I just love people who are so enthusiastic about what they do that you can’t help but get caught up in their joie de vivre. Jane at Tweetables.com is one of those people. Jane has a blog offering self-published authors the wonderful opportunity of giving interviews and having their books reviewed, something that the mainstream media avoids like the plague.
If, like me, you enjoy good books regardless of the means by which they are published, then do take a look at Jane’s blog and perhaps, also take a few moments to read my interview and the review for ‘Attitude of Gratitude.’
(A colourfully illustrated children’s chapter book for ages 6-10 years).
Information for press, libraries, bookshops and bloggers
Itsa Mouse and the Cake House is a beautifully illustrated children’s chapter book that tells the heartwarming tale of five adorable mouse friends and how a cake changed their lives! It’s suitable for children aged 6-10 years.
We did extensive beta testing with a wide range of children and their parents, ranging in age from 3 to 11. The feedback from all families was that the ideal reading age range was between 6-10, although slightly younger and slightly older children very much enjoyed reading the book. They all wanted to know what happens next in the adventure. Fortunately, book two is already written and the illustration process has started, so they won’t have to wait too long!
Itsa Mouse and the Cake House is full of fun and humour, has an element of jeopardy, involves food (!) and has a number of familiar elements (winter weather, family, Christmas traditions) as well as other interesting themes for discussion. Those themes include homelessness, recycling, composting and albinism – all covered in an age-appropriate manner and totally congruent with the story. The feedback from parents was that they and their children enjoyed the discussions that came about through reading the book.
Here is a selection of feedback that we received from our young readers and their grown-ups:
Xander (6) was totally engaged throughout.
Kal (7) ‘I think it was a great book and I like how the mice made the most of their home, especially the bin bit.’ I also thought it was a very interesting, exciting and funny story, which will help get children thinking about appreciating what they have.’
My 6year old Ethan loved the book and said you are a very good writer! I loved the aspects that opened up conversations with my son around homelessness, albinism and Christmas traditions. Thank you for sharing this lovely book with us, he wanted to know what happened next!!
Andriani (6) and Axel (8) Both kids really enjoyed it Rating out of 10 is 9.5 (because no book is perfect apparently). They enjoyed the humour They liked the rhyming. They enjoyed the theme of the story of the houses and the search for a homeland the idea of the Gang as a family looking out for each other. They liked the part about the leader needing glasses and a fur coat and how his gang came to support rescue his missing glasses They liked the eco reference with the cocktail stick They enjoyed the twist at the end with the box and going into the dustbin Hope this helps it gives you some sense that it was really enjoyed by the kids and had some really good talking and learning points.
Jacob (9) Loved the story. Interested in book 2. Would like to see a Halloween adventure. Enjoyed the plot and the mice. Loved their names. Loved Itsa best. Loved the pics. Jacob, aged 9. Honestly, he loves it and was really engrossed in the story and kept asking about the characters and what certain things meant. He immediately picked up on the mouse names probably as I had introduced him to Asterix (Dogmatix, Cacophonix, Vitalstatistix etc).
Harrison (9) This book is epic! It’s very festive, about a clever little mouse and how he and his friends have lots of adventures. I really hope there are more books like this, I love it! *Harrison also sent us this fabulous video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxmYDEMu2yc
A percentage of profits from the sale of this book will go to Centrepoint. Centrepoint is a charity in the United Kingdom that provides accommodation and support to homeless young people aged 16–25. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, has been a patron of the organization since 2005; his first patronage. His mother Diana, Princess of Wales, was a patron of the organization before she died.
A link is given in the introduction explaining how readers can make their own donation to Centrepoint if they wish.
Most of all the book is a good old-fashioned children’s illustrated adventure book that is guaranteed to have them turning the pages and put a great big smile on their faces.
Full-size cover, the one sheet and press release are below for you to download.
Some months ago I was fortunate to be interviewed as a ‘featured author’ by Joan Gleason at Book Reader Magazine. The interview has just gone live. Since then I have released the second book mentioned and the third is having the final touches made before formatting and publishing.
If you would like to check out the books mentioned, here are some more links for you! They are universal, so wherever you are, they will take you to your local Amazon, where you can read them for FREE with Kindle Unlimited.
For those of you who know me well, you will know that there are two things about me that are fact. The first is that I have had through no fault of my own apart from perhaps an inherited karma, a very difficult life (to put it mildly), and it goes on. The other is that I have maintained my sanity and ability to continue breathing through expressing gratitude.
