Here’s my list of “The best novels about the psychology of marriage” on Shepherd.com. It includes five books on a theme loosely related to that of my own new novel. Most of the plots involve some kind of marital conflict, or touch on the related topics of adultery, widowhood and divorce, but have (reasonably) happy endings.
This is the third list I’ve published with Shepherd. The process of compiling them encourages me to read more widely and reflectively, as well as providing a stress-free method of publicising my own books.
I dislike promoting my own work. I sometimes feel physically sick when writing emails to friends and acquaintances to tell them about my latest book. I’ve had little success with paid adverts and promotions in the past, so I don’t do them any more. When I was younger I enjoyed giving talks, even to large audiences, but not any more. All the same, with around three million books now being published each year in the US alone, indie authors like myself have to do some marketing if they are going to achieve more than a handful of sales.
So, in the hope that you’ll have a look at No Good Deed, here is a comment emailed to me by one reader:
“My goodness your new book is incredibly powerful, backed up by strong writing. I couldn’t put it down and it affected me emotionally as well … I thought the climax was stunning.”
No Good Deed is available in print and ebook versions from major online retailers through this link.
I’m pleased to announce the publication of my latest short novel No Good Deed.
“Charlotte and Henry’s quiet retirement is upended when a medical school reunion forces Charlotte to confront a long-buried trauma. Her search for closure takes a sinister turn, and meanwhile Henry’s heart condition is getting worse. A tragicomic tale with a chilling final twist.”
The old saying “No good deed goes unpunished” gave me the idea for this book, and the storyline evolved gradually over a year or two. Although it’s not directly autobiographical it draws on my experience as a medical student, practising doctor, patient, patient’s wife – and life coach. It touches on some serious themes but has humerous aspects too.
No Good Deed is available in ebook or print formats from multiple online retailers. Please have a look: https://books2read.com/u/b5Exvk.
Writing a book – in my opinion – is much easier than marketing it. As stated in an article on Draft2Digital, crafting the blurb requires a switch from “author” mode to “copywriter” mode, which may not come naturally. Their recommended structure for a fiction blurb begins with a “hook”, and ends with “social proof” such as excerpts from reviews.
My own forthcoming novel No Good Deed is not directly autobiographical, but in keeping with the advice to “write about what you know” it draws on my own experiences ranging from sexual harassment at medical school, my husband’s heart attack, and on a lighter note life coaching and cookery. I’m currently working on the blurb, and here is a draft version. Any suggestions about how to make it more compelling would be welcome. I haven’t (yet) sought help from ChatGPT.
Marriage. Memories. Medicine. Poison. Charlotte and Henry, a married couple in their sixties, live a comfortable but monotonous life somewhere in the English midlands. Henry recently retired from his post as a consultant pathologist at the local hospital. Charlotte once hoped for a medical career of her own, but following an experience of abuse during her student days she had a “nervous breakdown” and did not complete the course. She now combines being a homemaker with doing good works in the local community, although her efforts tend to misfire. She has recently started seeing a life coach who is encouraging her to be more assertive. When Henry insists that she accompanies him to a medical school reunion she attempts to confront her abuser, with sinister consequences. This tragicomic story ends with a dark twist.
From Amazon reviews of Jennifer’s earlier novels:
You Yet Shall Die: I found the book both intriguing and unusual. I could hardly wait for the story to unfold as family secrets, crime and murder came to light – the ending was totally unexpected. An absorbing read.
Cardamine:This is a gripping mystery which keeps you guessing until the end, with twists and turns up to the last page.
Three Novellas: Jennifer brings together all her experiences from previous work to produce a superb trilogy finishing with an interesting twist.
Many fiction writers include similar characters, settings, plot lines and underlying themes in different books even if they are not part of a series. This may be deliberate, if they have already found a successful formula and want to give readers more of the same. At other times it happens less consciously, and reflects personal experience or psychology.
In my last post I wrote about entering my eligible novels, through Draft2Digital, into Apple’s trial of digitally narrated audiobooks. Cardamine was first to be published in this format, and Carmen’s Roses is now available too. These two books were originally written several years apart, and until I listened to the previews of their first chapters I hadn’t quite realised that they both begin with an Englishwoman taking a holiday in New Zealand. Not surprising really, because such holidays were a significant part of my own life before I moved permanently to Auckland. Cardamine and Carmen’s Roses are quite dissimilar otherwise although their plots both involve a missing woman. This is the case in some of my other writing too although I don’t know why. I also realise that several of my novels feature unpleasant male doctors. These characters are not based on any one real individual, but are informed by various interactions I have had during my own medical career and as a patient myself.
