Chasing Sunflowers - all ready to go!

Stunning, print-ready cover

Chasing Sunflowers - back and front cover!

One book, so many decisions, who knew?

11pt or 12pt?

Title pages/half title pages/dedications/permissions/copyright

Garamond or Palatino?

Who gets a review copy?

And how to brief a cover designer when the picture you have in your head comprises a medley of all the images in the entire book? 

But it's getting there. The Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam have kindly given permission to quote up to 50 words from Vincent’s letters for free – so one small panic over!

The cover now has a back and a spine and would have been perfect if I hadn't changed the type size at the last moment causing the book to be slightly wider. All delays my own fault!

The Advance Information Sheet is almost ready to send out and the list of people to send it to is growing exponentially. Will any of them be interested? 

They should be! Chasing Sunflowers is not only a good read but topical too and will be released to coincide (almost!) with 125 years of Van Gogh inspiration. He died on 29th July 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise, France.

But Chasing Sunflowers is more about heroine Kate breaking out of her chrysalis than about Vincent van Gogh himself. Although she is inspired by his paintings the real catalyst is her attractive and mysterious art-history teacher who paints her in his studio in the trendy Jordaan area of Amsterdam. What happens next? You’ll have to read the book to find out!

Chasing Sunflowers - the evolution of a book cover. Almost there!

Taken from:  Chasing Sunflowers

 

Kate turned sharply. The tall man with the pony tail and light blue eyes had somehow materialised at her elbow.

‘You are the woman with the young boy, I think? Or perhaps I am mistaken?’ He raised his eyebrows in polite query.

‘Er, yes, no,’ she heard herself stammer. ‘At least, I haven’t got my son with me.’

‘So I can see.’ The eyes glinted amusement. ‘You are perhaps staying a long time in our city so you can come often to this museum? You can come to know the artist well.’

‘I hope so.’ Kate surprised herself with the force of her words. ‘I love these paintings,’

‘Of course.’ The man’s expression stated clearly that anything less would be unreasonable.

He understood! Kate felt as though she had been given a shot of adrenalin.

‘This work,’ he indicated the Glass of Absinthe, ‘this was painted in Paris. I expect the setting is familiar to you. The light is green-grey. It’s a bit like London, perhaps? The Sunflowers on the other hand...’ with a light touch he turned her towards them, ‘...you must go south to know these. You cannot really understand these paintings until you see the zonnebloemen in the fields.’

She twisted back to face him. ‘You seem to know an awful lot about it all.’

‘Sure.’ He smiled. ‘As I told your son, I’m a painter but I also teach Van Gogh, here in the museum. We have a class starting next week. Why don’t you join us?’

Kate frowned. ‘I’d love to but the language...’

He held up his hands to silence her. ‘That would be no problem. You can start to learn Dutch and after the class we can take a coffee and go over everything in English.’

‘But really..,’ Kate stammered, ‘I mean, that would be great but...isn’t it a bit much to ask?’

‘Did you ask? I didn’t hear you. I thought I offered.’ He shook his head. ‘You don’t understand. I am Dutch, I don’t say things just to be polite.’

‘Thanks. I’ll think about it.’ She smiled, doubtfully.

‘I believe that’s English for ‘no’. Pity.’ He gave small shrug, his eyes crinkled at the corners. Kate felt their gaze like the strokes of a brush on her cheeks, tinting them red.

‘Anyway, I must leave,’ he concluded. ‘Enjoy your visit.’

She took a sharp breath as if to reply although she had no idea what she might have been about to say. It didn’t matter anyway because he had gone and she was left standing, exposed, in the middle of the gallery, her back hot where he had touched it. She shook herself and took another look at the Sunflowers, trying to imagine them in the fields of southern France. 

Possible book cover??

Chasing Sunflowers

The new book is almost ready to go. Watch this space....

Kate, Sean and their young son Luke have moved to Amsterdam with Sean's job. Lonely and adrift in a strange city, Kate is drawn to the paintings of tormented genius Vincent van Gogh. Her decision to study his work leads her to the enigmatic and attractive artist, Rudy de Jong. Rudy paints her in his studio high over the canals but he refuses to speak of his life or his past. Art classes come to an end and, inspired by Vincent’s Sunflowers, Kate travels alone to France where she encounters Rudy for a second time…

Tom's Daughters

Available on Amazon and Smashwords

When the death of science fiction writer Patrick Gilwind coincides eerily with that of Grace Wilding’s estranged father, Tom, it doesn’t take her long to establish that Tom and Patrick are the one and same man.

Tom left his family more than two decades earlier in mysterious circumstances which his wife Cynthia has consistently refused to discuss. Grace has always hoped that her father will get in touch and longs to discover the truth behind his sudden departure from their lives. Her sister Laura, however, wants nothing to do with a man who can leave his family without a backward glance.

Tom’s death means reconciliation with her father is no longer possible but Grace can at least attend his funeral in the quiet village where he died. Laura declines to go with her, but she is accompanied by Dan, bookshop owner and Gilwind fan. A trip to her father’s cottage reveals that Tom’s life was more complex and more heartbreaking than Grace could ever have imagined. As she starts to probe more deeply she uncovers the story of man who lived in his own fiction – and a tale of two sisters that has its parallel in the current generation…

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toms-Daughters-Alison-Boulton-ebook/dp/B00557KMPG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435584135&sr=8-1&keywords=tom%27s+daughters

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/65998