Author of Creative Fiction Writing, Books and Stories
I was recently wondering which book is classed as the First Novel of any kind in the English language? How easy is it to pinpoint such a milestone from so long ago? Turns out it depends on what you class as a novel, and there is a lot of argument about it…
‘The North Water’ is not a ‘nice’ book, and I can’t stress this enough. It is crammed with cruelty, violence and death. So when you come across a sentence like this one, it stands out – a beautiful sentence in the middle of all the horror.
In which we find out why there are so many Six-Toed Kitties in Key West
In which Bird ‘helps’ me wrap presents for Christmas. Errm… thanks Bird 
In which impetuous Mab Thatcher ignores everyone’s advice about being the new priest’s first confession in Blackwood, and lands the village in a whole heap of trouble…
There would be nobody I knew. None of my friends were going. Not even an enemy. In a pocket on the side of my rucksack was a tiny amber bottle of Rescue Remedy my brother had bought for me last week. I wondered if I could get it out and take a few drops without anyone on the bus seeing me but didn’t have the nerve. It made me smile a little; I didn’t have the nerve to take the potion to reduce my nervousness. Stupid.
In which Jo receives a mysterious photo from her friend and has no idea what it is…
In which we come across a quote about being yourself that makes complete sense and makes us nod very wisely. Thank you, Bernadette.
In which we dive into the magical and mystical Book of Fortune from 1936 for answers to important questions, and look at past eerie predictions! Ask away, oh curious one…
The girl had been born with a flamboyant red curl on the top of her head, and so her father labelled her ‘Ginger’. The label quickly became a name, inscribed in royal-blue ink on her birth certificate, and maybe that was part of the problem. A problem that grew as she grew. Because Ginger was the name of a spice (or a cat) and not a woman’s name at all…
Jo Danilo | Writer 