However, I am truly grateful for pretty much everything in my life including all of the horror. Am I so grateful that I am glad the horrors happened? No, of course not but fighting reality is the first step to madness.
Gratitude can literally improve your life and your outlook for the better. What do I mean? Well, on a basic scale, taking the time and making the effort to notice all of the things in your life that you are grateful for, fills you with a sense of abundance. You feel calm and peaceful. In fact, I use this ‘trick’ to enable me to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night when thoughts are racing through my mind and my heart is pounding out of my chest. It works. That and a sip of water and you will soon be back in dreamland.
Gratitude, due to it its ability to slow your heart rate as you focus on the things that lift your heart, can also help with all sorts of things from regulating hormones to enabling you to stop overeating. If you are feeling more content and happy, of course you will have less cortisol etc. racing around your body.
What is most interesting to me regarding gratitude and those who have the right attitude towards it, is that it’s oftentimes those who appear to have the least who are the most grateful. Take this past week, for example – the world was treated to not only two hours of Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview – but also non-stop TV and media coverage of the same.
I chose not to watch in full (my stress levels couldn’t take it), having gleaned all that I needed to from the extensive coverage. The one thing however, that struck me was that I saw no signs of gratitude in anything that was presented. Perhaps I was busy putting the kettle on, or missed an article in one of the many newsapers I read online, and if that’s the case, please accept my sincere apologies. What I thought I saw was excess coverage of two of the most privileged people on the planet complaining and blaming rather than counting their blessings. That’s heartbreaking.
They are not just privileged because they are part of the wealthiest and most powerful family on earth but because they are relatively young, have their health, have an abundance of friends, have found love with each other, have an incredibly beautiful home, money in the bank, access to the healthiest foods and health care available, ability to travel as and when (even during a worldwide pandemic), and most important of all, they have hope. But not a word of gratitude did I hear.
What really struck a chord with me is that they have one perfect child and another on the way and instead of focussing on that, we were bombarded with so much distress, which has really knocked me for six, triggering my own mental health issues.
We had 5 miscarriages. I won’t share the gory details of those. We sold our home and spent all of our money on many rounds of private IVF (because I was just a couple of months too old to get it free on the NHS). Instead of growing older knowing that we have the joy of children and grand children to look forward to and to leave the spoils of our lifetime endeavours, our family stops here.
When I was pregnant those five times, the hope was all encompassing. We immediately started dreaming of who this little being would be. Would they have my dark eyes and J’s perfect nose? Would they have his curly hair or my mediterranean locks. Would they be olive skinned like us, or would J’s Jamaican genes give us a child with darker skin and his blue eyes? We really didn’t care one way or the other – who would?
We were so excited by all the possibilities and above all else, we were grateful that we had been given another opportunity, where perhaps this time we would get to bring a brand new human into the world, who would hopefully be healthy, happy and the best of both of us. Sadly, it wasn’t to be.
What struck me more than anything watching the clips and reading the transcripts of ‘the interview’ was just how much gratitude appeared to be lacking from the proceedings. It was a two hour stress-fest. Rather than discussing the absolute and overwhelming joy of carrying a healthy baby, M said she had felt suicidal (after a prompt from Oprah), because of the distress of learning that her child would not be a prince. A child that would not be a prince due to a law passed in 1917. It wasn’t created (as we might have surmised from the wording of the comment) specifically to keep this particular child in its place. That this much wanted baby would not be carrying the burdens of being elevated to a life that wasn’t bringing its parents happiness was surely something to be grateful for? Tagged on to that was also a commment (said at a time which appears to be in dispute but far before M was ever pregnant) about the colour of a future baby between H&M. How sad that instead of revelling in her pregancy and all of the incredible things that were to come, M instead appeared to attach to things could not be changed, which had a severe effect on her mental health.
The basis of the Serenity Prayer is to accept the things that we cannot change. Fighting a losing battle is exhausting and depressing.
There were a great many other awful things that these two felt had befallen them that made life so incredibly difficult, that they had to escape…and who am I to criticise that? We’ve probably all felt an overwhelming desire, or even a need to escape, maybe once, or maybe frequently but haven’t had the means or opportunity to do so. Instead, we are stuck in our mundane lives, facing the challenges that life has and continues to throw at us and we do our best. Fortunately for them, H&M had the power, network and the means to create a new life without the constraints and difficulties that most of us would face.