I’m pleased to announce that my novel Cardamine: a New Zealand mystery is now available from Apple’s Audiobook Store.
Producing an audiobook in the traditional way, with the text read by live actors, is so expensive and time-consuming that I have never considered doing it. But I was recently invited through Draft2Digital to submit some of my fiction books for inclusion in Apple’s trial of using digital voices. It was free for me to take part, so I decided to accept.
Cardamine is set in New Zealand in the summer of 2019. Kate, on the last day of her backpacking holiday, loses her bag in a vineyard and misses her flight home to England. An eccentric elderly man comes to her rescue and invites her to stay on as his paid companion in his country home. The man’s wife is away, said to be back in her home country, but Kate comes to suspect that her absence has a more sinister explanation…
My digital voice, called Amberley, has a British accent appropriate for the character of Kate. She’s not very good at pronouncing Māori place names, but otherwise I think she does a good job of telling the story. I am interested to see that Apple has set the price at twice that of the e-book, even though it was presumably very cheap to produce, and it will be interesting to see if anyone buys it.
Here’s my latest list of book recommendations, published through shepherd.com. It includes three modern classics which I’ve enjoyed rereading, and two more contemporary psychological thrillers. Have a look through this link: https://shepherd.com/best-books/family-secrets-and-mysteries-from-the-past.
Except for those outstanding ones that acquire classic status, most modern novels lapse into obscurity within a few months of publication. This is a pity because they might well remain readable for years to come. The huge number of new books being released every day is one reason for declining sales. Another is a lack of ongoing marketing and, in common with many other authors, I feel uncomfortable with self-promotion. But there are times when it has to be done, so this post is about the revival of some of my earlier work.
Ten years have passed since I began my self-publishing career through Amazon kdp, with a short novel called Carmen’s Roses. Encouraged by its success I went on to write two sequels, Blue Moon for Bombers and The Windflower Vibration, published separately and then as a combined set called Three Novellas. To mark their 10th anniversary, and in the hope of reaching a wider readership, I am now reissuing them as low cost e-books on multiple channels through the Draft2Digital platform.
The first book Carmen’s Roses is set in Devonport, the Auckland suburb where I live. It is a story of mystery and romance which touches on some deeper themes. The narrator, Iris, is leaving the English winter to take a holiday in the New Zealand sunshine, with the intention of completing her recovery from a serious illness and making amends for a shameful episode in her past. But the shock of a sudden death, the shadow of an old love affair, and the onset of ominous new symptoms threaten to destroy her hopes of happiness and healing. The book, described by one reader as an “Interwoven tale of love, mystery and more than a touch of the paranormal'” received 5-star reviews on Amazon, for example “Jennifer draws believably on her medical background and in this story weaves a very tangled web indeed”.
The second book, Blue Moon for Bombers, is set in England in 2007, when an old man in his hospital bed is haunted by memories of serving with Bomber Command in World War Two. Meanwhile back in his country home, the continuing fallout from his wartime trauma leads to rising tension among the two younger couples who are marooned indoors by the summer floods. With testimony from an unexpected visitor, and some guidance from the spirit world, the family’s secrets are revealed and the emotional wounds begin to heal. Again, the reviews were positive: “Excellent strong plot … like a Victorian novel set in modern times” “Brilliant ending”.
Thirdly The Windflower Vibration, with action split between Takapuna in New Zealand and Malvern in England, continues and weaves together the stories from the first two books. A man dies while swimming off an Auckland beach, and a woman who witnesses the event becomes involved in its aftermath. Was the death due to natural causes hastened by medical malpractice? Or was it one strand in a complex web spread over two hemispheres and two centuries? Although I think this book is equal in standard to the previous ones it gained less attention, perhaps because it deals with characters in later life – just one 5 star rating, no reviews.
Rereading my three novellas recently I felt they deserved a new lease of life. So if you haven’t seen them before, please have a look at these ebooks, and some of my others, through this link. There are print versions on Amazon too.
Jennifer Barraclough 