I now declare this book open

If you’d told me at the end of last year that come May 2020, I would regularly hurl myself into the path of traffic while wearing a snazzy face mask, I would have laughed in, or near your face. Had you predicted that my last major social event would be a trip to Southampton to see my sister and her family while struggling with a cold of epic proportions, I would have been surprised.

Since then, everything has changed. Men are sporting magnificent beards while women display a scattering of what my hairdresser used to call, “Nature’s Highlights”. Home barbering is now a thing. Yesterday afternoon, my eleven-year old daughter trimmed my fringe and my world makes sense again.

Since lock down, I’ve become a more involved member of the ACW, a supportive and fabulous writers’ group, as well as taking my first steps in book reviewing. For me, there is nothing to compare to the smell and the feel of a new book, its pages as yet unread, its secrets still to be unlocked.

A few weeks ago, I was very excited to be asked to be part of my friend Fran Hill’s virtual launch team. Fran now has two actual books under her belt. She is a Proper Writer, as we unpublished folk say. For this reason alone, I curtseyed low when first we met, full of respect and admiration for anyone who could write lots of words in one go, put them together and turn them into something which an actual publisher would publish so that people could buy it in bookshops.

Pre Covid-19, Fran and her publisher planned a book launch for Thursday 21^st May. That’s today. In an alternative universe, people would have sipped Prosecco, nibbled canapes and stood around saying nice things. Fran would have said a few well-chosen words, everyone present would have clapped and had another flute of fizz before buying her book and heading home.

Nothing daunted by the lack of a government announcement confirming that writers were key workers and could therefore meet together in small, excitable groups, Fran started organising a virtual book launch. And this is where we all come in.

“Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?” is out today. Yes, TODAY! A hilarious, warm and touching memoir of an English teacher’s year at a secondary school, it is the ideal read for lock down. Having taught for 16 years and now an English tutor, Fran really knows her stuff. The narrator of her memoir, “Miss”, has a fondness for Baileys, is breaking out in menopausal spots and has a love-hate relationship with her bathroom mirror and scales who conspire to tell her uncomfortable truths.

Fran is having her virtual book launch on Facebook and you can join her, live, from 8.00 tonight by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/events/263230455056350/

Bring your own drinks and nibbles. Lie on your bed in pyjamas and slippers if you like, or dress yourself up to the nines. Fran won’t mind what you look like, she’ll just be glad you came.

You can find out more about Fran and her work by clicking here: https://www.facebook.com/Fran-Hill-Writer-430140043700388

You can snag your very own copy of , “Miss, What Does Incomprehensible Mean?” by clicking on any of these links: https://spckpublishing.co.uk/miss-what-does-incomprehensible-mean, https://www.hive.co.uk/, https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/search/?keyword=miss,+what+does+incomprehensible+mean or 

 http://www.warwickbooks.net/

Happy reading, everyone.