Last night was one of the most amazing nights of my life and one I will never forget. It was the book launch for my debut novel Belle of the Back Streets.
The book is set in Ryhope, the northeast coal mining village I grew up in, in 1919 and follows the life of Meg, a young girl who takes on her dad's rag and bone round.
The launch was held in The Albion Inn on Ryhope village green as the pub features in the book a lot. I'd booked a buffet for thirty people some time ago, and then spent weeks worrying that there'd be far too much food for the half dozen or so people who might turn up.
And how many turned up in the end?
Well, let's put it this way... there wasn't enough food to go around and although I know I bought 24 cakes, and I think I remember seeing them... they didn't hang around long and I missed out on eating one. But don't they look great?
Not only did I underestimate how many people would turn up, I also didn't take enough books. I took 30 along, thinking I'd be lucky if I'd sell a dozen or so. All 30 were snapped up in minutes and I could easily have sold 30 more. It's a learning experience, and one I'll take lessons from for the launch of my next book The Tuppenny Child when it's released in paperback in October 2019.
Friends old and new came to the launch including two friends who flew in from Dublin just for the bash, a friend who rearranged business meetings in the north-east so that she could be there too. My agent Caroline Sheldon travelled from London to attend, and gave a short speech, with some lovely words that put a lump in my throat.
My friend Corinne Kilvington opened proceedings with a short Q&A session about the book and my writing life and then we opened the floor to some great questions. Then Corinne and I did a reading of one of my favourite scenes from the book. (I'm the one in the checked dress). As Corinne's an actor and theatre director, as I was reading the passage from the book, Corinne did the voices, which was great. I loved this bit. In fact I loved it all and I want to do it all again.
Because so many people did turn up for the book launch, the place was packed out. The function room at the Albion was absolutely packed full of people.
Sadly, this meant that those at the back, standing room only and spilling out into the main bar, couldn't hear the talk and the reading. Added to this was the fact I had a heavy cold and couldn't shout.. oh dear.
I'm therefore looking to repeat the talk at another, larger venue in Ryhope and will post details to my events page on my website as soon as this is organised.
All in all, it was the most amazing, incredible night.
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