Did I take a pair of old pointe shoes and do some ballet in a stone circle? Yes. Yes, I did. (This is a post from 2023 that’s making me want to get out there and dance again!)
The reason for the oddly set ballet? Well, there’s more than one. Firstly, I’m well enough to dance around a bit. I am enduring one or two monstrous autoimmunity symptoms, but they don’t stop me dancing. And secondly, all three books of A Dancer’s Journey are now ready to dance out into the world!
Look at the pretty covers! And the less bashed (less good) pointe shoes…
Scotland’s all misty lochs and magical forests and perfect boyfriends, right?
When dance student Amalphia Treadwell embarks on a secret relationship with her rich, handsome teacher, she has no idea of the danger that lurks in his school in Scotland.
She’s soon dealing with her boyfriend’s beautiful and obsessive ex, the sinister research taking place at the castle school and her own ever-evolving relationship issues.
Amalphia works hard to be the best dancer she can be, but as tension builds within the old walls of the castle, she begins to wonder if she will ever escape the deep dark of the dungeon…
Dark, witty, steamy and fun, Tendu is a compelling and seductive story of love, dance and obsession.
More Ballet in a Stone Circle
The books do include some of this. It’s fun, and I highly recommend it. I hope you can all enjoy a celebratory dance too.
Originally posted 2023. We’ve reached the cusp between autumn and winter. The blue loch reflects dark skies. There’s pumpkins and wind and rain and piles of leaves everywhere. Autumn is almost over.
And yet, we still have brighter days and blue skies. Sometimes.
Sisters at the Edge of the World
The main characters are fiercely bonded chosen sisters, one of them neurodivergent.
The story is set in 1st century Scotland and features the battle of Mons Graupius between the Roman invaders and the Caledonian tribes.
There’s romance, but it’s rather complicated romance this time.
The stone circle is still there in all its glory.
The castle is not, obviously, but there is a great round house where it will be one day. And a wee hoosie in the woods.
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Originally posted November 2023. We’re firmly on that road to winter now. There’s been no frost or snow, but it’s coming.
I went out. Briefly. I took some pictures. Quickly. My current illness/medication situation is still preventing sleep and making me a bit hyperactive, and I thought I might attempt some daily blogging this week. So, there will be some seasonal Scottish photos being shared over the next few days.
First Review of Cabriole
Cabriole, the second book in the Dancer’s Journey series, is out now. This is the notorious one, the one that a publisher wanted me to change. To be fair, they did assure me that it wasn’t because they were bigoted or prudish, but because it had to have set tropes to fit their romance line. But still, I have wondered how people would react to this more unusual story.
From emmalolly13 on TikTok: “This series has a special place in my heart… I feel so blessed to continue reading Amalphia’s story… Her journey with love has been rough… this is such a soul-touching series.”
See you a little further down the road to winter soon!
Newsletter, Updates and ARCs
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Elizabeth, the main character, uses a slightly simpler method, back in the 18th century, in this quote from the book:
“I shave slivers of chocolate from the block and stir them into hot water over the fire. I add sugar and mix until it is all well blended. Then I pour it all into the pot with the warm milk and whisk and whisk until it’s frothy and perfect.”
Whatever century you’re in… yum!
The first 75 words of the novel were up on Paragraph Planet in 2021. I took a wee screen shot:
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the 18th century kidnapped children of Aberdeen and is choc full of historical hot chocolate!
Not to be forgotten, my debut novel THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR features the Scottish witchcraft accusations and a love story.
Below is a post that was originally written in February 2022 when I started working on my ballet novel TENDU again. It seems fitting to pull this to the front of the blog now as that novel is finally out!
See a recent review here: “Very atmospheric, I could feel what the characters were feeling, feel their pain, it broke my heart and then healed it and made it sing.”
And the Wee Writing Lassie’s 5th pretentious question for me can be seen here: “They deviated far away from my planned plot in CABRIOLE, the second book in the series. I have to admit that what they did has made the story more unusual and interesting. Writing it any other way, as one publisher tried to get me to do, proved utterly impossible.”
Back to the Ballet Novel in 2022
I am now editing TENDU, having pulled it from the proverbial drawer where it’s been for the last three years.
I’m absolutely LOVING it. I’d forgotten quite how much FUN this book is. It also feels as if I’m connecting to a different version of myself. Me before illness took hold. Me before doctors and medication and pain. It’s doing something to me, current day me. Something good. The book is funny and witty and SO, SO naughty. I am slightly concerned that no one will be able to look me in the face again after reading it. But, hey-ho, life’s too short to worry about things like that, and I intend releasing this novel and the rest of the series in the near future.
It’s had a tumultuous publishing journey, though. And I’m sharing that today.
