Notes of Cheer - May
Summer is coming, ice creams are melting and I'm saying goodbye to a fictional world.
Welcome to Notes of Cheer, my free monthly newsletter finding the tonics in unruly times. It’s about being an author, reading (mostly mid-C20th) novels, and collecting vintage stuff my dad would say needs a bit of a paint.
Hello!
How are you? I hope you’re really well. (Admin alert - this is a big email and may not come through properly, so to view online which is nicer, just click on the title at the top).
Are you having a heatwave? There’s one picking up speed here and as such I have gone into full summer protocol - blinds down, fans on, already eaten a six-pack of white chocolate Magnums. Excellent start.
For readers in the USA, I know - aircon would fix this. Here however, houses are either too old and wonky to have it put in, or too small to cope with the big, weird box thing that pokes out into your garden. The only sensible thing to do is to watch telly, eat ice cream on a stick and think about (but not actually make any commitment to) making a salad. Just this minute I’ve sent an unsolicited Whatsapp message to a friend which shrieked, PUT A DAMP TOWEL IN THE FREEZER. NB: I have no idea if this is helpful or even hygenic.
Main thing is to keep calm. I’m nailing it.
As I write, it’s a Bank Holiday weekend and everyone’s feeling cheerful. This morning there were so many people walking their dogs at seven am that it looked like a very good natured protest march. A very nice lady revealed that she actually does have an airconditioning unit built into her house, and immediately became an object of wonder and fascination all round.
Meanwhile, one of my neighbours spent yesterday power washing his patio with the audio ferocity of an old Concorde (bit of a nerve jangler by hour ten tbh), while one of the others has gone off for three days boiling in a luxury yurt. Back here, I’ve WD40’d my office chair so it’s stopped groaning, and with the usual rush of having managed something practical, I now slightly feel that I could change the engine of a car if required.*
(*Let’s hope not, tbh).
Anyway, enough of this regional weather update. A really warm (oh dear) welcome to this month’s Notes of Cheer. Hello and thank you to lots of new subscribers - it’s lovely to have you here. If you signed up after last month’s post featuring Eight Mid-20th Century Novels To Read In Springtime I realise that opening with a report on power washers and de-squeaking a chair may be a slight disappointment. I can guarantee that long term subscribers (hello, my friends - thanks for sticking with me!) will be entirely unsuprised.
With that in mind, onto books. First off, news about mine.
Dear Miss Lake
It’s very nearly time for Dear Miss Lake, the final book in the Emmy Lake wartime series, to come out in paperback.
The publishing dates are 25 June in the UK and 11 August in the USA and Canada. It will be lovely to know that Miss Lake is available in all formats, and everyone will be able to complete the series.
I have to admit though, that I am finding it weird. It’s finally dawned on me that I’m saying goodbye to my fictional friends.
I started writing Dear Mrs Bird in 2012, when Emmy Lake was called Polly, and then Amy, and finally became Emmy, and when I didn’t know if I would manage to finish the first draft, let alone get published and definitely let alone it becoming a whole series.
But it did, so for the last thirteen years or so I’ve been allowed to stay in Emmy’s world, reading and researching and writing so that the world got bigger and I got to understand her more and to know all the other characters that came or went, but mostly stayed. Em and Bunty, Charles, Guy, Harold, Monica. (And even the bad guys - Mrs Bird, Mr Terry, Mrs Porter.) They’ve all be a delight (and a challenge) to write, love and sometimes hate (I’m looking at you, Mr Terry).
They’re the ones I’ve stayed up late with, despaired that I’d ever tell their story well enough, punched the air and shouted, ‘Yes! Come ON!’ as if I didn’t already know what was about to happen, and their triumph had taken me completely by surprise. They’re even the ones who (one very tight deadline) turned me to trying those repulsive energy drinks. Eeeuuch. No deadline is worth drinking one of those again!
Fictional characters take up a bit of your heart I think, even after you’ve finished writing them. I firmly believe that if you don’t care deeply about the characters you’re writing, you absolutely can’t expect a reader too, either. If I don’t laugh and cry and care, why should anyone else?
The thing that has brought on this reflection was talking about my research on Instagram this week (this is me on there - @ajpearcewrites - please say hello) and several people left kind comments saying how they’re going to miss Emmy and Bunty and co. I answered that I will too, and that’s when I realised I have Fictional FOMO.
In my head everyone in the novels is still getting on with life, doing interesting things, averting disasters and righting wrongs. It’s just that I don’t get to hear about it. Hmm. Not sure I like that!
But then I remember that (a) I have New People to write about who I’m very keen on, so I dive into my archive boxes that are filling up with new research and letters and photos and all the really interesting stuff that goes into writing historical novels. And (b) if I really miss Emmy Lake that much I can always write more, even if it is only for me. Hurrah! (Guy Collins rolls his eyes and sighs deeply. I think he’s enjoying having a rest out of the limelight).
So, as I say in the Author’s Note at the end of Dear Miss Lake, I can almost hear Guy telling me to crack on and write about somebody else, and Emmy being slightly less forthright but gently reminding me it’s time to move on.
I really hope that if you haven’t read Dear Miss Lake, you’ll enjoy how everything comes to a close. And if you’re new to the series or have missed some of them, that the series in its entirety will be a good read especially as now that it has a beginning, middle (two middles really in terms of books) and an end.
