Confessions of an Author

An exciting surprise! Good Morning! This isn’t my normal time for posting blogs, but I wanted to share some news with you (because I’m very excited, and Son is in bed and Husband is at work, and I have to tell SOMEONE!) This morning, when I woke up, an envelope was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. When I opened it, I found a magazine. It’s an Arts magazine, and reviews art, literature, music and dance. As I flicked through the shiny pages, I found, on page 68, a review of CLARA. Wow! This is my first ever unsolicited review. How exciting! I skimmed the review first, heart in mouth, wondering if I was going to read something critical. But no, the reviewer had found the book gripping. They describe being “glued to your seat and wondering at human nature”. Clara is a pretty awful person (slight understatement) but the reviewer says: “I found myself fascinated – in the same way one can’t quite help but peer at an accident as one drives past – and in spite of mysel...

I received this message, which was lovely, so I thought I would share it with you: Comment: Dear Anne I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed reading "Clara". I was very much taken by the explanation you gave when you told me about your book at the East Grinstead book shop. Some books stay with you when you have read them, and Clara was one of those for me. I found Clara fascinating. I think there is a little bit of Clara in all of us, particularly in the way we all do try and manipulate others. However, unlike Clara, we will feel remorse for doing so. At first I found the character of Clara intriguing as to how her mind worked. Then, the further she went, the more I started to feel uneasy about what she was doing. However, that then changed again when she went to India where she became a bit of an anti-heroine. I wondered what it would be like to try and communicate with her; knowing that would never be possible with someone like her. As soon as you were of no ...

It is always nice when a stranger reads one of my books. Even nicer when you discover a brilliant review on their own blog, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I read this review of CLARA - A Good Psychopath? Check out the link below, and you'll see what I mean. http://www.greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk/?p=258

So, have you read Invisible Jane yet? It's the feel-good novel that everyone is talking about in the UK, and recently released globally, so you could be the first in your country to read it. Invisible Jane tells the story of Jane, a young mother who should be happy, but somehow, things are not quite what they seem. It's a novel with some real laugh out loud moments, but also a softer side, something to lighten your heart. It's book for every parent, in every country, because you deserve to have a break. So why not buy a copy today? Available from an Amazon near you - US link below. (All profits go to support the work of Tearfund) https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Jane-Anne-Thompson/dp/0995463239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1514392129&sr=8-1&keywords=invisible+jane+by+anne+e+thompson

# A Case of Need by Michael Crichton - very interesting. The novel is very pro-abortion, which I found difficult, but it's usually good to read viewpoints that differ to your own, because it helps you understand what others are thinking. Whilst I found Crichton's very biased approach slightly annoying (he didn't address the alternative views at all, other than to ridicule the extremist stance) the story was interesting enough for me to want to read to the end. # The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough - well, this was surprising! I sort of remember the story from the 1970's, when my parents banned us from watching it, and my sister and I used to sneak episodes when they were out! But I have never read it. McCullough writes in a very descriptive style, and she uses all the adverbs that Stephen King advises writers to avoid, but she certainly writes a good story. I was uneasy with the ages of the main characters - as a priest in his twenties becomes besotted with a girl...

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough Book Review (No spoilers!) Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough I met Sarah Pinborough at a luncheon. We were both invited to talk about our books, and afterwards I received a copy of her latest – at the time unpublished – book. To be honest, I had never heard of Sarah Pinborough before. If you research her on Wikipedia, you’ll find she writes both Young Adult and Adult thrillers, and has published 20 books. She also writes for television, and has had her work adapted for films. So quite well known. Not sure how I had managed to miss her. Anyway, I loved her book. I was also given one of her YA books (13 Minutes) and that never appealed – but then I was a young adult a very long time ago. However, ‘Behind Her Eyes’ was brilliant. If you enjoy books with a lot of suspense, where things happen that you think you ‘almost understand’, then find at the end that everything you thought you knew was wrong, this is a book for you. There was als...