A New Year, Jools Holland, a New Paperback, and a Giveaway
Goodbye 2023. Hello 2024.
Well, that was a year.
Although wonderful things happened in 2023 (ex. my wedding and honeymoon, A Traitor in Whitehall and The Lost English Girl coming out in hardcover), I think that it is safe to say that everyone I know was ready to see the back of 2023 and welcome in 2024 by the time that December 31st rolled around.
The Gentleman1 and I rang in the new year with a glass of Bollinger and Jools Holland’s Annual Hootenany2 on the sofa. We then promptly went to bed for about 10 hours only to wake up and bake what I am stubbornly calling a breakfast cake because Chapin told me I can. We also did our annual book purge/reorder where we clear out books earmarked for donation and then reshelve all of the books we’ve received for Christmas in hopes that everything will fit before inevitably realizing that was foolish and we need more bookshelves. It’s a great tradition.
Now I am back at my desk, staring at a pile of notes I made on my 2025 historical novel. (No official name yet, but let’s call it The Dressmaker Book for now.) After spending the end of 2023 editing Betrayal at Blackthorn Park, which is the follow up to my first Parisian Orphan mystery A Traitor in Whitehall, I am opening 2024 by editing The Dressmaker Book and enjoying the synchronicity of that.
However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty going on on the new book front. Next Tuesday The Lost English Girl comes out in paperback in the United States!
If you feel as though that last sentence is giving you deja vu, you’re partially right. The hardcover, ebook, and audiobook editions of The Lost English Girl came out in March 2023, but this is the first time that American paperback readers will have a chance to pick up this emotional story of a young mother, her evacuee daughter, and her estranged husband during World War 2.
If you’re interested in buying the paperback of The Lost English Girl—or the hardcover, ebook, or audiobook editions—you’ll be able to find it starting on Tuesday, January 9th at your local indie bookshop as well as all major book retailers:
There is also still time to preorder the book and have it sent to you so you don’t have to brave a wet, cold January. (Even if you live in a hot-weather area, I’d still recommend preordering because you can never be too certain. I mean, it did snow in my hometown of Los Angeles last March…)
And for those of you who are feeling a little lucky this new year, my publisher is also kindly running a Goodreads giveaway of The Lost English Girl!3 Click the button below to enter to win one of 40 copies up for grabs.
This Goodreads giveaway ends Monday, January 8th. If you do enter, good luck, and no matter where you are and how you’re starting the new year, happy reading!
I have toyed with calling him The Gentleman Husband but that is just adding ridiculousness onto what is already a delightfully ridiculous nickname.
I was unaware of both Jools Holland and his Hootenany before spending my first New Year’s Eve with The Gentleman. For those not in the know like my expat self, Jools Holland is a bandleader and pianist and the Hootenany is basically a New Year’s Eve musical review show that The Gentleman describes as one mega star, some great older acts you remember fondly, a fabulous torch song- and/or jazz-singing older artist, and a smattering of new and emerging acts. There’s also always a collection of comedians and actors in the audience who get interviewed throughout the show. I enjoy it thoroughly, in part because The Gentleman and my Scottish brother-in-law get to explain who people are to me and watch with amusement as I discover bands that have been around and a part of the British cultural landscape for literal decades like The Sugababes. (I’ve decided that Britain got it right in 2005 when they decided that “Push the Button” is a bop.)
Please be aware that this giveaway is open to US readers only.
Jools Holland was also a member of Squeeze which is one of the best bands ever.