Tag Archives: Jan Baynham

Places in our Memories with Jan Baynham #Mondayblogs #Memories

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There are places that remain in our memories, the details may become slightly blurred, nostalgia may colour our thoughts, but they don’t fade. And how those places made us feel at the time is the one thing that remains.

Today I’m so pleased to hand over to Jan Baynham. Jan and I first met in 2014 at a book event, and she’s been a friend ever since. We meet up every now and then to talk writing and she’ was always been a great supporter of the Tenby and Narberth book fairs. Jan is going to tell us about her childhood memories

When I began to think about what I was going to write, I was immediately transported back my happy childhood growing up in a tiny village in mid-Wales. I was born in 2, Beech Cottage, Newbridge-on -Wye.

2, Beech Cottage

And for the first few years, we lived with my lovely granddad whose house it was. I vaguely remember standing behind a wooden board slotted into grooves in the front door posts he’d made to stop me escaping onto the street. No elaborate safety gates in those days! Granddad worked on the Llysdinam estate and although I don’t remember it myself, I recall Mum telling me she’d been embarrassed when Lady Delia came to see him and I’d invited her to ‘Step your leg over and come and see Grandad’!

My grandfather was very keen gardener, and we always had an abundant supply of fresh vegetables and soft fruit. I remember spending hours playing in his garden, especially watering the plants with a large metal watering can.

By the time my sister was born, we’d moved to 3, Pendre, another terraced house just a few doors away on Crown Row. I still spent a lot of time at Beech Cottage, though. One memory I have of that time is playing in the large shed at the top of granddad’s garden. In there was an old wind-up ‘His Master’s Voice’ gramophone and lots of brittle seventy-eight records no longer considered good enough to stay in the house. For me, Wit provided hours of fun. I can remember winding the handle as fast as I could and then listening to the music slowing down as it needed winding up again. Another memory I have is when my mum and sister had an appointment in Llandrindod, Granddad looked after me. We had Lyons cupcakes as a treat and I can still taste the thick solid chocolate icing on top as I peeled back the silver foil cake case.

Newbridge-on -Wye

Looking back, I realise that Beech Cottage must have been a tied cottage because when he retired at the age of sixty-five, Granddad came to live with us. By then, we were living at the other end of the village. I remember going for lots of walks with him. He made a swing for my sister and me and when friends came to call, they would always keep themselves amused on the swing if we weren’t ready. Now I was a bit older, my granddad taught me to play Whist. I still love playing cards but now it has to be Patience as no one else is interested in playing. I knew I’d made it when I was able to attend the local Whist Drive in the Reading Room as his partner.

The village school was small and often we would have the same teacher for a few years. Miss Lewis was my favourite. Many of the children lived on farms or in hamlets outside Newbridge. I learned to ride my bike on the village green in front of the school. I can see it now. It was a maroon Raleigh with straight handlebars. My dad taught me to ride. When I thought he was till running behind me holding the saddle, I was actually riding independently. That bike gave me complete freedom, enabling me to cycle anywhere. At weekends and at holiday time, I remember setting off for the day on my bike to call on friends to play. The church bells chiming six o’clock would be my signal to go home.

If I saw a phone box out in the countryside, I would often ring my dad at work. I can remember the receptionist’s voice on the tannoy at Auto Palace where he worked. ‘Five, telephone, please’ would echo down the phone. I can’t imagine I’d be as patient as my lovely dad if I was called to the telephone just to have a chat about where out on the Common I was.

Fields, woods and riverbanks formed my playground. Picnics by the rock pools at Llan Cam and swimming in the river at Black Bridge in the summer, as well as lighting fires in the tunnels to the side of the bridge over the river Ithon, are all memories that resurfaced while writing this piece. We had to walk along the railway line to get to Black Bridge, something that would be frowned upon as highly dangerous nowadays. My first ever published short story was entitled ‘Sledging in Mansell’s Field’ and recounts a true story of how we used to sledge down the hill in a field close to where I lived to see who could clear the stream at the bottom and not land in the water.

Laddie

After coming home by six o’clock, I would be ready for bed by the start of The Archers and go upstairs when it finished at seven. Our cocker spaniel, Laddie, had worked it out that when the Archers’ music started that would be the time that Dad came through the door and would bark loudly. Often, we would see the orange headlights of my dad’s car coming along the lane behind the house. I’m still a huge Archers fan to this day.

I very much enjoyed looking back on these early childhood memories, grateful for the freedom I had to explore and make my own fun. A big thank you, Judith, for inviting me to take part in your series.