Gratitude won’t cure mental health issues, so if you have any issues at all please do get them checked out professionally.
Those of us who regularly practise gratitude tend to make the most of every positive (and sometimes also the negatives that propel us to make positive changes) but life can still be a struggle. A massive struggle. Gratitude doesn’t remove obstacles, it just changes our perspective of them.
Feeling suicidal is no joke. Attempting suicide is a whole lot more serious. I know from experience of having a mother who tried more than once, who I am grateful to say is still with us, albeit with severe dementia and Alzheimer’s.
If the purpose of the Oprah interview was purely to create drama and controversy to a worldwide audience, (who quite frankly have had enough of their own difficulties during the past year), then it worked. As mental health spokespeople, if it was to share details of their personal struggles, then as someone who also struggles, I would have been grateful during those two hours to know more about what helped them turn their situation around, or helps them manage on a day to day basis.
If I had two hours to make a significant impact on the world, how would I make the most of that opportunity?
Happiness is contagious, so sharing in their gratitude about their wonderful new life and successes would have been so uplifting at a time when we could all do with a boost.
H&M, I do hope that I just missed seeing you express your gratitude but if you have any issues in doing so, please let me know. I will gladly send you each a copy of my book. Or you can head over to Amazon.
I had hoped to have completed this second book in the series some years back but life happened. Having published the first book in 2014, I was busily working on this book when my world imploded and everything I knew turned into a life I did not know and I was overwhelmed.
The details (should you want them) are explained more fully in my blog (start with this post: Only Dead On The Inside ), but in essence my mother was widowed and as she has dementia/Alzheimer’s, my husband and I gave up our freedom and sanity in LA to return to London to be here for her.
For the most part, life has been nothing but extreme stress, heartache and trauma ever since.
Writing is often a tool that can be used to work through such things – which, if you follow my blog, you will have read many of my streams of consciousness with regard to ‘life,’ and in particular my life – that I put down in writing. Rather than lose the plot, I try to create a plot.
However, writing fiction, when the bones of the story are taken from what you know – and in my case what I know is abandonment/childhood sexual abuse/physical and mental abuse etc – putting one word in front of another only happens when I relive the emotions/sounds/smells and horrors of the past; my past.
I want to complete this book – it’s not all terror inducing, as you will know if you read Mortal End: A Simmering Pit of Jiggery Pokery, which is filled with humour and is very much tongue in cheek – but the reality is that in order to create a storyline, I have to (re)live the story as I write it.
My intention, as ever, is to have enough brainspace and easing up on the PTSD that I can complete this manuscript in 2021, as it’s definitely a story worth telling…and reading.
Here goes:
Preface
Black.
Pitch black.
Protracted pupils stretching and pulling to let in any stray and desolate rays of light, of which there was none. Or wide open purely from the sheer and absolute terror that was invading her very being.
The solid darkness disabled Martyr’s ability to comprehend her surroundings. She felt like she had been swallowed whole by hell and was rapidly falling down past its slimy gullet and into its bile filled and regurgitating stomach. A lifeless vacuum….or worse still, a lively vacuum that was efficiently sucking the last of the oxygen molecules from every nook and cranny of this nether world.
The cloying aroma was stale and dank and so thick Martyr felt it stick in her throat and expand like she had anaphylactic shock. Her gasps for breath were so shallow that her shrunken lungs were banging on the inside of her ribcage and her trachea was burning and dry.
Martyr could taste blood and grit in her mouth. She was convinced that her alveoli were turning to dust in her chest and the weight of the detritus was like a damp sandbag against her already straining diaphragm.
The incessant screaming was both inside and outside of her head. A deafening lament filled the abyss and Martyr’s Eustachian tubes, slicing through her delicate golden haired head.
Any remnants of sanity were about to leave this place, which is what Martyr should have done, too. It wasn’t going to get any better any time soon. If it ever got better at all.
The indecent prod in her teenage backside brought her back to reality.
“Move!”
“I…I can’t. I can’t see where I’m going.”
“Just put one knee in front of the other and crawl. We are almost there now.”
