News

The Glass Bead Game
My favourite book in translation is ‘The Glass Bead Game’ by Herman Hesse. The Royal...
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Sleeping Beauty – How Somerset inspired my thriller, One Year Later
'The Pines is a rambling farmhouse that our parents, David and Eleanor, converted years ago,...
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Sugar Island is available to pre-order
I’m delighted to announce that one of my novels is going to be republished! ‘Sugar...
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The Stolen Child: A dark fairy tale
‘They stole you from me. They took you away for seven years. Your entire lifetime…Make...
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Happy Mother’s Day!
Happy Mother’s Day! I had hoped to spend today being spoilt with prosecco and cake...
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Wuthering Heights – the novel that has influenced me the most
When I was a teenager, I steadfastly refused to believe that so-called ‘classical literature’ could...
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My Mother’s Secret – Location
There’s a thin band of cream silhouetting the cranes that hover over the half-built office...
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Life-changing literature
I have dreamt in my life, dreams that have stayed with me ever after, and...
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Interview with Historical Fiction Reader
...one of the scenes I lost, which I pine for, is where Joseph is in...
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Marketing and Me
'I don't much like it. Marketing is about selling & writers, as we know, are...
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Red Hot Chilli Writers Podcast
I had a wonderful chat with two of my favourite crime fiction writers, Vaseem Khan...
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The best writing advice I ever received
Receiving criticism about your writing can be excruciating. It sometimes feels like a personal attack...
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The Priest and the Lily – the inspiration for my novel about men and flowers
Many of our most common and beautiful garden plants have come from far-flung locations throughout...
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How to create the perfect villain!
https://youtu.be/SmP_Svt1Elo Today I ran a lesson about villains for homeschool with my nine-year-old daughter. She...
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One Year Later – Bethany
I recently saw a set of three mugs in one of my favourite shops. They...
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Labyrinth – the setting
Setting is so important to me. It's almost like another character, setting the tone and...
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Labyrinth – new thriller!
My exciting news is that I'm working on a new book. Provisionally called Labyrinth, it's...
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One Year Later – Italy
I’ve always loved Italy, so when I needed a seemingly idyllic holiday for my family...
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One Year Later – Dante
I did not die and yet I lost life’s breath… I always like to have...
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One Year Later on Bristol TV
Bristol TV has just put out a short film about my latest psychological...
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One Year Later – Book Club Questions
Is anyone in a Book Club? I must admit, I don't really have...
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One Year Later – Nick Flowers
Here's an extract from One Year Later, told from Nick Flowers' perspective, the day his...
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One Year Later – The Prologue
Here's the prologue to One Year Later. Let me know what you think! If...
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One Year Later – Behind the Scenes
The inspiration behind One Year Later... https://youtu.be/hIazMxexyM8
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One Year Later
Here's what One Year Later is all about. https://youtu.be/lVmBz2DAQw0
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One Year Later – Behind the scenes: The Cottage
When we bought a large plot of land and a house that we were planning...
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One Year Later – Behind the Scenes: Somerset
I wrote my psychological thriller, One Year Later, in Bristol, but at the time we...
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On Instagram

Pup discovers the stream... Music Happy When it Rains by Garbage 🤣💧🌈

I read this apt quote by Lord Byron in a beautiful nature reserve, Justin's Meadow, in Ashton Court, #Bristol. It's named after volunteer warden, Justin Smith, who spotted over 200 species of fungi and over 100 kinds of insect in this small limestone meadow. #sanjidakay #crimefictionbooks #crimefictionlovers #crimethriller #thrillers #thrillerbooks #psychologicalthriller
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#quote #poetry

Sugar Island', my historical novel, is based on the true story of British actress Fanny Kemble, who meets a dashing American gentleman and has a whirlwind romance, only to discover that he harbours a terrible secret. He forces Fanny (Emily Harris in my fictionalised version) to live on a remote island off the coast of America where he keeps 700 men, women and children as slaves to tend his sugar plantation. Out now as an eBook on Amazon.