About Jan:

About Jan Baynham

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction. From then on, she was hooked!

Fascinated by family secrets and ‘skeletons lurking in cupboards’, Jan’s dual narrative novels explore how decisions and actions made by family members from one generation impact on the lives of the next. Her first three novels look at the bond between mothers and daughters as well as forbidden love. Setting plays an important part in Jan’s stories and as well as her native mid-Wales, there is always a contrasting location – Greece, Sicily and northern France. Her next books will involve secrets and sibling relationships; the first set in 1945 and 1964 takes the reader back to Sicily where two sisters work together to prove their father’s innocence of a wrongdoing.

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband.

To find out more about Jan, she may be contacted on:

Twitter – @JanBaynham https://twitter.com/JanBaynham

Facebook – Jan Baynham Writer https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit

Blog – https://janbaynham.blogspot.com

My Review of Her Nanny’s Secret: A compelling story of love, loss and self-discovery by Jan Baynham #familystory #romance #WW2 #RNA

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I gave

Book Description:

How far would you go to save the person you loved the most?
It’s 1941, and Annie Beynon has just become the first stable girl for the most powerful family in her Welsh village. Whilst her gift for working with horses is clear, there are some who are willing to make her life very difficult on the Pryce estate, simply for being a girl.
There are other – secret – ways Annie is defying conventions, too. As the war rages, and when Edmund, the heir to the Pryce fortune, leaves to join the RAF, it seems that it’s only a matter of time before Annie’s secret is exposed. That is, until she makes a shocking decision.
It’s 1963 before Annie is able to face up to the secret she chose to keep over twenty years before. Justifying that decision takes her to Normandy in France, and an outcome she could never have expected …

My Review:

Having already read and reviewed Jan Baynham’s Her Mother’s Secret, I looked forward to reading Her Nanny’s Secret. I wasn’t disappointed

My Review:

Having already read and reviewed Jan Baynham’s Her Mother’s Secret, I looked forward to reading Her Nanny’s Secret. I wasn’t disappointed

I really like this author’s writing style, easy to read yet with a depth of narrative that draws the reader immediately into the lives of the characters and their story.

All the characters are rounded and multi-layered, and add much to the plot, but this is definitely the protagonist, Annie Beynon’s story. She is portrayed as a strong-willed and determined young woman, unconventional for her time, yet, like many during those years, she falls prey to her emotions and needs to live with the consequences. Her journey through life from the Second World War and into the 1960s is consistent with her character throughout every circumstance, every decision made.

The  privations of the era, the social divisions of the time are shown through each character’s dialogue which strengthens their personalities. I particularly liked the differences in the syntax of sentences and shown accents that highlights their social and class standing.

This is also portrayed through the evocative descriptions of the various settings and lifestyles. There is no doubt that the author has thoroughly researched the decades that Her Nanny’s Secret is set against.

There are various themes that run throughout the book: The main theme of secrets is threaded around strong elements of romance and familial love, and, crafted around those, are themes of life’s hardships, loyalty, duty, jealousy and  rivalry.

I try not to give spoilers in my reviews, but I hope the above gives a flavour of Her Nanny’s Secret. This is a well-balanced, evenly paced and well written novel and one I have no hesitation in recommending to any reader who loves romance, but also enjoys a family story.

Jan’s other book:Her Sister’s Secret: The Summer of ’66, is patiently waiting on my TBR pile

The Author:

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband.

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction. From then on, she was hooked! Fascinated by family secrets and ‘skeletons lurking in cupboards’, Jan’s dual narrative novels explore how decisions and actions made by family members from one generation impact on the lives of the next. Setting plays an important part in Jan’s stories and as well as her native mid-Wales, there is always a contrasting location – Greece, Sicily and northern France

To find out more about Jan, she may be contacted on:

Twitter – @JanBaynham https://twitter.com/JanBaynham

Facebook – Jan Baynham Writer https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit

Blog – https://janbaynham.blogspot.com

Oh, What a Show!! Showboat’s Literary Online! #authors #writers #poets

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On Saturday 16th January 2021 we had our first Showboat Literary Online. We had a great line up of writers, lots of fun – and lots of interviewing glitches ( for the editing team at Showboat to sort out in order to showcase the event in the next months. But, most importantly, it was interesting to listen to all those who appeared to give us the lowdown on their writing and latest books.