Martyr’s father was not providing any great comfort to her with his gruff instructions. Not that he ever could. Martyr was wary of her father and quite rightly so. He did not behave in any way that fathers were supposed to and now she realised, too late and somewhere in the bowels of this basement, that he had tricked her yet again.
“Help me,” he had said.
Martyr had heard it all before but knew that it wasn’t a polite request, it was a commandment and so she had resignedly complied as she always did. However, this barely foot high tunnel that she now found herself dragging her deadened and seeping limbs through was a new horror. He had surpassed himself with this particular joyless and chilling experience.
Martyr, as instructed, placed one shredded knee in front of the other with difficulty and winced. The walls of the tunnel really were closing in on her and there was hardly enough room to stop still let alone move forward but she had to. There was definitely no turning back – apart from the fact that her father’s heavy and rancid breath was on the back of her neck, this tight space was so enclosed that there was no way at all that she would be able to turn around even if her life depended on it, which she was beginning to believe it did.
So, onwards she went, for what seemed like a lifetime. Reaching out with her nervous and tender young fingers, Martyr was afraid of what she might encounter in the blackness ahead of her, as she painfully inched forward to her doom.
The crawlspace came to a sudden end as Martyr’s fingers felt cold metal. With her father right behind her, the claustrophobia that had been stifling her throughout this venture, engulfed her sanity and immediately made her lose her senses and control of her bodily functions.
Martyr could go no further and could also not turn around.
Malodorous from his recent exertions, Martyr’s father filled the underworld tube with a repugnant hot and sweaty steam. Like garbage that creates its own heat as it rots, so did this foul man especially as he leaned over his terrified and soiled daughter, as he sought to unlock the metal door that was blocking their way.
With a groan the door opened inwards and both Martyr and her father fell in to an equally dark and damp but rather larger chamber. Martyr could sense the space as noise was allowed a moment of existence before it was extinguished by the airless dungeon.
Using what was left of her upper body strength, Martyr pulled herself through the doorway and attempted to get upright. Having been on her hands and knees for so long, her spine was not having it and refused to obey her demands. Each vertebrae unfolded with a creaking protest, leaving her standing in curved position and an indescribable pain in her lower back. Upon realising that the ceiling of this cell was unable to withstand her full height anyway, Martyr remained crooked and stumbled about trying to regain her balance….of body and mind.
Martyr knew this was not good and had an educated inkling that whatever came next was going to be far worse. Worse than anything she could ever imagine.
If you think that your life could be better and that you could be happier but you are not sure how to make that happen, the #1 Amazon bestseller in both the ‘Happiness’ and the ‘Motivational Self Help’ categories, ‘Attitude of Gratitude‘ could be the book for you! It’s a 30-day workbook to improve your life and outlook. Fortunately, you don’t even have to leave the house for it to work!
There are surveys and scientific data, too numerous to mention, that illustrate that just being grateful in your everyday life, for everyday things can fundamentally change everything in and about your life.
Just being grateful, it is said, can lift your spirits and change your mood, improve relationships, and make you more hopeful for the future. For those of us who sometimes feel down or anxious (and I am not talking clinical depression/ anxiety, serious mental illness, and serious health issues), just noticing the positive things about yourself, your life and what is going on around you can make all of the difference and in doing so increasing levels of:
Energy
Happy hormones
Contentment
Productivity
Positivity
Feelings of well-being
Desire to eat well and live well
Confidence
Patience
Taking notice of the little things and taking less for granted
Awareness of other people’s situations
Kindness towards oneself and others
Ambition
Tolerance
Encouragement
Focus
Hope
Faith
Part 1 is filled with real-life quotes from an anonymous survey I carried out with people from all over the world, sharing how gratitude has helped them, what they are grateful for and how gratitude helps them feel better in all areas of their lives.
Part 2 is a guided 30-day workbook to help you form 5 positive daily habits that will totally change your life.
There is also a month’s worth of cut out and keep ‘bonus’ affirmations to help cement the positivity, too.
Toula Mavridou-Messer has worked in the media/entertainment all of her life, starting at the tender age of 15 when she and her then best friend (Jane Goldman), submitted an interview that they had done with a group of clubland’s glitterati to Gay News Magazine. It was accepted and by the end of that day, they had also been given the regular gossip column to write, along with other features.
Toula went on to write freelance articles for various other publications until she became a publicist for various high profile entertainment names, including George Michael, Dame Shirley Bassey and Eric Clapton – after working as a trainee manager and stylist to the boy band Bros.