Lovely Porselli Pointe Shoes
Publishers
I sent TENDU out into the world of publishers and quite a large one offered on it quickly. However, they wanted me to change something fundamental about the plot of the series (three titles) as a whole. And I couldn’t. Or, more correctly, I wouldn’t. I am always willing to make changes that will improve a book, but this was just to make it fit the guidelines of a particular romance line. It would have become formulaic. So, much to that publisher’s astonishment, I turned them down.
Note: You can find out what that notorious plot point was in CABRIOLE, out now.
Time went by.
MERMAID got accepted by a British publisher (not to be confused with the ones I’m writing about here. GWL are very organised), and then along came an offer from a small American press for TENDU. It came with amazingly generous royalties, and no big requested changes, and I accepted it.
And more time went by.
After 18 months (the time, according to the contract, by which the book should have been published) I emailed the publisher and asked when things might get going. There was no reply.
Writers Group
Into the writers group I went. This was an amazing resource. All the writers from that publisher, chatting together and, as it turned out, sharing the same tales of woe. Through the group I learned that the woman who owned the publishing house had become too ill to continue working, and she had sold the company. I had huge empathy for that. The new owner had a large backlog of books waiting to be published, and it was all taking a very long time. The slowness of publication didn’t really bother me. I was rather busy being ill, after all.
But then the stories began to change. Already published writers were not receiving royalties or statements. Cheques were bouncing. So, three years after signing the contract, I asked for my rights back. And I got them. Very politely. Very apologetically. So there are no hard feelings, and I’m not going to name the publisher. They are still going though…
And that’s where I am.
SISTERS is back with the editor. I’m working on a press release for it and delving deeply into TENDU. I’m loving being in the castle again, yes the same one from the other books. It’s a dance school in the modern day. I love the characters. I love the stone circle and the dancing and the chocolate and the London bits and the romance. And I love the story of this ballet novel, dark as it sometimes is.
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Last time I had a cover to reveal we journeyed down a rabbit hole to find it… but I haven’t been anywhere exciting like that lately, so we’ll have to stick closer to home, starting on the snowy track into the woods.
Reaching the end of the track, we nip up this narrow path:
Here we are on the loch-side walk now, sunshine to our left.
Wait! What’s that? Something’s moving in the woods, running and leaping through the trees…
No, that’s not it. That’s the first book (out now!) and some foot prints left by a deer. We need to retrace our steps, I think…
And yes – finally we come to it – the cover reveal for FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE, out April 1st 2021!
The cup featured on the cover is an actual chocolate cup from the 1740s when the book is set.
Inspired by the 600 children and young people who were kidnapped from Aberdeen and sold into indentured servitude in the American Colonies, the story follows the adventures of Elizabeth Manteith and her determined efforts to get back home. There’s love. There’s proper derring-dos on the high seas (as opposed to my previous metaphorical ones)! And there’s chocolate…
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My Other Books
Set in 1st century Scotland, my latest novel, SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, includes the battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans and the Caledonian tribes. The book features a neurodivergent main character and some rather complicated romance!
Taking place mainly in a fictional castle, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR blends an often overlooked period of history, the Scottish witchcraft accusations, in particular the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, with a love story.
The Warld’s End (World’s End) is said to be the oldest house in Fraserburgh. I’m not sure if that’s strictly true. It was rebuilt in 1766 after being seized from its Jacobite owner and sold. I don’t think it’s known quite how old the original building was. It played host to Jacobite plotting and was one of the hiding places of Lord Pitsligo after Culloden.
The blue plaque by the door mentions the fact that the land in front of the house was reclaimed from the sea. The house would have stood much closer to the harbour’s edge originally, hence its name, Warld’s End. The plaque also commemorates the Fraserburgh-born merchant Thomas Blake Glover, who may or may not have been the inspiration for the bad guy in the opera Madame Butterfly.
It’s a lovely old house, made all the more striking by the recently painted yellow door. It used to be dark blue as you can see in this older picture of the under-step window:
If you enjoyed this ‘old building’ post, you might also like the one about The Wine Tower, the actual oldest building in Fraserburgh.
Fireflies and Chocolate
Torn out of an isolated life in a Scottish castle, Elizabeth embarks on a determined quest to return home. Exhilarating adventures unfold on the high seas, love blossoms, and the chocolate, purchased in Benjamin Franklin’s printing shop, is delicious!
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the 600 children and young people who were kidnapped from Aberdeen during the 1740s and sold into indentured servitude in the American Colonies.