If you fancy pre-ordering Dear Miss Lake there are tons of links via these buttons. Or leap into your local bookshop or library of course. Thank you so much!
A Quick Mention of Book Bargains
Before I forget, for UK readers, Mrs Porter Calling (the third novel in the series) is only 99p on Kindle until the end of May so dash in quick and grab it.
And as I write , the paperback is only £3.00 on Amazon as is Dear Mrs Bird. WHY, IT’S A HEATWAVE MIRACLE!
Do whizz in on both pbs as I don’t know how long they’re going to stay that cheap. It may be a very brief heatwave miracle.
Now onto a couple of top reads in the appropriately named ...
Top Reads Corner
Some Tame Gazelle by Barbara Pym
I had (and this was entirely fair) lots of comments about Barbara Pym being left out of last month’s spring reads line up so I am very happy to make amends quick sticks. Also, it prompted me to pick up Some Tame Gazelle which has been on my shelves for ages but madly I hadn’t read it.
It’s a cracker isn’t it? Laugh out loud funny. By modern plot standards, Nothing Much Happens (which regular readers will know is one of my favourite genres) and of course it doesn’t need to as spinster sisters Harriet and Belinda Bede are busy with their hobbies of enthusiastically befriending curates and even more enthusiastically being devoted to the hilariously pompous handsome Archdeacon Hoccleve.
There are loads of my favourite things such as proposals, a village fete and putting on smashing spreads at the drop of a hat, and it’s EXACTLY the sort of novel to read in a world gone mad (ie ours) whether in the garden, or under Warm Protocol conditions inside.
Perfect. Aaand relax.
The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman
Onto a new and excellent debut. Set in 1953 and published last month, The Kindness of Strangers is a character-led, twisty mystery, which I loved. It’s super-atmospheric (set in a bohemian boarding house in Chelsea) and stuffed full of secrets that slowly reveal themselves throughout the novel.
I don’t read many whodunnits mainly because I always feel sorry for the dead person who, even when things are triumphantly solved, is stuck with still being dead, but I’m so glad I was sent an early proof of this. I didn’t guess who dunnit until it was revealed, as I was busy caring very much for all the people who lived at 42 Tregunter Road. They all have issues and A Past and I really wanted everything to be alright. Was it? I couldn’t possibly say.
It’s got tons of fabulous reviews, and I hope Emma Garman will write more. Highly recommended.
[Also, saying ‘twisty mystery’ out loud is very cheering I think.]
And finally on the book front:
In case you’ve missed any of my posts with tons more book recommendations, here are helpful links to them. I challenge you not to be down the library with a list within hours!
Now there’s just time for a round up of stuff I’ve enjoyed seeing and doing, and hope you may too.
Where Things Are Mostly Cheerful
Rivals on Disney + I mean! Some of Britain’s finest actors having the time of their lives. Total scream. I probably won’t watch it with my mum, although she’d probably love it, but what a brilliant tribute to Dame Jilly Cooper. Will keep me going until Ted Lasso returns.
Museum shop of the month: I didn’t realise there’s a fan museum! The shop has tons of lovely things eg this fan which will make you look like you’re in Les Liaisons Dangereuse when you’re sweltering on the bus. And this book looks fabulous too. I think I must buy it. It’s called Cool. (I’m on a roll.)
Speaking of Les Liaisons Dangereuse, the National Theatre’s current production was filmed and it’s going to be in cinemas from 25 June. I saw it on stage the other day and it’s fantastic. Adrian Turner (yes - he’s also in Rivals - so this section very nearly has a THEME!) and Lesley Manville are both superb so definitely look out for that.
The Courage To Write: If you’re thinking of starting to write but have doubts, this post by Philippa Perry is a great motivational kickstart on the confidence front. I love this:
Disappointments, rejections, failures and setbacks don’t define you, but your courage does. Start writing and fail. Fail again, embrace your mistakes, learn from them. If you are failing, you are doing something and if you are doing something you are giving yourself a chance of fulfilling your wishes, hopes and dreams, and I think that’s the key.
A million times, yes. I need to write that down and stick it by my pc screen for when I get the imposter syndrome horrors.
And more great writing info by (full transparency) my friend, excellent egg and super-selling novelist, Milly Johnson, who is on Substack writing great tell-it-like-it-is posts about being an author. This on self-promotion is really good, as is this on writing a first draft. (Major heebie jeebies time).
Thank you for reading. There’d be no point in writing this without you!
If you enjoyed this post please click the ❤️button below so the robots think I’m a wow. And if you have suggestions for topics/more/less of what you’d like me to write about here, do let me know in the comments below, or reply to this email. I read them all!
I’d better be off.
You can find all my other posts here and I’d love it if you would share this with someone you think might enjoy it.
See you in June. Until then, take care.
And if it’s hot, SIT IN THE DARK AND EAT ICE CREAM.
Yours entirely calmly,
AJx
If enough readers BEG and PLEAD to spin off into new books about Emmy & Charles, Bunty & Harold, Guy or... might you consider? I would LOVE to see where the postwar years take them? Just registering my vote. :)
Absolutely gorgeous post! I do enjoyed reading it - love the bit about the dead person still being, you know, sort of DEAD at the end of whodunits - and now I can't wait to read the Emma Garman.
P.S. Looking forward to whatever you write next but yes, I'd love a bit of Emmy in peacetime:))