Some years later, Toula segued into television production and ultimately worked on shows which included: The Golden Globe Awards, American Music Awards and People’s Choice Awards.
Her celebrity contacts the world over made her a valuable asset to many big-name charities (including Save The Children, The Prince’s Trust, CARE International), where Toula brought on various big names, such as George Clooney, Angelina Jolie and Meryl Streep to be involved with specific campaigns. In fact, it was Toula who introduced George and Amal Clooney to the Royal Family, after inviting them to attend an event at Buckingham Palace, hosted by HRH The Prince of Wales.
However, Toula’s credentials for writing a self-improvement book don’t stop there.
Toula grew up in foster care from the age of 6 weeks.
From the age of 5-20, she was a victim of physical/mental and sexual abuse and took part in the Independent Inquiry into Childhood Sexual Abuse.
At the age of 34, Toula was officially diagnosed by a leading forensic psychiatrist with severe c-PTSD – not uncommon in people who have experienced similar – and was told that, “most people who have been through what you’ve been through would not have survived.”
It was a moment of pure terror, realising just how serious her circumstances were and how fortunate she was to be able to function at all. Toula credits gratitude with getting her through the difficulties and keeping her on track, along with a specialised trauma therapy called EMDR – which is extremely hard to access via the NHS, so Toula has only benefitted from a handful of sessions some years ago.
Since 2015, Toula and her husband James gave up their LA lifestyle and moved back home to London to care for her elderly mother who suffers from vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, which has been the toughest experience of her life thus far.
*Disclaimer:
Attitude of Gratitude: 30-Day Workbook to Improve Your Life and Outlook is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians or mental health professionals or any required treatment. The reader should regularly consult a physician or mental health professional in matters relating to his/her health, and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis, medical attention or therapy.
Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at the time of going to press, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.
Woohoo!!! Starting the week with some GREAT news!!
Our brand new must have book – ‘ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE – 30-Day Workbook To Improve Your Life And Outlook’ is being formatted for publication as I type. We don’t yet have a confirmed publishing date but it will be within the next 4-6 weeks!! (Mock-up cover above).
Thank you so much to all those of you who took part in the survey for the book! Everyone was so honest and thoughtful in their answers that it was truly moving and incredibly uplifting to read them. It is very likely that at least one of YOUR responses has been included in the book!
The other wonderful news is that the amazing Melanie Moore – Big Vision Coach has written a fantastic foreword to the book, for which I am extremely grateful. If you don’t yet know about Melanie and her amazing talents for helping you open up your life and possibilities, do check out her page to learn more.
Finally, work has already started on ‘ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE – MOTHERHOOD,’ so if you are a mother and would like to be part of this book by answering our new survey, here is the link: https://forms.gle/VHgGFpmzSgfgy6EG7
Answers are all anonymous so you can be as honest as you feel comfortable being without concern.
There are 32 questions, so do know that you can come back and answer a few questions each time you have the time and do not have to commit to answering them all in one go.
Literally Has Drama Students’ and Actors’ Tongues In A Twist!
LONDON – Oct. 1st, 2020
If ever there was a book not to be judged entirely on its cover, or perhaps its SEO-filled name, “Vocal Warm-Ups & Exercises Book” is it! This amazing book is unlike any publication ever previously perused and that is quite a phenomenal pursuance. It is also pocket-money priced.
“Vocal Warm-Ups & Exercises Book” is perfect for drama students, actors, voice artists, and performers to warm-up their vocal cords, practise their diction, and is most fundamentally fun.
“Vocal Warm-Ups & Exercises Book” is the absolute best voice exercise book on the market and has been brought to you by an actual real-life actor Jimmy Messer and his author-wife, Toula.
Jimmy has done theatre work, TV, film, and voice-overs. In fact, you can hear his dulcet tones in ‘Like Crazy,’ which won the Sundance Grand Jury favourite prize in 2011.
The one basic thing that Jimmy learned during all of his training – including with Anna Scher, The Poor School, RADA in London, and with Lynette McNeill in Hollywood – was to look after his voice and vocal cords. Jimmy now wants to make sure that you know how to keep one of your most valuable assets safe. Be like Jimmy.
“Vocal Warm-Ups & Exercises Book” is a combination of great art and illustrations, super cool step by step guides, andan astonishing array of very short stories that take alliteration to a completely new level with absolutely EVERY word of each short story beginning with the same letter. No ands, ifs or buts.