Thorne Moore and I shared the interviewing chair. This is what Thorne had to say about the day, “:I expect everyone is saying it, but it was so good, after a year under siege, to be able to meet up with other authors again and talk about books, writing and the joys or otherwise of publishing, just to remind ourselves that the world will be back on its axis one day.”

And, just to remind everyone, these are two of Thorne’s books, published by Honno.

Thorne’s Amazon Author page https://amzn.to/3mpu86i

The authors:

Jan Baynham:

I was very pleased to take part in Showboat TV’s first Virtual LitFest. As always, I worried about being in the limelight but interviewer Judith put us at ease straight away. It gave me an opportunity to promote my two novels published during lockdown and reading an extract from my debut was a highlight. Afterwards we went into breakout rooms with other authors to chat about our books and our writing. I enjoyed ‘meeting in person’, albeit virtually, writers I follow on social media as well as catching up with others I haven’t seen for some time. A successful day, I think. Thank you, everybody. 

Her Mother's Secret: The Summer of '69 by [Jan Baynham]

Her Mother’s Secret

http://bit.ly/3qPfEze

http://bit.ly/3iMMJc3

Her Sister's Secret: The Summer of '66 by [Jan Baynham]

Her Sister’s Secret

http://bit.ly/39bXWQe

http://bit.ly/2Y7YGQ8

LINKS

Twitter – @JanBaynham https://twitter.com/JanBaynham

Facebook – Jan Baynham Writer https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit

Blog – Jan’s Journey into Writing https://janbaynham.blogspot.com/

Jill Barry

I was thrilled to be invited to join in the Showboat TV event on 16th January, especially as Judith Barrow, who I’ve known for some years, was my interviewer. One of the joys of Zoom events is that sometimes you suddenly come face to face with people you haven’t seen for ages, even if it is via cyberspace and not in a café. I also liked how we were reassured our presence in the waiting room was noted. Also, there was a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of laughs so hopefully viewers will enjoy visiting these interviews.

Love Thirty Kindle Edition
Homefront: A moving story of love and romance during World War II Kindle Edition

Links:

www.jillbarry.com

Amazon Author Page:             https://preview.tinyurl.com/yy4gsoz9

Facebook Page:                       https://www.facebook.com/JillBarryBooks

Twitter:                                   https://twitter.com/barry_jill

Alex Craigie:

I just wanted to thank Judith Barrow for helping us to showcase our work at yesterday’s LitFest and to send my gratitude to Showboat TV for their time and effort in organizing it and making it happen. I had a really enjoyable time. Judith was the perfect host – friendly, reassuring and generous with her questions. Any apprehensions were quickly dispelled and the meeting up with people afterwards was a genuine pleasure. Showboat TV managed my tech ignorance without making me feel like an idiot and I’d definitely sign up to another one!

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Alex’s Amazon Author page: https://amzn.to/3pmJElK

Links:

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2KkKTkT

Author page: https://amzn.to/3phn4ur

Angela Fish:

The event was great idea. The time slot for each interview was spot on – long enough to introduce the work and answer a few questions. The chat room was great for catching up with old friends and making new ones. I found I was torn between watching the interviews and meeting up with fellow authors! All credit to everyone, it was an enjoyable event and can hopefully be repeated

The Fractured Globe by [Angela Fish]

Amazon Author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6zeyrk2

web: www.angela-fish.com

www.facebook.com/AngelaFishAuthor

Twitter: @angelaEfish

Insta: AngelaFishAuthor

Sara Gethin

I was very excited to take part in Showboat TV’s Online Lit Fest. It was the first opportunity I’d had to talk publicly about my new novel, Emmet and Me, and it felt absolutely wonderful to discuss books and writing again – a rare delight for me during the pandemic!

https://www.honno.co.uk/authors/g/sara-gethin/
Not Thomas by [Sara Gethin]
http://amzn.to/39Zzzo3

Instagram – @saragethinwriter

Links:

Social Media:

Blog – saragethin.com

Twitter – @SGethinWriter

facebook.com/SaraGethinWriter

Instagram – @saragethinwriter

Writing as Wendy White: https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00JVWMDGW

https://amzn.to/369rRH7

Angela Johnson.

On the whole a rewarding  day. I enjoyed my interview and the opportunity to talk about my book, and meeting other writers, so rare in these strange times. As an expat living in Kent, it was good to connect with Welsh writers, and heartening to see that the grand tradition of Welsh volubility is alive and flourishing. I’m most impressed by  so much creativity and dedication . Once I realised that the tech gremlins weren’t conspiring against me I relaxed and enjoyed it. Diolch yn fawr.

