Blog

Travelling influences what I read and a recent trip through Japan made me keen to familiarize myself with Japanese writers. Yasunari Kawabata was the first Japanese author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and, as a result, I selected his1959 published book,...

Would you like to visit Venice? Falling In Love is book number twenty-four in Donna Leon’s crime series set in Venice, Italy featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti. It is about a mysterious stalker who threatens Flavia Petrelli, a fortyish opera singer performing the...

A Boy From Botwood by Bryan Davies and Andrew Traficante A Boy From Botwood is the personal account of the World War One experiences of Private Arthur W. Manuel; a common soldier in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Born 1895 in the “impoverished rural village” of...

Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin Full Disclosure is a legal thriller written by Beverley McLachlin, the former Chief Justice of Canada. Set in Vancouver, Canada, it is about the murder of Laura St. John Trussardi. A forty year old woman of privilege, her husband,...

More inspirational quotes that have served as writing prompts.

Inspirational quotes also serve as writing prompts.

Highlights from a small ship cruise adventure on the Amazon River, Brazil, South America.

Food helps an author create an authentic sense of place.

I hunt for interesting locales and recently featured various places in Morocco, North Africa. This entry highlights Churchill, Manitoba, Canada.

As an author, I hunt for interesting locales. Previous blogs have highlighted Essaouira, Morocco, Africa. This entry will reference St. Jacob’s Market in southern Ontario, Canada.

As an author, I hunt for interesting locales. This entry is Part Three on Essaouira, Morocco, Northern Africa. It focuses on Sok Aam, a nearby Berber village.

As an author, I hunt for interesting locales. I’ve cited Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA in a previous blog and this is Part Two on Essaouira, Morocco, Northern Africa. Batbout bread is skillet or griddled cooked and popular for sandwiches.

As an author, I hunt for interesting locales. I’ve cited Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA in a previous blog and this is Part One on Essaouira, Morocco, Northern Africa. Roses were in bloom the March I travelled there.

As an author, I am always on the hunt for interesting locales to set my writing. Over the years, I have often visited Mackinac Island with friends. It has proven a delightful place with myriad experiences and I’ve added it to the list of potential sites for future...

The Wonder, set in Athlone, a village in the Irish midlands post the 1845-1852 potato famine, unfolds during a two week period in August 1859. It is about Anna O’Donnell, an eleven year old mourning the loss of her older brother, Pat who’d died the previous November....

A tsunami claims the life of Frank Mercy’s wife and unborn child Christmas Eve on Bribie Island, north of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. Frank, a retired police officer and volunteer fireman, attempts to rescue the occupants of a sinking van. The older lad trapped...

Did Laura (Lo) Blackstock witness a woman’s body being thrown overboard in the cabin next to hers? Had she too much alcohol to drink at the reception and her recollection, therefore, suspect or given a history of anxiety issues, this a hallucination? A travel...

How Many Families Do You Have? Book Review: Lion/A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley Lion, previously published as A Long Way Home, is Saroo Brierley’s memoir. Saroo was born in 1981 in Ganesh Tilai, Madhya Pradesh, India. In 1986 while accompanying his older brother,...

Why People Do Horrible Things Book Review: The Ex by Alafair Burke Jackson (Jack) Harris, a successful literary writer, is accused of shooting Malcolm Neely, Clifton Hunter and Tracy Frankel in a New York City football field. Malcolm Neely is Todd’s father, the teen...

What Would You Do To Discover Your Birth Parents? The cover of Daughter of Mine captivated my attention. Pastel buildings against an azure sky perched on a rocky coastline coupled with ruins of a crumbling stone castle cast immediate allure. Since I am the mother of...

What Do You See With Your Eyes Closed? Book Review: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer. The recipient of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr is set in France and Germany during World War Two. It recounts the...

Read my full book review The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman

Read my full book review The Nine Lives of Charlotte Templar by Sally Armstrong