Margaret K Johnson began writing after finishing at Art College to support her career as an artist. Writing quickly replaced painting as her major passion, and these days her canvasses lay neglected in her studio. She is the author of women’s fiction, stage plays and many original fiction readers in various genres for people learning to speak English. Margaret also teaches fiction writing and has an MA in Creative Writing (Scriptwriting) from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Norwich, UK with her partner and their bouncy son and dog.
Thank you so much for having me on your blog today, Claire.
My novel Taming Tom Jones is a contemporary romance, about a woman, Jen, on a mission to save her relationship.
The story starts with Jen discovering she’s pregnant. She’s thrilled about it, but a tad anxious too, because she’s well aware that her partner Michael doesn’t want any more children other than his teenage son, Kyle. She’s also well aware that so far Michael has never stayed in a relationship for longer than four years. As Jen waits at home to break the news, she tries not to dwell on the fact that their own four year anniversary is rapidly approaching, but then Michael comes home on a new motorbike, having traded in his sensible car, and the moment to tell him about the baby is lost.
When Jen decides to embark on a reckless investigation of Michael’s exes which takes her as far afield as North Norfolk and Cuba, she has no idea whether she’s finding out the truth, or even if what she discovers will help to keep her and Michael together as she hopes it will.
Photo by Paul Smith
I live in Norfolk in the United Kingdom where much of the book is set, and it’s a beautiful county with a stunning coastline. One critical scene takes place at Winterton-On-Sea on the Norfolk coast. Michael takes Jen there early one morning, and she has no idea why. She only knows – from the reaction of others around her – that something very unusual is about to take place.
Here’s an extract of the scene:
Michael’s watching the conflicting emotions pass over my face. “Come on, Jen,” he says persuasively. “There are already quite a lot of people here. It’ll be too late soon. Come and see. Please. Hannah will be fine.”
Once again, my curiosity’s piqued. What can he want me to see? A wrecked ship? A beached whale? But how could he have arranged either of those things so specifically for nine-thirty on a Friday morning?
He has Hannah in his arms by this time, and her eyes are already closing as he rocks her.
“All right,” I say ungraciously, “but I hope you don’t expect me to walk very far.”
“Just to the dunes; not far.”
Very grudgingly, I begin to walk slowly beside him. “Why’s it so busy here today?” I ask, because normally on a Friday morning during term time I’d only expect a few dog-walkers’ cars to be parked in the car park. It’s different in the summer holidays, but we’re still only in June.
“Careful!” Michael warns as I half stumble down the step from the beach café terrace. Then he looks away, something distracting him. “Oh, God,” he says. “The TV’s here. They must have had a tip off.”
I turn to look, and sure enough, two men are unloading equipment from a van emblazoned with the logo of our local news programme. “Michael?” I ask. “What’s going on?”
If you want to find out what Jen discovers down on beautiful Winterton-on-sea, or whether Jen is successful in saving her relationship with Michael, you’ll have to read the book!
For more information on Margaret K. Johnson and her books go to Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/1JFkqBz
Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/1OLlpYP
Why not visit Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/577133
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