Author: Paula Hillman
-
Halfmoon Lane…that moment!
Here’s a sneaky peek at the moment when Gabriel Da Silva, the busker of Halfmoon Lane, turns up at Nina’s house unannounced… I stare at Gabriel, my mouth half open, brain trying to catch hold of the right words. ‘You haven’t told me your name,’ he says, voice low. ‘Nina.’ My throat tightens. ‘I’m Nina.’…
-
Kapok
Here’s another extract from the memoir I’m working on. Preparing a float for Barrow carnival is one of my earliest teaching memories. I’ve never looked at Kapok in the same way since then! Names have been changed, obviously! Kapok Summer 1988 Kapok floats through the slants of afternoon sunshine and settles on the playground floor.…
-
Coming home!
Once I’ve finished novel number seven (and I’m not far off) I have resolved to finish a first draft of my teaching memoir. I posted a sample chapter on the website quite a while ago. Since then, writing for Bloodhound has been full-on. I have done little bits of twiddling around with an opening memoir…
-
Devil’s Crag indeed !
About six months ago, I planned and started what I thought would become novel number seven. I wrote two chapters, but it wasn’t working. I couldn’t say why. Instead, I planned and started on a different idea. That one has morphed into novel number seven, and is two-thirds written. The unwritten novel was titled Devil’s…
-
Reviews… the ups and downs!
I am grateful to anyone who reads and reviews my novels. If they love the stories and give me a great review, or if my style of writing and my plots don’t resonate, I’m happy to accept their views. The worst thing would be if no one noticed, one way or another. There are already…
-
Halfmoon Lane…ARC copies are released!
The business model of Bloodhound Books is an interesting one. They are a ‘digital first’ company and concentrated on ebook sales, though they work hard behind the scenes to match up authors with overseas translations, audiobook producers and other publishing rights. Their marketing is key, and laser-focussed. Hence the push to get copies of an…
-
Leaving…
When I first walked away from my teaching career, I found it difficult to come down from the frantic pace of ten hour days with hardly a toilet break. Huge chunks of time piled themselves up in my life and I couldn’t deal with them, so I sat at my computer and wrote. My first…
-
Blackthorn Wood… the sequel. Should I write it?
While I’ve been writing book six, I’ve been thinking a lot about an idea I had. It would be a second book about Blackthorn Wood, and what happened to Cassie and Freddie after. I wrote the first chapter straight after Blackthorn went to the publisher. Here’s a snippet…what do you think? Blackthorn…the sequel With the…
-
Chapel Field is on its way.
My fourth novel, Chapel Field, will be released at the end of March, 2024. I have to take a step back sometimes, and remember that I’ve only been a published author for a year, though I’ve been writing for nearly five. I wrote Chapel Field in the autumn of 2022. It was the first novel…
-
Blackthorn Wood is on its way!
My third novel, Blackthorn Wood, is now available for pre order, and will be officially published on 27th November, 2023. It was the first novel I wrote after leaving my teaching job, so it’s had four years of editing. This is the blurb: What happens when bullying becomes lethal? Every workplace has its dark corners,…
Paula Hillman, author 