Guest Post With Kirsty Ferry

Today, I'm delighted to welcome writer, Kirsty Ferry, back to the blog. We are both authors with Choc Lit and Ruby Fiction, which are now part of a much larger publisher, Joffe Books. Her new novel, Bea's Magical Summer Garden, is to be published tomorrow, the 18th of April. 

Welcome back, Kirsty. First of all, congratulations on the publication of another novel in the Schubert series. I'm dying to know if this story is going to be the last in the series and if so, how you feel about that. Over to you!

I can’t believe this is the sixth Schubert the Cat book! When I started a few years ago with Every Witch Way, I didn’t think for one moment I’d end up writing six novellas about this magical, mystical black cat. Bea’s Magical Summer Garden wasn’t meant to have Schubert in, but as any author will tell you, when we hit that creative block we just have to set the work aside for a little and see what happens. In this case, Schubert was pretty insistent about being in the book, so I had to give in and let him appear, and the book came much, much more easily after that.

I’d run out of McCreadie siblings by the time I started Bea, although from the moment Bea appeared as a minor character in It Started with a Wedding, angrily hacking back her overhanging plants at the behest of The Man in the Big House, I knew she was going to be the focus of the next book I wrote. It was just a case of finding a story that fit with her, and going from there.

During lockdown, I had a lot more daytime TV on, and I watched programmes such as Homes Under the Hammer and Escape to the Country. I will often put them on ‘for the dog’ when I’m in the house during the day now; but as he sleeps most of the day, I am the one that has the guilty pleasure of peering into other people’s homes and seeing the transformation of the auctioned properties in Homes Under the Hammer. I must, however, confess to yelling at the TV when I feel people have just gone on and wasted the Escape team's time, and I do occasionally mutter obscenities at the smug people who buy an auctioned home to ‘add to their portfolio of multiple rental properties.’  But it’s like poking your tongue into a poorly tooth; it’s enjoyable in a weird way! And it certainly inspired this book.

I have always loved old houses, and houses with secrets, and although Glentavish House – the Big House in the book – doesn’t really have any secrets, I liked the idea of someone buying a slightly run-down place and loving it again. A sort of Hammer in the Country mis-mash, I guess! An unfinished folly was also a lovely thing to imagine; it sort of brought the two halves of the story together, and it fitted with the tragic life of Lady Clementine whose husband hadn’t managed to build her the place she wanted whilst she lived one hundred and fifty years ago. I did have a slight danger of dwelling too much on Lady Clemmie’s potential ghost running around Glentavish in Bea, and had to rein her in. Both Bea and Marcus, the other main character,  are a little too down-to-earth to accommodate ghosts in their day-to-day lives, so the odd time where Clemmie makes herself known should hopefully have a bit of a ‘less is more’ feel. I do love writing my ghost stories, and may pick my timeslips up at a later date; but for now I am enjoying writing more contemporary, humorous books.

And will there be a seventh Schubert book? At this present moment in time, I just don’t know. My wonderful little publisher has now become part of a wonderful big publisher, and whether I can indulge my own follies with writing more Schubert books is for the future. But in the meantime, I do hope you enjoy Bea’s Magical Summer Garden, and enjoy Schubert’s latest foray into his wonderful, magical world!

About the book

What’s not to love about Bea’s Garden?

Its higgledy-piggledy layout, fascinating plants and occasional resident black cat makes it the most charming place to visit on a sunny afternoon. Plus Bea has bees – and her Honey Festival is sure to create a buzz.

But not everyone thinks Bea’s Garden is the bee’s knees.

The Man at the Big House next door has been a thorn in Bea’s side for the longest time, with his unnecessarily snippy letters about her beautiful climbing plants ruining his ‘clean lines’. Could he and his poisonous project manager Carla pose problems for her Festival? Or can Bea rely on the Man’s cousin – and her newest annual pass holder – Marcus Rainton to fight her corner?

With bee best friends, big black cats, a secret garden gate and a surprising identity reveal, Bea’s Garden is surely in line for its most magical summer yet!

Bio

Kirsty Ferry is from the North East of England and lives there with her husband and son. She won the English Heritage/Belsay Hall National Creative Writing Competition in 2009 and has had articles and short stories published in various magazines. Her work also appears in several anthologies, incorporating such diverse themes as vampires, crime, angels, and more. 

Kirsty loves writing ghostly mysteries and interweaving fact and fiction. The research is almost as much fun as writing the book itself, and if she can add a wonderful setting and a do9llop of history, that's even better.

Her day job involves sharing a building with an eclectic collection of ghosts, which can often prove rather interesting.

For more information about Kirsty, visit:

www.twitter.com/kirsty_ferry

https://www.facebook.com/kirsty.ferry.author/

www.rosethornpress.co.uk

Buying links:

Kirsty Ferry (choc-lit.com)

Thank you, Kirsty. That was so interesting. Your enthusiasm for writing ghost stories is clear. I love the fact that you can choose between your timeslips and your contemporary, humorous stories. Good luck with the sales of your new novel.

Thank you for reading. I hope you like the sound of Kirsty's latest novel as much as I do. 

You may also follow me on Twitter @JanBaynham and on my Jan Baynham Writer page on Facebook. For more about me and my books, please visit MY AMAZON PAGE.