Summer read? 'A twisted version of paradise' according to The Oxford Times. My novel, 'Sugar Island' is available as an eBook. Set at the turn of the American Civil War, it's based on the true story of Fanny Kemble. Available from Amazon #sanjidaoconnell #sugarisland #historicalfiction #literaryfiction #lovestory #slavery #americancivilwar #americanfiction
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'Sugar Island' is out today! My novel about one woman's fight against the slave trade has been republished today as an eBook. The Times said, 'Gripping, entertaining and entirely on the side of the angels.' 💙 Available from Amazon. #sanjidaoconnell #sugarisland #historicalfiction #literaryfiction #lovestory #slavery #americancivilwar #americanfiction
#writers #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writing #books #write #bookstagram #bookworm #novel
#novelist #writer #writingcommunity #writersofig #writerslife #author
#amwriting

The mulberry tree we planted in our heritage orchard has grown (it was basically a stick when we put it in the ground in January!) AND got some fruit. Feels like a minor miracle!⠀
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Apparently the nursery rhyme, 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush' originated at Wakefield Prison in England, where female inmates had to walk around a mulberry tree in the prison yard.⠀
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#sanjidakay⠀
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#crimefictionbooks #crimefictionlovers #crimethriller #thrillers #thrillerbooks #psychologicalthriller ⠀
#writers #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writing #books #write #bookstagram #bookworm #novel ⠀
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#amwriting

Researching for my novel, 'Sugar Island', which is about to be republished and is set at turn of the Civil War in the American Deep South. This is a reconstructed plantation owner's house, and the next picture is of a reconstructed slave's hut. I suspect it's much bigger now than it was back then, plus it would have been for ten slaves. ⠀
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'Sugar Island' will be released 19 July and is available to pre-order as an eBook now from @Amazon.⠀
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#sanjidaoconnell #sugarisland #historicalfiction #literaryfiction #lovestory #slavery #americancivilwar #americanfiction ⠀
#writers #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writing #books #write #bookstagram #bookworm #novel ⠀
#novelist #writer #writingcommunity #writersofig #writerslife #author ⠀
#amwriting

Hopefully more people are noticing the flowers - and recognising the importance of nature to our mental health as well as to the planet. I took this photo at @yeovalley Organic Gardens - walking through their wild flower meadow (then eating cake!) was a wonderful tonic!

Our rescue hens from @britishhenwelfaretrust are happily laying away. Feel like we’re in ‘Homes and Gardens’! #sanjidakay #hens #crimefictionbooks #crimefictionlovers #crimethriller #thrillers #thrillerbooks #psychologicalthriller
#writers #writersofinstagram #writerscommunity #writing #books #write #bookstagram #bookworm #novel
#novelist #writer #writingcommunity #writersofig #writerslife #author
#amwriting

I’m delighted to announce that one of my novels is going to be republished! ‘Sugar island’ by #SanjidaOConnell is based on a true story and is set at the turn of the American Civil War, in the deep south. Available for pre-order now! Release date 19 July @amazon. It’s about a terrible secret a young woman’s husband has kept from her, her struggle for freedom and independence, and her fight to protect and emancipate her husband’s slaves. I love the new cover, designed by Wide Sky Studio. ‘Sugar Island’ was originally published by John Murray. The paperback will be out soon too! Here’s what it’s about: Emily Harris, a glamorous young English actress, arrives in America in 1859. There she meets and falls in love with a charming southern gentleman, Charles Earl Brook. But shortly after they are married, Emily discovers that Charles has kept a terrible secret from her. The Brooks are slave-owners and Emily is forced to travel to the deep south where Charles keeps seven hundred men, women and children in abject poverty. ‘I have worked every day through dew and damp, and sand and heat, and done good work; but oh, missis, me old and broken now, no tongue can tell how much I suffer.’ As civil war breaks out, Emily’s world becomes increasingly dangerous and she realises that her growing friendship with the slaves could cost her everything she has ever loved.

Happy National Meadows Day! Pup in the meadow (music Shiny Happy People by @rem) & chickens trashing the the mini meadow next to their coop! 🌼 #nationalmeadowsday

Dragonfly’s shed skin in the pond.
Dragonflies molt (shed their skin) up to 12 times, depending on the species, and can spend as long as four years as nymphs. The nymphs are aquatic, living in ponds and marshes until emerging to molt for one final time. During the final molting, the nymph's skin splits and the nymph emerges as an adult dragonfly. We could even see the little hole in the thorax where it emerged!

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