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Tuesday 6 August 2013
Thursday 24 January 2013
An Interesting Fact. Winter 1947
was asked the other day when waffling on about my new book (Ghost of
a Lie, out in hardback now) to relate an interesting fact. So here
goes:
The winter of 1947 was extraordinary, not just because of the unusal snowfall and the sustained sub-zero temperatures, but because the six weeks of hardship had a more definable impact on British industry than the whole of the war years put together.
From 21 January 1947 to 16th March, the winter left roads and railways repeatedly enclosed within towering drifts of snow several metres high. This was dangerous and a great inconvenience, and it also meant that the supply of coal to power stations was severely disrupted. There were doubtless an infinite number of other factors at play but in short rolling power-cuts were inevitable and throughout February electricity would be reserved for domestic and office use. Factories and workshops were shut down for the duration, many never to reopen.
As an interesting aside, there might still have been enough power had the urban population as a whole not lately developed a deep and abiding love for the electric bar heater. This power-hungry source of instant heat meant that many people had failed to spend the summer collecting and storing their ration of coal and now, without electricty, not only would they be cold but they would also lack the traditional fireside hotplate on which to cook.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of its needs however, the decision to sacrifice industry for the sake of the nation’s public was inarguable. Unemployment shot up and many stalwarts of British manufacturing irretrievably lost contracts to their better placed American counterparts. War and its accompanying hardships had set the precident but having survived years of German bombardment, it was the weather that would at last make British industry fall silent.
The winter of 1947 was extraordinary, not just because of the unusal snowfall and the sustained sub-zero temperatures, but because the six weeks of hardship had a more definable impact on British industry than the whole of the war years put together.
From 21 January 1947 to 16th March, the winter left roads and railways repeatedly enclosed within towering drifts of snow several metres high. This was dangerous and a great inconvenience, and it also meant that the supply of coal to power stations was severely disrupted. There were doubtless an infinite number of other factors at play but in short rolling power-cuts were inevitable and throughout February electricity would be reserved for domestic and office use. Factories and workshops were shut down for the duration, many never to reopen.
As an interesting aside, there might still have been enough power had the urban population as a whole not lately developed a deep and abiding love for the electric bar heater. This power-hungry source of instant heat meant that many people had failed to spend the summer collecting and storing their ration of coal and now, without electricty, not only would they be cold but they would also lack the traditional fireside hotplate on which to cook.
Regardless of the rights and wrongs of its needs however, the decision to sacrifice industry for the sake of the nation’s public was inarguable. Unemployment shot up and many stalwarts of British manufacturing irretrievably lost contracts to their better placed American counterparts. War and its accompanying hardships had set the precident but having survived years of German bombardment, it was the weather that would at last make British industry fall silent.
Wednesday 16 January 2013
Ghost of a Lie Released for Sale!
The Blurb:
Mid-March 1947: Six long weeks of blizzards and hardship close with a lethal manhunt.
Eleanor Elliot, single-handedly battling to keep her tiny Cotswold Farmstead fed and intact, is about to experience a winter unlike any other.
Icy and remorseless, the storm makes one last stand before giving way to the belated spring, and its gusts carry more than the report of a murder. They bring suspicion, the police and the panicked flight of a desperate man.
More dangerous still, an impulsive rescue forces a confrontation with the old ties of a failed romance. And when the truth proves to be even less forgiving than the weather, can Eleanor deal with her own past before a murderer makes plans for her future?
Thursday 20 December 2012
Monday 10 December 2012
Thursday 6 December 2012
You saw it here first:
Essential bookbinding equipment assembled and ready for action...
This is self-publishing on an entirely different scale.
This is self-publishing on an entirely different scale.
Wednesday 17 October 2012
Cover artwork now in print
When friend and Heronfield author Dorinda Balchin approached me with
an idea for her book cover, I was only too excited to offer my help.
Using a combination of Photoshop to combine images and Adobe Illustrator
for text and the design for the figures, the creation of the final
artwork was a remarkably smooth process.
The novel, a sweeping saga set against the bloody battles of WWII, is centred around a country house, Heronfield. In designing this cover artwork, I hoped to imply something of the strife of foreign fields while retaining the emotional link to the characters’ beloved home. The design was also influenced by the artwork for Gone with the Wind, a film synonymous with epic love stories.
Details of how to get your own copy of Heronfield (both digital and print) are available on DorindaBalchin.com
The novel, a sweeping saga set against the bloody battles of WWII, is centred around a country house, Heronfield. In designing this cover artwork, I hoped to imply something of the strife of foreign fields while retaining the emotional link to the characters’ beloved home. The design was also influenced by the artwork for Gone with the Wind, a film synonymous with epic love stories.
Details of how to get your own copy of Heronfield (both digital and print) are available on DorindaBalchin.com
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