{"id":13970,"date":"2017-08-10T00:01:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T04:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=13970"},"modified":"2017-08-08T06:00:17","modified_gmt":"2017-08-08T10:00:17","slug":"the-house-with-old-furniture-by-helen-lewis-fiction-giveaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melanierobertson-king.com\/wp02\/?p=13970","title":{"rendered":"THE HOUSE WITH OLD FURNITURE by Helen Lewis #fiction #giveaway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"house\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

The House with Old Furniture<\/span><\/h1>\n

by<\/span><\/h1>\n

Helen Lewis<\/span><\/h1>\n

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Genre: Contemporary Fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n

Release Date: 20 July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

Publisher: Honno Press<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ghosts of a century\u2019s worth of secrets and betrayals are coming home to Pengarrow\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Evie has lost her eldest son, Jesse, to gang violence. Leaving the house he grew up in is pulling apart the few strings left holding her heart together. Only the desire to be there for her younger boy, Finn, impels Evie to West Wales and the ancient house her husband is sure will heal their wounds.<\/p>\n

Days later, Andrew is gone \u2013 rushing back to his \u2018important\u2019 job in government, abandoning his grieving wife and son. Finn finds solace in the horse his father buys by way of apology. As does his evasive and fearful new friend, Nye, the one who reminds him and Evie of Jesse\u2026 Evie loses herself in a dusty 19th century journal and glasses of homemade wine left by the mysterious housekeeper.<\/p>\n

As Evie\u2019s grasp on reality slides, Andrew\u2019s parents ride to the rescue. It is clear that this is a house they know. They seem to think they own it, and begin making changes nobody wants, least of all Alys and her son, Nye, the terrified youth who looks so like Jesse.<\/p>\n

BUY LINKS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.honno.co.uk\/dangos.php?ISBN=9781909983663<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/House-Old-Furniture-Helen-Lewis\/dp\/1909983667\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/House-Old-Furniture-Helen-Lewis\/dp\/1909983667<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Shhh, I\u2019ve got a writing secret\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Nobody could be more amazed than me, to be sitting here with my still slightly warm, novel resting on my knees, well apart from, perhaps, Mrs Holliwell. A wonderful (patient) woman, who\u2019s unenviable task it was, every Tuesday and Thursday morning to drag the Remedial Reading Group through the basics of the English language. Whilst the rest of Orchard Junior school fidgeted through Mr Beckwith\u2019s assembly, my mate Paula Spitter and I tried to remember what the magic E did and where the I went, before or after if a C was involved.<\/p>\n

So, here\u2019s a big secret, that only took me another 32 years to find out (please don\u2019t let my children read this) \u2013 you don\u2019t have to be able to spell to be able to write (I still get a thrill when I fox the spell checker, when Mr Word informs me there are \u201cNo matches\u201d for my enthusiastic attempt at r-i-th-m-i-cal). Or even know which way up a semi colon goes. If in doubt, stick in a dash and make up a word (it worked for Roald Dahl). It helps a lot to shove in the odd paragraph break, if nothing else it uses up a few more lines, and a good sprinkling of dialogue, real, not 1950\u2019s BBC, works wonders but don\u2019t ask me where you stick the capital letters, all I know is the 66 speech mark goes at the beginning and the 99 one at the end. That about covers my dialogue punctuation knowledge. What every writer really needs is a dear and patient friend, with an everlasting red mark-up pen and a deep pot of comma\u2019s. Bingo, Bob\u2019s your uncle, your, story, now, makes, sense.<\/p>\n

Writing isn\u2019t (as the BFG would say) a set of \u2018biffsquiggling<\/em>\u2019 rules, I\u2019ve found absolutely no use for cursive handwriting, a nice sharp pencil, or 12pt Times, I\u2019m more of an Optima person, drawn to 1.5 line-spacing. The lines of my story look all lonely and separated when forced doubly apart. Indents look messy and drop caps are for show-offs. And let\u2019s not start on header and footers, just don\u2019t go there, but always, always, never leave home without page numbers, if you\u2019re clumsy like me, a bit of a tripper-upper, a spiller of pages, then they are your safety net, a rock to cling to in the snow storm of your manuscript.<\/p>\n

Time-lines and spider diagrams might float your plot. You might like to write the last line then look down at the vertiginous drop that is the rest of your tale. Whether you prefer to rough it, handwrite it, dive straight in and first draft it, the only thing we all have to worry about is how we say it. How that story that\u2019s been rolling around your head keeping you awake at night, making you talk to yourself around the supermarket sounds on paper. We want to hear how you, with all your individuality, see the world in your own quirky way. Writing isn\u2019t a top ten of tips it\u2019s about ideas and imagination and originality.<\/p>\n

Am I sounding soap-boxy, here let me get down? Ignore me, what would I know anyway, I\u2019m a \u201cnatterbox\u2019 as the BFG would say, a someone who talks a lot usually about nothing in particular.<\/strong><\/p>\n

ABOUT HELEN LEWIS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Helen was born in 1967 in the New Forest. She spent her childhood dreaming of becoming a ballerina and doodling in the margin. She graduated from Southampton Faculty of Art and Design (so long ago now, that the place doesn\u2019t even exist!) and worked as a professional Doodler of Margins (Graphic Designer) for twenty years. In 2006 She moved to Pembrokeshire with her family and lives in the middle of nowhere where she reads, writes, and runs.<\/p>\n

Facebook:<\/strong> https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/helenlewisauthor<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: <\/strong>@hedlew<\/p>\n

Blog: <\/strong>http:\/\/www.helen-lewis.co.uk\/blog<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>www.helen-lewis.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

GIVEAWAY<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n

3 ebooks (open internationally)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

3 paperbacks (UK only)<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a>
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