As David Jenkins, FRSA (Brilliant Theatre Arts) who wrote the foreword says, “Whether you are a performer, work for a company or own a business, you will always need to use your voice effectively. Not everybody has the confidence but if you have a voice, you really do have a chance.”
As the author Toula says, “Whilst still writing “Vocal Warm-Ups & Exercises Book,” a young actress immediately got in touch and suggested we contact drama schools to let them know about it as it’s perfect for students’ voice training and diction. So far, the feedback from schools has been 100% positive.”
Gone are the days of “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers’ and ‘She sells seashells on the seashore.’ Instead, students are now being introduced to a whole new volume of these incredible modern short stories written entirely in alliteration, to get their tongues and minds around.
Stories such as “Annie and Adam’s Adventure at Arthur’s Animal Aid Association,” “Betty Bets Billy ‘Bout Blowing Bigger Bubbles Better,” and “Colin Couldn’t Comprehend Chafing Cream” WILL soon have the next generation of Olivier’s, Attenborough’s and Taylor’s enunciating perfectly.
“Vocal Warm-Ups & Exercises Book” published by 100 Percent Publishing is now available from Amazon as a pocket-sized paperback (£7.99) and Kindle download (£2.99) and is FREE for Kindle Unlimited and Prime subscribers.
ASIN: B08KF65MCJ
ISBN-13: 979-8690331665
Kindle version available for pre-order, published on October 18th, 2020.
I woke up on Monday with the idea of reading a few chapters of my horror novel, ‘Mortal End – A Simmering Pit of Jiggery Pokery.‘ Obviously I mentioned it to James as I haven’t the foggiest of ‘how to.’
James immediately (because he does know ‘how to’ and is excited by things like this) got all creative about this ‘project’ and set to.
Five days later, we now have the BEST audio excerpt EVER!
It really is amazing and if you don’t believe me – have a listen.
We really hope you enjoy it – like these wonderful people!
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If you do, please share far and wide and often. It would be a dream come true to let the world know about Mortal End (and of course, Jimmy’s amazing editing skills!)
REVIEWS:
The spookiest treat for Halloween’s right here. 178 pages of dark, twisted & mysterious goings on. (Jonathan Ross)
Toula Mavridou-Messer has one of the most creative minds I have ever come across. In fact, her imagination knows no bounds! (LA Writers Center)
Just. WOW. What a unique book! I loved this! This was a horror book with a mystery and a twist! (Word Forward)
For those who like their humor black, satirical and with a Gothic twist this is a must read. Tongue in cheek all the way, the book is written in a style that satirizes the very language of Victorian, Gothic horror, paying a backhanded ‘homage’ to Dickens, Poe, Stoker and the Grimm brothers with a large dash of Washington Irving’s ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and the epic Beowulf, (Grendel’s mother), thrown in. Gruesomely funny! (Sara Salyers)
If you enjoy dark, but easy to read mysteries, I definitely recommend Mortal End: A Simmering Pit Of Jiggery Pokery by Toula Mavridou-Messer. This will be a great Halloween read! (Ellen P. Lafleche-christian)
Mortal End brings together some of the best aspects of Grimm’s Fairy Tales mixed with larger than life characters in a Tim Burton-esq way and adds a dash of sexual content and some great humour all wrapped up in a fantastic writing style. (WJ Thompson)
This is a fantastic read, Macabre and funny, witty and clever, no long journey should be attempted without it! The writer couples rich and vivid language with a superb plot that keeps you guessing (Dominic Wolf)
This is crime fiction like no other! Fairy tales for grown ups with just enough humour to see you through the dark. (Amanda Goldman)
This is Grimm in the best way – it’s a strange and twisted murder mystery. I enjoyed this book immensely. Wonderfully Dickensian names, completely twisted logic, weirdly gorgeous descriptions – it’s a totally bonkers dark fairy tale, with fantastic twists and turns and an unexpected ending. (Ally A)
A truly delicious dark tale well worth the read. (Johnny Kyriacou) Book Description
A gothic horror novel that has grabbed the attention of genre fans around the globe, combining true crime with Grimm to provide a fast-paced adult fairytale romp through the darkest recesses of your imagination.
(Mock-up cover above).
Toula Mavridou-Messer 
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