I’m delighted to welcome Morton S. Gray onto the blog today, to talk about the three most important books in her life. There’s a bit of cheating going on!
Morton, let’s start off with the book you are most inspired by.
Book One (and Two!)
I’m going to rebel here and mention two books.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen fired up my imagination as a teenager. The book made me love strong heroines and brooding heroes and is probably part of the reason why I write books with a romantic story at the heart of them.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert spoke to me at a time when I was a little lost in life. Gilbert’s semi-autobiographical account of a journey to find herself has lots of gems of wisdom about picking yourself up and moving on.
As I love both of them, I’ll let you off choosing two! Now, which book do you wish you’d written?
Book Two
The book I wished I’d written is one I’ve read many times, my go-to book in times of challenge, probably because it’s about a woman battling adversity in the English Civil War – Wintercombe by Pamela Belle. The book has only recently become available on Kindle, which is a good job as my paperback was falling apart. My favourite quote from the book is “‘Make, do, mend, girl,’ old Granny Richards had said. ‘No regrets, no pity – just you pick up the pieces and start all over again.’”
Hmmm … seems to be a theme emerging in the books I’ve mentioned, which I think continues in my own work too.
That’s a new book to me but it’s one I’m off to download. And which book is your latest release?
Book Three
My latest release is in fact my debut novel The Girl on the Beach, published by Choc Lit in January 2017 after I won their Search for a Star competition in 2016.
Here’s what it’s all about:
Who is Harry Dixon?
When Ellie Golden meets Harry Dixon, she can’t help but feel she recognises him from somewhere. But when she finally realises who he is, she can’t believe it – because the man she met on the beach all those years before wasn’t called Harry Dixon. And, what’s more, that man is dead.
For a woman trying to outrun her troubled past and protect her son, Harry’s presence is deeply unsettling – and even more disconcerting than coming face to face with a dead man, is the fact that Harry seems to have no recollection of ever having met Ellie before. At least that’s what he says …
But perhaps Harry isn’t the person Ellie should be worried about. Because there’s a far more dangerous figure from the past lurking just outside of the new life she has built for herself, biding his time, just waiting to strike.
It sounds great, Morton and I love the cover! It’s on my (very tall) TBR pile. Here’s a little info on our guest:
Morton lives with her husband, two sons and Lily, the tiny white dog, in Worcestershire, U.K.
She has been reading and writing fiction for as long as she can remember, penning her first attempt at a novel aged fourteen, the plot of which closely resembled an Errol Flynn film. As with many authors, life got in the way of writing for many years until she won a short story competition in 2006 and the spark was well and truly reignited.
She studied creative writing with the Open College of the Arts and joined the Romantic Novelists’ New Writers’ Scheme in 2012.
After shortlisting in several first chapter competitions, she won The Choc Lit Publishing Search for a Star competition in 2016 with her contemporary romantic suspense novel ‘The Girl on the Beach’. This debut novel is published on 24 January 2017.
Previous ‘incarnations’ were in committee services, staff development and training. Morton has a Business Studies degree and is a qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist and Reiki Master. She also has diplomas in Tuina Acupressure Massage and Energy Field Therapy.
She enjoys crafts, history and loves tracing family trees. Having a hunger for learning new things is a bonus for the research behind her books.
https://twitter.com/MortonSGray
https://www.facebook.com/mortonsgray/
Purchasing links for “The Girl on the Beach” at:
Thank you so much for coming on, Morton and good luck with the book!
Love,
Georgia x