Arianwen by [Angela Johnson]

Links:

www.amzn.to/3kHnJmg

www.thunderpoint.scot/store

Twitter:  @jyfelin

Facebook Angela Johnson Author.

Alex Martin

Fabulous opportunity to have a literary festival online and thanks to www.showboat.tv for making it happen.  Sincere thanks also to Judith Barrow and Thorne Moore for their sensitive interviews, making everyone feel at ease.  I hope there will be another one,  when perhaps the public could join in an open forum too, helping us to reach out to readers old and new. I really enjoyed getting together with other local authors again and learning more about their work.

Daffodils (The katherine Wheel series Book 1) by [Alex Martin]

Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKatherineWheel Twitter: https://twitter.com/alex_martin8586 Author page on Amazon: https://amzn.to/39JghTM

Kate Murray:

Showboat’s Lit Fest was the first online one I had done. From the very beginning I was made to feel comfortable. I popped into room 2 before my interview and networked with a few authors, then I went on to be interviewed by Thorne Moore. It went well and I did a reading, then I was back in Room 2. I found myself discussing everything from being BAME to illustrating. It was a wonderful day and I enjoyed myself. Goodness it flew past fast. I loved every minute. I would jump at the chance again.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is here-be-dragons-cover.jpg

Links:The Gone: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0124IYEIE/

Here Be Dragons (children): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01K275UU0/

How the Moon Lost the Stars (picture book): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06VW6Q6Z2/

Adult Tudor Colouring Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1974254984/

Colin R Parsons

The event was great to be honest. The short slots for each interview was just right. Having the chat room was a good idea to catch up with old friends. The only thing I would say is if there was more notice for the audience, then maybe there may be more chance of questions. Other than that… an enjoyable LitFest.

The Gamer by [Colin R. Parsons, Nicola Peake]

Links:

https://amzn.to/38PtLhM
http://www.colinrparsons.com
Voyce.me/CRPauthor@colin.r.parsons (Instagram)facebook.com/colin.r.parsons@colinrparsons (twitter)https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/colin-r-parsons/ (fantastic fiction)
https://bit.ly/2LDQy7e (youtube)

Cheryl Rees Price

I thought the online Litfest was a great success and I was so grateful to be included. I was a little nervous at first but you and Thorne did a great job creating a relaxing atmosphere during the interviews. It was lovely to catch up and see all the authors. Writing can be a lonely business and we’ve all missed out on the social gatherings at the book fairs. 

Blue Hollow: A thrilling mystery with a wicked twist by [Cheryl Rees-Price]

 website is: https://www.cherylrees-price.co.uk/

Gail Williams

I thought it was really well done overall. the interviews and break out sections worked fine.  The only thing I found was that when I was looking for it, I went on the showboat.tv site, but I couldn’t find a link to the event, so I had to go hunt a direct link, and that was okay because I had them to hand, but for other viewers, it might have been a bit more difficult.
Generally though, a great day.  Well done and thanks for the opportunity.

Twitter:        @GBWilliams

Facebook:  @GBWilliamsCrimeWriter

Instagram:  @gbwilliamsauthor

Blog:           thewriteroute.wordpress.com Website:     www.gailbwilliams.co.uk

Helen May Williams
I really enjoyed the event; especially chatting with Thorne about my writing. There’s so much to talk about, since I write in different genres. Besides a lifetime’s worth of academic writing, I’ve published post-romantic poetry in The Princess of Vix and linked haiku in Catstrawe. In Before SilenceI translated haiku by Michel Onfray, a popular but controversial French philosopher and now I’ve published a biographical novel, June. All my writing starts with an idea but then involves a lot of research before creating the finished text. I could have talked for hours!


helenmaywilliams.wordpress.com

Helen May Williams | Facebook

https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07S18M7XR

And that was our line up for Showboat’s Literary Online 2021.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the writers’ thoughts on how the day went. Please feel free to follow them on social media and check out all their brilliant books.

Judith Barrow Author MA BA (Hons) Dip Drama

https://judithbarrowblog.com/
https://twitter.com/judithbarrow77
https://www.facebook.com/judith.barrow.3
https://www.honno.co.uk/authors/b/judith-barrow/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Judith-Barrow/e/B0043RZJV6

:

judith barrow

Introducing Jan Baynham, Author of Her Mother’s Secret and a worthy Romantic Novelists’ Association contender for the Joan Hessayon Award. #WritersLife #WriterWednesday

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is jan-1.jpg

I am so pleased to be talking with Jan Baynham on my blog today. Having known Jan for some years and seen her writing going from strength to strength I was thrilled to hear that she is one of the contenders for the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) 2020 prestigious Joan Hessayon Award for new writers, the award for all the authors whose debut novels have been accepted for publication after passing through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme.Before I knew this I’d read, loved, and reviewed her book. This is my review: Her Mother’s Secret.

