Small miracles from distinctive voices
Being read to is one of the most wonderful parts of childhood and increasingly adults are realising how solacing and important it is to hear stories as well as immersing in them through books. Gather round our virtual fire for winter tales and lively discussion of the short-story form with two of Cinnamon’s finest short story writers, Adam Craig (High City Walk & Marietta Merz) and Isabelle Llasera (Smog).
Our last launch of the year was for Marie Dullaghan’s powerful collection of poetry and photography dealing with her son’s journey through living with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, a condition that comes with episodic paranoid schizophrenia: hallucinations, delusions. The book is a testimony to the human spirit and to the courage of this family, but also raises deep questions about mental health and how we make sense of challenging conditions and behaviour.
The launch was poignant, moving and honest, but also a celebration of how the journey has moved on, carrying a torch for gratitude in an uncertain world.
You can watch the video below
Zooming from Paris, the online launch of Child of the Black Sun is recorded below. Enjoy!
Jennifer Young’s third Max Falkland novel, A Little Switch, sees Max on a new mission, this time posing as a maid of honour at the Queen’s coronation. Out of her comfort zone with an assignment that reminds her she is the daughter of a viscount, and out of her depth with the silent men in her life, she takes refuge in an archeological expedition, but a chance meeting leads to a trip that will force Max to face the most frightening moments of her career while trying to protect those she loves. The final novel in this Cold War spy trilogy comes to an exciting conclusion. (Cover reveal here and the novel will be available for pre-order in the summer)
In Michelle Angharand Pashley’s Never to Be Told: Paul’s mother abandoned him when he was a baby. Evie’s mother died in a car accident. All Paul knows is what the private investigator told his father twenty-one years ago. Now Evie is a private investigator. And Paul wants to find out what really happened to his mother. There are secrets never to be told. But secrets rarely stay buried and, when the truth begins to surface, who will want to face it? As the disturbing secrets mount, both families will be changed forever.
Novelists create whole worlds, sometimes ‘realistic’, sometimes fantastical, but always taking us into the lives of others. Mark Godfrey (The River Reflects), Omar Sabbagh (Via Negativa), and Carole Strachan (The Truth in Masquerade, A Song of Thyme and Willow) explore how characters and their concerns suggest themselves to writers and the worlds that evolve around these characters.