Posts Tagged Waiting For a Bright New Future
Book Group Recommendation: Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Lifestyle on July 30, 2024
I run a monthly book group. There are 12 of us in the group and I choose our books from the numerous book group sets available from Birmingham Libraries. We always get a cross-section of opinions on each book; some members will rave about the book and others will detest it so much that they can’t finish it.![20240707_151310[1]](https://sally-jenkins.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/20240707_1513101.jpg)
Recently we read Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor (no, not the actress) and it provoked one of the best discussions we’ve ever had. It’s about an elderly lady in the late 1960s who joins several other older people as a permanent resident in a hotel. She longs for her grandson to visit so that she can show him off to the other residents. He doesn’t appear but Mrs. Palfrey strikes up an unlikely friendship with an impoverished young writer.
I found it an easy, gentle read but the novel has a lot to say about the issues and indignities of growing old, much of which is still relevant today, for example, loneliness, infirmity, abandonment by family and fear.
The ladies in my group are all retired and were open about their opinions on the treatment of older people, their fear of needing care, the advantages and disadvantages of ‘retirement villages’ and how we encourage our children to fly the nest and go away to university, but often they never return. We came to the conclusion that there has been no improvement in how we treat older people over the last 50+ years.
But the book is not all doom and gloom. The residents have eccentricities and there are lovely comic cameos plus a marriage proposal! I’d never heard of Elizabeth Taylor but she is a wonderful writer and creator of characters. Read her books!
On the subject of book group discussions, it was lovely to hear from a group who have read and discussed Waiting for a Bright New Future. They all enjoyed the book and found it uplifting (which was my aim!), the group favoured the character of Florence (she’s a colourful, middle-aged, tribute band singer and I loved writing her!), one member guessed the ending but the others were taken by surprise and there was general consensus that a sequel would be good in order to find out what happens to Stuart. I’m also aware of two other book groups borrowing the five copies of Little Museum of Hope in Birmingham Libraries. I have no idea what their verdict was! And I’ve just noticed that Amazon have reduced the price of the paperback to £4.65 (for how long, I don’t know), if you fancy a bargain.
If your book group has read a book that created a good discussion please share it in the comments!
A Birthday Relaunch and 2 Book Competitions
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Competitions, Successes on April 30, 2024
Little Museum of Hope was published in April 2023. To celebrate its first birthday, Joffe Books have given it a fantastic new cover. Don’t you love the little cat staring into that beautiful, positive blue sky? 
I feel like that cat is a metaphor for all of us who are looking for a better future after a difficult time. And that is what Little Museum of Hope is all about: shedding reminders of broken relationships and tough times so that we can find renewed enthusiasm for life.
If you want to dip your toe into the Museum, the Kindle edition is currently only 99p! (I don’t know how long that offer will last).
By the way, that new cover matches very nicely with that of Waiting for a Bright New Future. I’m beginning to feel a bit like a brand!
And talking of books – I have a couple of free book-related competitions for you:
Marlborough LitFest is running its annual Love Books Competition. They want to hear about your favourite book, poem or play in 750 words or less. Explain what you love about your chosen read, highlighting key areas of interest, and why you think others should try it. Entry is free. The winner in each age group receives £300 and the runner-up receives £100. The closing date for entries is Friday 28 June 2024.
My publisher, Joffe Books, is running a competition to celebrate its tenth birthday. Tell them in no more than 50 words your favourite Joffe book of the last ten years. The best entry will win a year’s worth of books (in the form of a £500/$600 Amazon voucher)!
RULES
*The 50 words (well-expressed/heartfelt) can be about any book published by Joffe/Lume/Choc Lit in the last ten years.
*Entries must be a maximum of 50 words. And submitted by email to: readers@joffebooks.com. The email subject should be: “Win a year’s worth of reading” plus your name.
*Entries can be made between 23 April and 31 May.
Happy Reading!
Novel and Flash Fiction Writing Competitions!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Competitions on December 12, 2023
I’ve received an email from the lovely people at Farnham Literary Festival about their Farnham’s First Five Thousand competition for the first 5,000 words of a novel plus a 300-word synopsis. The novel does not have to be finished but it must be unpublished. Any theme or genre is allowed. There will be 5 shortlisted submissions, and a further 15 long-listed submissions.
First Prize is £100 + a Literary Critique, the runner up receives £75 and three shortlisted entries will receive £50. Closing date is Thursday 1st of February 2024 and there is a £5 entry fee.
Don’t forget to read all the terms and conditions!
The Welkin Mini Flash Fiction Prize is also currently running and entry is FREE! Closing date is 2nd January 2024. There is no set theme but entries must be no more than 100 words. Titles are not included in the word count. Prizes are in the form of vouchers redeemable against Matt Kendrick Editorial Services: 1st place £50 voucher, 2nd place £20 voucher, Highly commended £10 voucher.
Again, do check the terms and conditions.
In other news, I’m always very grateful for positive reviews on Amazon but I’m at a loss to know what I did to earn the 4* one for Little Museum of Hope, which reads, “Not read yet building my library.” However, I do feel honoured to be part of that library and I hope the reviewer feels the book is worth 4* when she/he eventually reads it!
Finally, if you’re still searching for stocking fillers or want a treat for yourself, Waiting for a Bright New Future is now available in paperback as well as being only 99p on Kindle.
A Commercial Break
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Authors, Books, Successes on December 5, 2023
Drum roll and trumpet fanfare!
A massive thank you to everyone who has preordered Waiting for a Bright New Future – it will have landed on your kindle in the early hours of today. Hooray!
If you missed the preorder, you can buy now with instant delivery. Plus the paperback should be available very soon too.
