I’m back at my desk after a holiday a few hundred miles north up the coast, in beautiful Northumberland. My father is from the county and I still have family there, so I enjoyed a week of cycling along the wild and wonderful coastline, visiting castles and dropping in on my cousins (not at the same time; sadly I have no castle-dwelling cousins.) I even took a dip in the North Sea, and can report that it’s even chillier than the sea back home in Kent.
It was just the tonic I needed to send me back to my desk for September, which always has a ‘back to school’ feel for me. Much as I love the summer, there’s something about crisp mornings, blackberries in the hedgerows and earlier dusks that makes me want to sharpen my pencils and start a new notebook.
So I’m starting work on my next writing project, which will remain secret until I’m ready to share it! In the meantime, read on for news about my travels, the latest audiobooks, and other news and recommendations.
Audiobook news
I’m pleased to say the latest Marjorie Swallow audiobook, Death At Chelsea, is now available on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. That means the first three in the Marjorie Swallow series are now audio-friendly, for those of you who prefer to read with your ears.
You can find links to all the audiobooks, listen to samples and download the free audiobook of Murder At The Ritz on the new audiobooks page of my website.
Did you know you can get the audiobook at a reduced price if you already own the Kindle version of a book? Not only that, but using the Whispersync feature, the book can magically tell what page you’re on, so you can swap between listening and reading without getting in a muddle. Go to the Kindle page for the book on Amazon and check the right hand column – it should show you a reduced price for the audiobook (note, I don’t set the prices for Audible books so I don’t know exactly what it will be).
If you don’t want to buy or subscribe through Audible, Spotify or the other providers, you can always ask your library to get my audiobooks for you. They can buy a library license and you can listen for free!
Castles and coastlines
The far north of England has a special place in my heart. My father grew up just outside Newcastle, and many of my childhood holidays were spent at the seaside town of Whitley Bay, where my grandparents lived.
Northumberland is the furthest northerly point of England before it becomes Scotland, and for centuries it was the site of battles and border skirmishes between the English and Scots. Then there were the Viking raiders from across the sea in Denmark, and the ancient families who rebelled against Elizabeth I, and an important role in the civil war… for much of its history, Northumberland was far from the peaceful place it is now.
The coastline is mostly flat, with sand dunes fringing white beaches where seals bask and colonies of seabirds breed on the islands offshore. There’s the holy island of Lindesfarne, where Saints Aidan and Cuthbert brought Christianity to Britain. I spent time on Holy Island after walking St Cuthbert’s Way ten years ago, and it has a very special, otherworldly atmosphere.
This summer we stayed at Alnmouth, where the Aln river estuary meanders into the sea. As you might expect from its history, this stretch of coastline is rich in castles. We cycled past Dunstanburgh , now little more than a ruin on the headland above the fishing village of Craster, Warkworth perched above the delightful River Coquet, and the impressive Bamburgh Castle, which dominates the northern stretch of coast overlooking the Farne Islands.
But you can’t visit Northumberland without visiting the magnificent Alnwick Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Northumberland since the thirteenth century. The twelfth duke and his family still live there – but it’s now most famous as a stand-in for Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.
We toured the state rooms (some of which were used for filming Downton Abbey, more my sort of entertainment!), dodged children doing ‘broomstick practice’, stood on the battlements and imagined facing a Viking raiding party surging in from the coast. The castle also has a very informative area demonstrating medieval arts and crafts, and I was fascinated to find out about the process of making parchment, ink and colours for producing book illustrations, such as those made for the Lindesfarne Gospels.
We also enjoyed tea and cake and a browse around Barter Books in Alnwick, the tremendously popular and huge second hand bookshop in what used to be Alnwick Station.
I came home with the spark of an idea for the next book… but I won’t say any more for now! More about that when it’s ready.
Recommendations
While we’re talking about audiobooks, I thought I’d recommend some of the audio content that I’ve been listening to and enjoying recently.
The Books And Travel podcast by JF Penn, who writes the ARKANE novels. Jo Penn talks to writers about the places that shape their writing and what we learn from our travels. I was a guest on the podcast a couple of years ago, talking about Canterbury. More recently, I loved this episode on Lindesfarne.
For sheer silliness and fun, the complete PG Wodehouse Jeeves And Wooster radio dramas, read by a full cast including Michael Horden and Richard Briers.
Juliet Stevenson reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a thing of beauty and was recommended to me by lots of people. Pretty much anything she reads is lovely!
Caroline Crampton’s Shedunnit podcast takes a dive into classic crime fiction, including all my favourites. She recently talked about ‘rediscovering’ Miss Marple, my favourite of Agatha Christie’s detectives.
The audiobooks in Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series about hapless British spies. Narrator Sean Barrett really conveys the world-weariness of the characters.
Finally, I discovered my narrator Kim Bretton through Magda Alexander’s 1920s murder mysteries starring Kitty Worthington, so a big thumbs up for Magda and Kim!
I hope you enjoy them and please do let me know if you have favourite audiobooks or podcasts to recommend.