Monday, 28 March 2016
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Chill with a Book!: WWII Family Drama at it's Best!
WWII family drama - The Dudley Sisters’ Saga, by Madalyn Morgan.
Foxden Acres: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BCX59LE/
China Blue by Madalyn Morgan | Review | Historical Novels Review
CHINA BLUE
by
MADALYN MORGAN
China Blue is Claire Dudley’s SOE Code name. We follow Aircraftwoman Claire from recruitment for special services, due to her exceptional language skills, through her secretive training. Along with her friend, Edwina, she develops the skills required, including learning to parachute and spending time living with a French family in Northumberland. Eventually she is airdropped into Occupied France.
Claire is bold and efficient in her nerve-wracking work, but against all the rules she falls in love. The Gestapo arrests her lover, but despite this she continues to work with the resistance.
The author must have done a lot of research, and I found the details of the training and methods of resistance work interesting. The situation that develops is touching and at times heart-wrenching.
There were a few awkward gaps in the narration and the ending was slightly hurried. Some of the most exciting action is related by other characters, rather than witnessed first hand. A little more editing could perhaps have avoided this and made the story more immediate.
The writing is clear and easy to read and the book presentation is excellent, with an appealing cover design.
REVIEWED BY
Thursday, 17 December 2015
The 9:45 To Bletchley
Wrote Dec 2015
40,000 words into the fourth book in the Dudley Sisters Saga.
Ena Dudley's story, The 9:45 To Bletchley, opens in a factory in Lowarth
in November 1941 - the night the Luftwaffe bomb Coventry.
A set of circumstances lead her to Bletchley, involvement with spies and love.
Ena's character traits and plot - no spoilers though
And later the book cover.
For now, I just wanted to share the joy of getting back into writing
after not being able to write a decent shopping list.
Monday, 24 August 2015
A giant leap for the Indie Author
Bookshops and libraries are becoming more, local author and Indie,
friendly. Visiting W. H. Smith in Rugby last week, I spotted a well laid-out
shelf labelled, Local Authors. The last time I was in the shop it wasn’t there,
so, exited by this, I made an appointment to see the Manageress the following
day. I took in two copies of each of my novels with me and after reading the
book-blurb on the back covers, she took all of them there and then. The Dudley sisters
are in several small bookshops, but to see them on the shelves of a High Street store like, W.H. Smith, was an ambition realised.
Checking the Junk Folder, which for some reason since I downloaded 10 a week ago half my emails end up in it, I found an email with an attachment from an author friend. Junk mail, indeed! Anyway, I immediately moved the email to the In Box and opened the attachment. To my delight and surprise there was a photograph of my three novels, sitting next to hers, in W.H. Smith, Rugby. Foxden Acres, Applause, and China Blue, are also in my cousin's shop, Oh Lovely, on Church Street, Lutterworth.
Feeling confident, I called into my local library where I had left a copy
of each of my novels some time ago. The manageress said she would love them in
the main library, the mobile library too, and was 99.9% sure head office would
agree. I borrow books from my local library, because I want to add to the
libraries borrowing numbers. Too many libraries in the Midlands, and I'm sure in the rest of the country, are being closed down through lack of funding.
My novels are printed on demand (POD), which even at author price cost as
much as some of the books on sale at W. H. Smith. So, to be competitive, I lose money on them – and I shall donate to the library. But I gain, because my novels
will be read by readers who either don’t have access to Amazon, or prefer to
browse before they buy, or borrow, a book. To me that is a win win
situation.
A lovely surprise
Checking the Junk Folder, which for some reason since I downloaded 10 a week ago half my emails end up in it, I found an email with an attachment from an author friend. Junk mail, indeed! Anyway, I immediately moved the email to the In Box and opened the attachment. To my delight and surprise there was a photograph of my three novels, sitting next to hers, in W.H. Smith, Rugby. Foxden Acres, Applause, and China Blue, are also in my cousin's shop, Oh Lovely, on Church Street, Lutterworth.
Books by Indie authors going into shops on the High Street is a small step in scheme of things, but it's a giant leap for the Independently published.
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Thursday, 23 July 2015
Wednesday, 20 May 2015
CHINA BLUE by Madalyn Morgan
I am excited to share that the third novel in the Dudley Sisters Saga, China Blue, was published on Amazon – Kindle and Paperback – this month. I say saga because the original ‘quartet’ of novels has become, five.
Foxden Acres (2013), Bess Dudley’s story, is set on the land and is about strength and loyalty. Applause (2014) is Margot Dudley’s, story and is about her climb to fame in the theatres and clubs of London’s West End. China Blue (2015) is about Claire Dudley’s secret work and love while working undercover with the Special Operations Executive and the French Resistance in German occupied France. Book 4 will be Ena’s story. It is called, The 9:45 To Bletchley, and is set in and around Bletchley Park. Book five, The Foxden Hotel, which is already keeping me awake at night, will take place ten years after Foxden Acres and brings Bess’s sisters and many of the characters from the four books together. At the opening of the hotel, a fascist group gatecrash. One of the sisters recognises one of the men from London during the war. The group are thrown out of the hotel and chased off the property with disastrous consequences.
China Blue
Claire Dudley's secret wartime love.
CHINA BLUE is the third book in The Dudley Sisters Saga.
At the
beginning of World War II Claire Dudley joins the WAAF. She excels in
languages and is recruited by the Special Operations Executive to work in
Occupied France.
Against
SOE rules Claire falls in love. The affair has to be kept secret.
Even after her lover falls into the hands of the Gestapo, Claire cannot tell
anyone they are more than comrades.
As the
war reaches its climax, Claire fears she will never again see the man she loves.
Foxden Acres (2013), Bess Dudley’s story, is set on the land and is about strength and loyalty. Applause (2014) is Margot Dudley’s, story and is about her climb to fame in the theatres and clubs of London’s West End. China Blue (2015) is about Claire Dudley’s secret work and love while working undercover with the Special Operations Executive and the French Resistance in German occupied France. Book 4 will be Ena’s story. It is called, The 9:45 To Bletchley, and is set in and around Bletchley Park. Book five, The Foxden Hotel, which is already keeping me awake at night, will take place ten years after Foxden Acres and brings Bess’s sisters and many of the characters from the four books together. At the opening of the hotel, a fascist group gatecrash. One of the sisters recognises one of the men from London during the war. The group are thrown out of the hotel and chased off the property with disastrous consequences.
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Saturday, 9 May 2015
Chill with a Book!: China Blue is Published!
Congratulations to Madalyn Morgan on the publication of CHINA BLUE Available in Kindle
China Blue Trailer: https://youtu.be/NVv-lyE79xw/
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