The NetGalley advance reviewers have been busy reading Waiting for a Bright New Future and the response has been favourable (phew!)
“I loved the characters in the book and the humour thrown in amongst the sadness and how the main character was a man in his 50s discovering his life again after the death of his father and starting over again.” Helen A.
“I love that it wasn’t a simple ending but it fit perfectly with how each of the characters were set up.
Definitely a book I recommend.” Reviewer 1028737.
“This book makes you feel everything, the joy, the sadness, the anger, all the emotions you can think of, bundled up together and woven into such a perfect story.” Reviewer 810933.
According to my publisher, ChocLit (part of Joffe Books), this book will appeal to lovers of books by Jenny Colgan, Mike Gayle, Jill Mansell, Sue McDonagh, Laura Pearson or Beth Moran. I can’t believe that they’ve slotted me into such good company!
Still wondering whether it’s worth squandering the grand sum of 99p on Waiting for a Bright New Future? Here’s the blurb:
Is it ever too late to start living for the first time?
Florence is buoyant and colourful, an ageing tribute band singer who’s full of life. And the complete opposite of staid Stuart, her new landlord.
Stuart’s not sure about having a lodger. And he’s not used to the singing and dancing that now fills the house. Nor the pairs of voluminous knickers left to dry on every spare surface in the bathroom.
Florence is everything Stuart has never allowed himself to be: bold, fearless, unabashedly herself. He’s spent his life putting everyone’s needs ahead of his own, avoiding risks and hiding from chances.
Soon Florence is persuading Stuart to dance with her in the kitchen. And when his childhood sweetheart shows up again, it’s Florence who encourages him to make his move.
Florence can see how much he’s changed, even if he won’t admit it. But Stuart has changed. He’s no longer the timid man he was when they first met.
Life is about to give Stuart a second chance, if only he has enough courage to grasp it . . .
Waiting for a Bright New Future falls into the UpLit (Uplifting Literature) genre and will leave you feeling hopeful and positive for the coming of 2024.
Little Museum of Hope – FREE on Kindle!
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Promotion, Successes on November 17, 2023
Just a very quick post to let you, my faithful followers (thank you – I do genuinely appreciate your loyalty) know that ‘Little Museum of Hope‘ is currently (for a limited time only) free on Kindle. Please, fill your boots while you can!
What the reviewers say:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ’Fascinating, often emotional, addictive reading. Recommended.’ Coco
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ’Something special that’s bound to intrigue.’ Isabelle D.
And don’t forget that my next book for ChocLit/Joffe Books, ‘Waiting for a Bright New Future‘ is only 99p on preorder.
If you order it now, it will drop onto your Kindle on December 5th. A paperback will be out too for those of you who love a real book to handle.
End of commercial break and I’m headed back down that Nano rabbit hole!
A Competition, Kobo and NaNoWriMo
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Competitions, Computers & Technical, Resources, Self-publishing on November 9, 2023
I’m deeply down the NaNoWriMo rabbit hole this month, trying to churn out words that don’t resemble a plate of cold, congealed spaghetti. First drafts of a novel are never easy!
(For those of you outside the writing community, November is National Novel Writing Month when we attempt to write 50,000 words of a novel in the 30 days of November i.e. 1,700 every single day for 30 days.)
In other news, I was delighted to be invited by GeniusLink to contribute to their blog on the subject of Self-publishing on the Kobo Ebook Platform, based on my book Kobo Writing Life Publishing for Absolute Beginners. Kobo is big in the Canadian market and offers worthwhile opportunities to those authors who choose not to stay exclusive to Amazon.
This free-to-enter competition popped into my Inbox this week. I seem to remember something about it last year so it may be an annual thing. THE GLENCAIRN GLASS CRIME SHORT STORY COMPETITION is looking for crime stories of up to 2,000 words based on the theme ‘A Crime Story Set In Scotland’.
First prize is a lovely £1000 plus a couple of extras! Closing date is 31st December 2023.
Don’t forget to check all the details plus the terms and conditions before starting to create your story.
Finally, don’t forget the special preorder price of just 99p for my next novel, Waiting for a Bright New Future – to be published on December 5th by ChocLit (an imprint of Joffe Books). It’s a story about family, friends and facing your fears to find love after fifty.
Now I’m going back down that rabbit hole!
Waiting for a Bright New Future
Posted by Sally Jenkins in Books, Successes on October 25, 2023
‘Waiting for a bright new future’ – does that describe you or someone you know?
We’re all guilty, at some point in our lives, of hoping that something will turn up out of the ether and improve our lives. It might be a better job, a new relationship or big win on the lottery. As we get older, we learn things like that rarely happen unless we take positive action ourselves in order to turn our lives in the direction we’d like them to go.
Stuart Borefield is the middle-aged hero of my new novel, Waiting for a Bright New Future. The death of his father and the selfish attitude of his older brothers mean that Stuart will soon be homeless – unless he takes positive action to chase after that bright new future which has eluded him for decades. As in our lives, things aren’t plain sailing for Stuart. He has to find himself a job, decide how he feels about his new lodger and take on commitments that, on the surface, he’d rather not. The most difficult thing is finding the confidence to pursue these things. Simply waiting for that bright new future isn’t going to produce results for Stuart, just as it won’t for the rest of us.
Waiting for a Bright New Future will be published by Joffe Books on December 5th 2023 and is available to preorder on Kindle now for only 99p.
I hope you grow as fond of Stuart as I did while I was writing about him and throwing obstacles in his way.
And remember: sitting back and waiting for that bright new future doesn’t work – you need to go out and grab it!
Sally Jenkins 