions. Telling the truth would mark Strachan as psychotic, so she lies, saying she did a lot of research. She didn't. Only those closest to her know about The Attic.