Helen Jones

For Paris

I first visited Paris when I was seventeen, my friend and I getting lost in the ancient streets, sitting in parks and watching people go by, caught up in the magic of the city. It felt strangely familiar to me; I suppose the fact I spoke French quite well helped. I have been back severalContinue reading “For Paris”

Indie Book Review: No Quarter by Helen Jones

Originally posted on Kate M. Colby:
No Quarter (The Ambeth Chronicles #2) by Helen Jones My rating: 4 of 5 stars Disclaimer: I received a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. No Quarter (The Ambeth Chronicles #2) by Helen Jones is the sequel to Oak and Mist (The Ambeth Chronicles #1), which I reviewed in…

Of Doors and Getting Back Into Things

I’ve just come back from holidays. Oh, very nice, you might say – and you’d be right 🙂 At the same time, it was a busy couple of weeks. No sitting around on beaches – instead we had a planes-trains-and-automobiles type trip starting in Vancouver, Canada and ending in Cambria, California, taking in the sightsContinue reading “Of Doors and Getting Back Into Things”

Wordless Wednesday – By The Canal

Beach Treasure

I found this on the beach last year. To me it looks like a porcelain dog’s head, weathered by its time in the sea but still holding a vestige of what it once was. And it is porcelain, not just some strangely weathered stone – traces of shining crackled glaze run under its ‘chin’ andContinue reading “Beach Treasure”

Wordless Wednesday – When Nature Takes Over

Margaret Atwood and The Man On The Bus

He had been handsome once, but now his hair was greying and unkempt, his face reddened by the elements or drink or some combination of the two. Still there was a twinkle, a lively curiosity in the dark eyes. ‘Hello, little one.’ His voice was roughened, gravelly, but his smile was wide as he watchedContinue reading “Margaret Atwood and The Man On The Bus”

Character Building

It’s a strange thing, to dream a person to life. Yet that is what a writer does, creating characters to walk the pages of their book, talking and breathing and thinking and doing. I’ve had to come up with quite a few people for Ambeth, and the interesting and slightly eerie thing is that theyContinue reading “Character Building”

Wordless Wednesday – Old Doulton Factory, London

Unearthing Ideas

Where do ideas come from? Ambeth was inspired, as I’ve said before, by something that happened to me when I was a child. But it has grown and evolved, the characters telling me things and taking me down paths I didn’t realise were there, and I’ve learnt to sit back and let them tell theContinue reading “Unearthing Ideas”