Her Mother's Secret: The Summer of '69 by [Jan Baynham]

I began by asking Jan what was the inspiration behind Her Mother’s Secret. This is her reply:

I have always been intrigued by family secrets and the fact that these sometimes do not come to light until after a person has died. I read of someone who was sorting through her mother’s things after her death and found a diary. In there, the young woman learned about a part of her mother’s life she knew nothing about. The ‘what ifs?’ started in my head. At the time, I’d been reading a novel where the rustling in the trees sounded like whispers and inanimate statues took on the form of ghosts of the people they represented. Perhaps the whispering could show the presence of a past family member. Always fascinated by the bond between mothers and daughters, this was basis for Her Mother’s Secret. Very often, the close relationship between mothers and daughters means that they would know things about each other no one else would. I wanted to explore how my character, Alexandra, would feel when she found out about her mother, Elin’s secret life. How could her mother have kept this from her? How would she feel? I needed Elin to have been able to keep her secret from everyone, even her own mother, until she died. Did Elin have a conscience when she left her diary to Alexandra?

I decided that Elin would be an artist, having just finished art college. She travels to Greece to further her painting skills and while there, something happens that she never mentions again. I chose a setting where the colours would be more vibrant and intense perhaps than in her home country of Wales. Having visited many times and being struck by the wonderful palette of colours seen in every landscape, Greece was my obvious inspiration. Elin’s daughter, Alexandra, arrives on Péfka, a small island off the Peloponnese in Southern Greece, to follow in her mother’s footsteps to find out what happened there twenty-two years earlier. Péfka is purely fictional and is not based on one particular place; it’s an amalgam of areas I’ve visited – a beach or street here, a taverna or workshop there where I’ve met characters when getting out into Greek villages. Every holiday has inspired me with contributions to create characters and settings that are hopefully authentic showing the climate, the vivid colours of the sea and the flowers as well as the warmth of its people.

Her Mother’s Secret was published in April this year by Ruby Fiction. I’m grateful to the Romantic Novelists’ Association for the role its New Writers’ Scheme played in helping me realise my dream of becoming a published author. The novel was critiqued on two occasions by experienced scheme readers. The first time, I’d submitted a partially written manuscript that was followed by the full manuscript the next year. The helpful and incredibly positive advice I received on both occasions was invaluable and gave me the motivation to submit my novel to publishers. Having ‘graduated’ from being unpublished to published via the scheme, I am eligible to be a proud contender for the 2020 Joan Hessayon Award along with twenty other debut novelists.

Blurb for Her Mother’s Secret:: A secret left behind in the summer of ’69 …

It’s 1969 and free-spirited artist Elin Morgan has left Wales for a sun-drenched Greek island. As she makes new friends and enjoys the laidback lifestyle, she writes all about it in her diary. But Elin’s carefree summer of love doesn’t last long, and her island experience ultimately leaves her with a shocking secret …

Twenty-two years later, Elin’s daughter Alexandra has inherited the diary and is reeling from its revelations. The discovery compels Alexandra to make her own journey to the same island, following in her mother’s footsteps. Once there, she sets about uncovering what really happened to Elin in that summer of ’69.

About the author:

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction. From then on, she was hooked! She soon went on to take a writing class at the local university and began to submit short stories for publication to a wider audience. Her stories and flash fiction pieces have been longlisted and short listed in competitions and several appear in anthologies both online and in print. In October 2019, her first collection of stories was published.  Her stories started getting longer and longer so that, following a novel writing course, she began to write her first full length novel. She loves being able to explore her characters in more depth and delve further into their stories. She writes about family secrets and the bond between mothers and daughters. Set in the last year of the ‘60s, Her Mother’s Secret takes you to sun-drenched Greece, her favourite holiday destination.

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband. She values the friendship and support from other RNA members and regularly attends conferences, workshops, talks and get togethers. She is co-organiser of Cariad, her local RNA Chapter.

