Hooray for May!
I can’t start this month’s news with anything other than the fact that I finally got a book published! The Kismet Pension was out on Amazon on 12 May, which was exciting AND terrifying. However, I am very happy to report that people seem to be enjoying it, it has had a few 5star reviews and been called ‘a rich exploration of contrasting cultures and personalities, beautifully woven together’ and ‘a brilliant debut novel’. Thank you to those lovely reviewers, and to everyone who has bought/downloaded the book!
This journey has taken, in total, more than twenty years but it doesn’t end here. I have just finished the second draft of the second book in the series, in which Fatma and her Kismet Pension face new challenges! It should be ready for publication at the end of the summer. My other novel, Precious Things, which is set in London, will also be ready for publication later in the year.
I was, of course, delighted to see the book on Amazon, and it is a wonderful thing to be able to fill in the information, upload the file and have the book available for readers anywhere in the world. However there are definitely some gremlins in the system. A couple of people have reported being unable to see the book, or getting a message saying ‘as yet unavailable’. They have all managed to get hold of the book subsequently, but the moral is – don’t always believe Amazon! I had my own small battle when I ordered 8 copies of the print book to be sent to 8 book bloggers. Having spent some time ordering each book and putting in the various names and addresses, I looked at my emails and found all the orders had been cancelled because they had been identified as ‘suspicious activity’. I was advised to reorder, leaving a gap between placing the orders so as not to upset the system!
May is a lovely month here and for the first time in about fifteen years, I have not been tied to our hotel as my son is now in charge. I enjoyed another visit to Çıralı where we went hiking, kayaking and walked up to the chimaera (called Yanartaş – or burning stone – in Turkish) in the evening. We took up a little picnic and waited – with a number of others doing the same thing – for it to get dark, when the flames look more dramatic and you can imagine why people once thought there was a fire-breathing monster trapped beneath the earth! We also listened to a Russian musician performing his song called Chimaera. He was definitely enthusiastic, and it added a certain flavour to the evening!
In thirty something years of living here, I have been up the impressive Babadağ (the mountain that stands over the beach resort of Ölüdeniz and is one of the best paragliding spots in Europe) many times by car and, more recently by cable car; now I can say I have walked up it! The views were stunning and the hike up was great but the road down seemed to go on forever (total distance 27km) and my legs ached for a couple of days.
What have I read this month?
The hand that first held mine – Maggie O’Farrell
I love everything Maggie O’Farrell writes and although this is not a new book (2010), I had not read it. There are two stories that at first seem unrelated but then come together in a tragic and shocking way. Aside from the mystery, I loved the portrayal of Lexie’s bohemian and exciting life in post-way London.
The Truths and Triumphs of Grace Atherton – Anstey Harris
This wonderful debut novel tells the story of Grace, who lives for her relationship with a married man, and how she recovers when he turns out not to be what she imagined. I love a novel that teaches me something about a new subject and in this case, Grace’s business is making instruments – violins, cellos, violas – and the book gives a fascinating glimpse of an exacting and rarefied profession.
I hope you have had a good month. Here’s to the start of summer!
Melanie