About The Book
Book: Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay
Author: Kate Darroch
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Release date: October 29, 2023
The story of an alcoholic former journalist, Eric, who is trying to straighten out his life and give up drinking, and Lily, a woman haunted by memories of domestic abuse, who meet and miracle in gorgeous Welcombe Bay. Both are coping with serious life problems, and neither is looking for romance. But lasting love is looking for them. Can these broken souls overcome their emotional and financial challenges, and help each other to heal through the transformative power of their love and faith?
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About The Author
Kate Darroch lives on the picturesque Devon coastline, where she combines her passion for cozy sleuths and her experiences of life as it’s lived in many countries to create compelling Travel Cozies.
Màiri Maguire, a Scots Irish teacher from 1970s Glasgow, heroine of debut novel, “Death in Paris”, has earned Kate many international book awards, including Readers Favorite Gold Medal for Humor, consolidating her reputation as a notable author. Kate hopes her readers will enjoy Màiri’s adventures as much as she enjoys Father Brown, Sherlock Holmes, and that old, old movie, the Perils of Pauline.
Next, Kate created Huntingdon Hart, a dry, witty, prescient, multi-millionaire, tongue-in-cheek cross between James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, who’s in love with a much older woman.
Kate’s most recent work is the Christian Second Chance for Lasting Love series, Sweets By the Sea, a saga of Recovery and Redemption; which her readers say is even sweeter than Màiri’s adventures.
More from Kate
If you want incident-crammed stories that seamlessly integrate Christian values, you’re in the right place. Why is that? Because my own Christian faith is a seamless part of my life. How can you separate everyday life and faith? Don’t ask me, because I can’t.
I wrote Màiri Maguire to make people laugh during a dark time; and I wrote Eric and Lily to give hope and understanding to the families of addicts in recovery, to shine a light on thought processes and emotions which are opaque to most of us; and which those of us with a friend or loved one in recovery would like to understand better. Because I’m a storyteller, not a counsellor, I also tried to tell you a story that would make you both laugh and cry, a story worth taking time to enjoy. I hope that you will decide to spend a little time with Eric and Lily, and that you will find the expenditure of your time to be worthwhile.
Q& A with Kate Darroch
Why did you choose the Women’s Fiction genre?
I believe that the story chooses the writer, not the other way around. In November 2022, I decided to write a historical mystery. I had a strong idea, a strong plotline, clearly defined characters, and I was pretty sure the story would be a hit. I had truly gorgeous covers made for that series. And I still haven’t written the first book. I’ve written Cozy mysteries, family life, tongue-in-cheek ghost stories, traditional sleuth send-ups, a thriller, a heist, a caper, and now, with Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay, I’ve written a Redemption & Recovery story with faith and heart. But Belle’s life in 1812 is still on the back burner. Why? Who knows? The muse goes where she listeth.
What types of research do you pursue?
My life has been my research. I’ve written two series for my Cozy sleuth Màiri Maguire, who is a Scots Irish school teacher living during the period of the IRA bombings in Britain, 1970 to 1975. I lived through that period myself, and twice was scant seconds away from very gory death. My sister and my best friend are school teachers. Màiri is a native Glaswegian, and I was raised in Glasgow. Her first series is a Travel Cozies series, and I have lived in every city she visits and know those cities well.
My humorous Huntingdon Hart series is set in London, where I lived for 17 years, and he is a racecourse aficionado, as I am myself. I knew Dick Francis. Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay is about an alcoholic journalist in early recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous, who falls in love with a Christian woman haunted by memories of domestic abuse. I worked on a newspaper in Fleet Street for 3 years; and I am no stranger to the horrors of domestic violence or active alcoholism.
Does that mean that my stories are autobiographical? No. Every writer puts something of themselves into their work, and something too of the people whom they know, but there is very little of my personal life history in my stories. Màiri and I both enjoy sparkling mineral water, that’s about it.
How long does it usually take to craft your books?
I begin with an idea, which I put on paper at once. I often write a bare-bones outline and the first chapter at the same time as writing down the idea. After that, I usually write two chapters each time I sit down to write. Occasionally only one chapter, sometimes three. So in theory it might take me a month to write a story. But in practice it takes much, much, longer. After I’ve written something, I have to let it lie fallow for a while, and then the edit process begins. My edit is rigorous. I agree with Lew Hunter that your work needs 9 separate polishes before it’s ready for other eyes. So my edit will take 2 months or longer. Once I’m satisfied, I send my work to beta readers. And when they see my story that’s been polished 9times, my beta readers find a barrelful of new flaws. So typically I’m 2 weeks or more in beta. And then I have to edit all over again. On average, I’d say it takes me 4 or 5 months to craft a novel. Novellas are faster, I can usually finish a novella in 6 weeks or so. I rarely take more than a single day to write a short story; but the editing means that it’s more than a month before the story is ready for print.
Can you tell us a little about what inspired your latest novel.
Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay is a Christian tale of recovery and redemption, of forgiveness and a second chance for lasting love. Two things inspired me to write this story. The first was that I received the 2022 Incipere Award for Best Christian Fiction for my debut novel, Death in Paris. I was stunned, because Death in Paris is a Cozy murder mystery in which my heroine just happens to be a cradle Catholic, in the same way that G K Chesterton’s sleuth Father Brown just happens to be a Catholic priest. But then I thought about it, and I realised that just as my own faith is an integral part of my life, my heroine’s practice of her faith is a pretty significant part of her story. So I thought, well, maybe I should try to write a Christian story – because it’s a hard world out there, a lot of terrible things happen, and we all need the hope and solace that faith brings. Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay is the result.
The other part of my reason for writing this particular story is that I wanted to shine a light on the disease of alcoholism in a sympathetic yet realistic way. Most stories about alcoholism are melodramatic and extremely unrealistic. Most people who love alcoholics find their attitudes and actions incomprehensible. I wanted to make a little tiny bit of a difference, bring a morsel of hope to the table. So I wrote this book. In the short time since release it has won 3 awards (including the 2023 Incipere Award for Best Christian Fiction) and was chosen by Publishers Weekly for their Love and Relationships Indie Spotlight, an accolade awarded to only a handful of books. More importantly to me, a number of readers have written to share with me how this book has impacted their lives.
Readers always want to know what is next for an author. Do you have any works in progress you can share about?
I’ve recently written 3 more stories in the Welcombe Bay Sweets by the Sea series, a prequel and two later books, and I shall be writing a fourth. This morning a new idea came to me, a gift from the muse. It’s a story which revolves around social mores, and it carries a little more of a message than my work usually does.
For those who are waiting for some more of my usual fun fluffy stories, you will not be disappointed. Màiri is going time-travelling, back to the 1920s; and Hunt is going to get marooned in a most unlikely place, where he will, as usual, confound his critics by saving the day in a totally unexpected way.
Blog Stops
Stories By Gina, June 22 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, June 23
Artistic Nobody, June 24 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, June 24
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 25
Guild Master, June 26 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, June 27
For the Love of Literature, June 28 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, June 29
By The Book, June 30 (Author Interview)
An Author’s Take, July 1
Blossoms and Blessings, July 2 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, July 3
A Reader’s Brain, July 4 (Author Interview)
Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, July 5 (Author Interview)
Pause for Tales, July 5
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Kate is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and an eBook copy of the four books in the series: Cookies & Eggnog from Welcombe Bay, Thanksgiving in Welcombe Bay, Christmas in Welcombe Bay, and New Beginnings in Welcombe Bay!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2c06e/thanksgiving-in-welcombe-bay-celebration-tour-giveaway
Tags: Kate Darroch, women's fiction
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