From the press release: “We really love working with Ailish,” says Wendy Lawrance, co-founder of GWL Publishing. “She knows how to write characters and place, she does her research, and it shows in every word she puts to paper. In Fireflies and Chocolate, Ailish has tackled the difficult topic of slavery with a deft hand. Nothing is sugar-coated. She doesn’t hold back in showing the cruelty of the times, but her characters lead the rallying cry against their tormentors, and it’s impossible not to want to join them. She’s created a true heroine in Elizabeth Manteith. Fiery and forthright, Elizabeth isn’t someone to be argued with. She knows her own mind, and isn’t afraid to speak it. Through her experiences, the reader sees her grow from a girl, into a woman with a powerful voice… a woman of her time, but very much of ours too.”
Bennachie is a large hill that can be seen from many places in Aberdeenshire. Its craggy peaks seem to loom out of nowhere as you drive round twisty corners of country roads. I once climbed it three times in one day for charity. This, and the climb detailed below, were both done some time ago, obviously.
The top of Harthill Castle, which was owned and restored by the late American writer Ann Savage, is just visible over the trees in the photo above.
Bennachie in my writing
Bennachie, and the stone circle at Daviot, both feature in my book, SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, a tale of chosen sisters, fierce warriors, divided loyalties and love.
The start of any Bennachie climb – we took the easiest ‘Rowan Tree’ route – starts with a misleading forest stroll.
Then you’re out into the baking sun (sometimes; you are equally as likely to emerge to a dense Stephen King style mist) and the views expand.
Parts of the path are pure exposed rock. It feels like standing on the bare face of the planet. I like to kneel and kiss the stone. You do see some strange people on Bennachie…
The ascent gradually gets steeper, the sun gets hotter, and the Mither Tap nears.
Big cairn, little cairn:
Picts!
There’s a Pictish hillfort near the top. You pass between its ancient walls…
And then you cling, terrified, to the side of the uppermost rocks as the strong wind threatens to knock you over. That bit passes quickly. The landscape soon owns your attention.
A Pictish Beast
The Maiden Stone stands near the foot of the hill, a ninth century Pictish stone displaying a good example of the mysterious, much debated ‘Pictish beast’. Swimming elephant? Dolphin? Kelpie?
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More Historical Fiction from me
Set in an Aberdeenshire castle, THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR features the 1597 Aberdeen witchcraft panic, a stone circle, and a love story.
FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE was inspired by the 18th century kidnapped children of Aberdeen and is set in both Scotland and Colonial Pennsylvania.
These books are so naughty that I’m a little worried nobody will be able to look me in the face again after reading them. But not that worried. They’re out in the world anyway.
When dance student Amalphia Treadwell embarks on a secret relationship with her charismatic new teacher, she has no idea of the danger that lurks in his school in Scotland…
More officially known as the Merchant’s House, this lovely building’s date of origin is a little uncertain. The other houses in the row were all built in 1575, but the Pink House has this declaration on its wall:
A mistake may have been made.
But, oh: a turret!
The Interior
I passed through bedrooms with beautiful wallpaper and entered the courtyard garden.
The owner of the house told me about the historically authentic paint, made with ox blood, and she also pointed out the books in that higher window to the right.
The Book Nook
Much as I wanted to just stay there in the nook – or perhaps even live in it – there were other places to explore.
Door to the loft and turret room:
In the turret:
Loft:
Robert Burns is said to have slept in the loft while working as an excise man in Banff. It was the only place in the house that felt a little creepy.
I did miss a few rooms. Though the owner assured me I could explore everywhere, I was aware that her family were having breakfast in the kitchen, and it just felt too intrusive to go through there.
The house as seen through the gate of the medieval graveyard across the street:
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Lavender’s blue, dilly dilly, lavender’s green, When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen: Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so? ‘Twas mine own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so.
Current writing research has taken me to the 17th century, and this folk song that has its origins in that time, is in my mind. The older versions are a little earthier…
Lavender blue and Rosemary green, When I am king you shall be queen; Call up my maids at four o’clock, Some to the wheel and some to the rock; Some to make hay and some to shear corn, And you and I will keep the bed warm.
The lavender is SO very fragrant just now, and the cornflowers are SO very blue 🙂
Ariel: Dancing on TV
Torn from a life where she never fitted in, Ariel quickly becomes the focus of a reality TV show. In the castle school, she forms deep friendships and meets Alexander, the best looking boy she’s ever seen. Together, they unravel the mysteries of the castle’s shadows and confront the demons of Ariel’s past.
Can she rise above a lifetime of pain and embrace the possibilities of fame and love that beckon to her?
‘Ariel: Dancing on TV’ is a mesmerising tale of resilience and the pursuit of a brighter future against all odds.
The Performance: sometimes going home for Christmas is just one huge performance…
When Ariel returns home from dance college, her mother expects her to perform the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in a pink, sequined tutu in front of many, many party guests. Ariel adjusts the costume and choreography to expose dark truths about her life, but, as it turns out, this is not the biggest performance of the night…
New Books and Special Offers
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