‘Her Mother’s Secret’ is available on from Amazon:

You may find out more about Jan here:

Twitter: @JanBaynham  https://twitter.com/JanBaynham

Facebook: Jan Baynham Writer  https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit/

Blog: https://janbaynham.blogspot.com/      

And more exciting news: Well, two pieces of exciting news, really…

Jan is on the Not the Booker long list – https://bit.ly/31nyGBo

And…   

Jan’s second book,Her Sister’s Secret: The Summer of ’66, is now available to pre-order: https://amzn.to/3k5xjzU   

  Another wonderful sixties saga from the author of Her Mother’s Secret.

How far would you travel to find the truth?
It’s the 1960s and Jennifer Howells is a young woman with the world at her feet, just on the cusp of leaving her Welsh village for an exciting life in the city.
Then the contents of an inconspicuous brown envelope turn Jennifer’s world upside down. The discovery leaves her spiralling, unsure who she is. Overnight, Miss Goody Two Shoes is replaced by a mini-skirted wild child who lives for parties and rock’n’roll.
But Jennifer’s experience with the excesses of sixties’ culture leaves her no closer to her true identity. She soon realises she’ll have to travel further – first to Cardiff, then across the ocean to Sicily – if she wants to find out who she really is …

My Review of Her Mother’s Secret: The Summer of ’69 by Jan Baynham #TuesdayBookBlog

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Her Mother's Secret: The Summer of '69 by [Jan Baynham]

Book Description:

It’s 1969 and free-spirited artist Elin Morgan has left Wales for a sun-drenched Greek island. As she makes new friends and enjoys the laidback lifestyle, she writes all about it in her diary. But Elin’s carefree summer of love doesn’t last long, and her island experience ultimately leaves her with a shocking secret …
Twenty-two years later, Elin’s daughter Alexandra has inherited the diary and is reeling from its revelations. The discovery compels Alexandra to make her own journey to the same island, following in her mother’s footsteps. Once there, she sets about uncovering what really happened to Elin in that summer of ’69.

My Review:

I looked forward to reading this debut novel by Jan Baynham for quite a while and I wasn’t disappointed. The author has an easy writing style that I really like, I love the story, which has a brilliant dramatic opening and, unusual for me, I read the book in one fairly long session.

Her Mother’s Secret is set against the background of the Greek island of Péfka during completely different eras; 1969 and 2011 .These two time frames are linked by the two main characters,  Alexandra and her mother, Elin and are connected through time, by the diary that Alexandra has found after her mother’s death.

 I don’t like giving spoilers in my reviews; I try to explain what I like about a book.

Both Elin and  Alexandra are complex and well-rounded characters, and very much of their time. And, although they are never together in any scenes in the novel, the love they had for each other is threaded throughout Her Mother’s Secret.  But there is one big difference in the two; Elin Morgan is following her dreams by becoming an art student at a summer painting school, run by a famous artist, on Péfka. Alexandra, still grieving, is on the island seeking answers to the disclosures in her mother’s diary

 And the author has ensured that the reader becomes engrossed in these characters by intertwining their stories with a cast of believable minor characters and the detailed and redolent descriptions of the Greek island, the harbour, the art school The portrayal of all the settings give an evocative sense of place.

 The book moves at a good pace with a number of twists and turns that sometimes took me by surprise and sometimes gave me a feeling of ‘Ah-ha!; my suspicions, picked up through the foreshadowing the author has slipped into the story, coming to fruition is always satisfying to a reader.  

There are many themes running through Her Mother’s Secret: of love, relationships, mystery, crime, secrets and friendships, all woven to give a good balance of romance with a believable darker side of life.

All in all, Her Mother’s Secret is a novel I would recommend to any reader who enjoys a story that is grounded in the Romance genre but reveals itself to be so much more.

About the author:

Jan Baynham

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction. From then on, she was hooked!

She soon went on to take a writing course at the local university and began to submit stories for publication to a wider audience. In October 2019, her first collection of short stories, ‘Smashing the Mask and Other Stories’ was published.

Following a novel writing course, Jan began to write her first full length novel. She loves being able to explore characters in greater depth and delve into their stories. She writes about family secrets and the bond between mothers and daughters. Partly set in the last year of the 60s, ‘Her Mother’s Secret’, takes you to sun-drenched Greece, her favourite holiday destination.

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband.

To find out more about Jan, she may be contacted on:
Twitter – @JanBaynham https://twitter.com/JanBaynham
Facebook – Jan Baynham Writer https://www.facebook.com/JanBayLit
Blog – http://www.janbaynham.blogspot.co.uk