Looking Past

Publisher Marketing: Sarah Marchley is eleven years old when her mother dies. Completely unprepared and suffering an acute sense of loss, she and her father continue quietly, trying to live by the well-intentioned advice of friends, hoping that time really is a great healer and that they will, eventually, move on. Life changes very little until Sarah leaves for university and begins her first serious relationship. Along with her new boyfriend comes his mother, the indomitable Hazel Poole. Despite some misgivings, Sarah finds herself drawn into the matriarchal Poole family and discovers that gaining a mother figure in her life brings mixed blessings. Looking Past is a tale of family, friendship, love, life and death - not necessarily in that order. This is the second novel from Katharine E. Smith, author of Writing the Town Read. The narrator's voice is clear and strong, with vivid descriptions and intelligent observations. Readers will quickly empathise with Sarah, the sadness of whose circumstances is contrasted with a dry and sometimes subtle humour derived from situations and characters which help colour the book. Smith's readers have praised her honesty, realism, warmth and humour. Both Looking Past and Writing the Town Read - Katharine's first novel - are written from a strong female first person perspective. However, don't be fooled into thinking this is chick lit - or indeed exclusively women's fiction. Looking Past has received praise from a number of male readers, including an ex-US Marine. You don't get much more macho than that! Nevertheless, this is a story guaranteed to strike a chord with mothers, daughters - and daughters-in-law - everywhere. The dual settings of Yorkshire and Cornwall will interest people with strong links to those places but the characters and events hold universal appeal. This is a book for people who like people. Contributor Bio:  Smith, Katharine E Despite my love of the sea and the South West of the UK, I have tucked myself away in Shropshire - the largest landlocked county in the country - with my husband and our two children. I run a small publishing business - Heddon Publishing - providing essentially self-publishing authors with all they need to turn their story from an original, basic word processor document to a carefully edited, proofed and formatted book. I have met some fantastic people this way, and work with authors as close by as Shrewsbury and as far away as the Australian outback. Family comes first, business second, and after that I write as often as I can - not as often as I would like but I hope there will be more time for that later. I visit Cornwall as often as possible and it never fails to inspire me, which is why I set Writing the Town Read there. My second novel, which I am currently working on, is largely set in my home county of Yorkshire; however I can feel a trip to Cornwall is on the cards for some of my characters! I write books that I would like to read. I enjoy contemporary writers such as Kate Atkinson, Maggie O'Farrell and Anne Tyler. Not that I am putting myself up there with them in writing terms but I love the way their books don't really fit a particular genre, which I think is also true of my writing. Whilst I would love to make a living from my books, I write because I love writing and I need to believe in the story, themes and characters. I started Writing the Town Read while in my late 20s, before I became pregnant with my first child, and I think that this is reflected in the book. Looking Past I have written now that I am well into my 30s and a mother of two. I think these life changes are also represented by my writing. I hope to keep on writing stories and that the quality and the content grows and matures along with me. I hope I am still writing when I am 100. Contributor Bio:  Clarke, Catherine Despite my love of the sea and the South West of the UK, I have tucked myself away in Shropshire - the largest landlocked county in the country - with my husband and our two children. I run a small publishing business - Heddon Publishing - providing essentially self-publishing authors with all they need to turn their story from an original, basic word processor document to a carefully edited, proofed and formatted book. I have met some fantastic people this way, and work with authors as close by as Shrewsbury and as far away as the Australian outback. Family comes first, business second, and after that I write as often as I can - not as often as I would like but I hope there will be more time for that later. I visit Cornwall as often as possible and it never fails to inspire me, which is why I set Writing the Town Read there. My second novel, which I am currently working on, is largely set in my home county of Yorkshire; however I can feel a trip to Cornwall is on the cards for some of my characters! I write books that I would like to read. I enjoy contemporary writers such as Kate Atkinson, Maggie O'Farrell and Anne Tyler. Not that I am putting myself up there with them in writing terms but I love the way their books don't really fit a particular genre, which I think is also true of my writing. Whilst I would love to make a living from my books, I write because I love writing and I need to believe in the story, themes and characters. I started Writing the Town Read while in my late 20s, before I became pregnant with my first child, and I think that this is reflected in the book. Looking Past I have written now that I am well into my 30s and a mother of two. I think these life changes are also represented by my writing. I hope to keep on writing stories and that the quality and the content grows and matures along with me. I hope I am still writing when I am 100.