Joan Fallon
Welcome to my web page
  • JOAN FALLON - WELCOME
  • JOAN FALLON'S BLOG
  • AUDIO BOOKS
  • Joan Fallon - ABOUT
  • CITY OF DREAMS- Historical Fiction series
  • Al-Andalus- Historical Fiction Series
  • TRANSLATED BOOKS
  • JOAN FALLON NEWS
  • MAKE CONTACT WITH JOAN FALLON
  • PRIVACY

Britain's lost children

29/8/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
This summer we have had a house full of children and watching them play and jump endlessly in and out of the swimming pool made me reflect on a book I published last year about three children who lose their home, their family, even their country.  Their lives could not have been more different from the excited little grandchildren charging around our house.


A couple of years ago I came across an article about the children who had been sent to the colonies as migrants, many of them wrongly labelled as orphans and under the delusion that their families were dead.  I was amazed, not only that such a thing could happen in Britain but also that it had been kept secret for so many years.  If it hadn't been for a chance circumstance, many of those children, now adults, would never have been reunited with their families.  A social worker, Margaret Humphreys, was assigned the case of a woman who claimed that she had been deported from Britain when she was only four years old.  That was in 1986; since then Mrs Humphreys has discovered that as many as 150,000 children were sent abroad by the British government to start new lives.  The last case being as recently as 1967.  Director and founder of the Child Migrants' Trust Mrs Humphreys has worked tirelessly to help these children find surviving members of their families.  Her book EMPTY CRADLES tells of the first seven years of her struggle to bring this knowledge out into the open and to help those involved.


The article that I had chanced upon inspired me to read extensively around this subject and in the end to write a book of my own.  THE ONLY BLUE DOOR is fiction, a novel based on true occurrences and drawn from the real experiences of those immigrant children.  It is the story of the three Smith children from Bethnal Green who, through a series of unfortunate incidents, find themselves on a boat to Australia in 1941.  This is not a story of tears and recriminations but rather the story of how each child, in their own way, struggles to make the best of their lives and never gives up the hope of being reunited.


THE ONLY BLUE DOOR is available as an ebook and in paperback.


HISTORICAL NOVEL SOCIETY INDIE REVIEW January 2014

Most of us are familiar with child evacuation during World War 2, but I wonder how many know about child migrants who were sent to South Africa, Australia and Canada to avoid danger? The Only Blue Door follows the story of Maggie, Billy and Grace, siblings who become victims of the good intentions of people believing them to have been orphaned during the Blitz. Shipped to Australia to start a new life, the children are separated and so begins Maggie’s struggle to prove her mother still lives and to bring the family back together.Based on actual events, this beautifully written story had me gripped and emotionally attached to the characters and their struggles. Apparently well researched, it provides some insight into the long term impact of the events unfolding between 1939 and 1945, without being clichéd. The tireless work and battles with ‘red tape’ of the organisations involved in evacuation and subsequent repatriation of thousands of children over this period, is aptly represented in the story.

The writing style is engaging and accurate, with fully rounded and believable characters. I will not only be recommending this book but also looking to read more of this authors work. Not every story has a happy ending, but maybe this one does?


1 Comment

BOOK BLAST :  Bait by Courtney Farrell

10/8/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
About the Book

A crew of orphans is all that stands between Jackie and life as a prisoner in some squalid basement harem. When pox killed their parents, she took the boys in. Taught them to scavenge. Taught them to kill. But she's not much older than they are, and the boys are growing up fast. Her authority is eroding. The guys begin to compete, and the winner will lead the crew, alongside her. Infighting threatens to tear the crew apart. When rival gangs discover that their little band has one of the last surviving girls, Jackie must make a decision. Will she give herself up to save her crew, or take off alone through the streets?

Rape gangs might be the least of her worries. Pox is spreading among animals, who gain an eerie intelligence before they sicken and die. One-legged Joe thinks she’s nuts, but Jackie is convinced. The pox is sentient, and it’s after her.

About the Author 

Courtney Farrell is a biologist who turned her love of books into a career as an author. So far, she has written fourteen nonfiction books and three exciting novels for young people. Courtney lives with her husband and sons on a Colorado ranch where they enjoy a menagerie of horses, dogs, cats, and chickens.

You can buy Bait at Amazon.

You can find Courtney at these links:

Courtney's Website     |     Courtney on Facebook     |     Courtney on Twitter     |     Courtney on Goodreads     |     Courtney's Amazon Author Page

Giveaway:

This Giveaway is open Internationally, with this exception: The winner of the Signed Print copy of BAIT must live in the USA. You must be 13+ to enter. 

4 Winners will receive an eCopy of ENHANCED by Courtney Farrell

1 Winner will receive a Signed Print copy of BAIT (USA only)

2 Winners will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Picture
This tour is brought to you by

2 Comments

Researching the novel THE SHINING CITY

6/8/2014

1 Comment

 
I knew from the start that writing a novel set in Moorish Spain would take a lot of work.  I only had a general idea about what life was like in al-Andalus and most of that was really only relevant to Granada.  The Moors had been in Spain for over seven hundred years, from the time of the Moorish invasion in 711 AD until the capture of Granada in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs.  There had been many rulers and many forms of government.
I was intrigued by the ruined palace of Madinat al-Zahra, just outside Córdoba, which was built between 936  and 947 AD and I decided to set my novel in the forty years from 947 to 987.  A short period of time, in the scale of things and therefore much easier to research, or so I thought.  Not so.  Writing a historical novel requires great attention to detail and when you are completely unfamiliar with that period, it requires a great deal of research and discipline to get even the smallest details correct.
How could I make my characters come to life if I didn't know how they behaved, what their homes were like, what they wore, what they ate and even how they ate.  I had to learn about the royal court as well as the common people, what it was like to be a soldier, a slave, an artisan.  Most of my research was done by visiting Moorish sites and museums, reading books on the subject and, of course, trawling the internet.  One of the first things I learned was that life in Moorish Spain changed dramatically over seven hundred years - what was true in Granada in the year 1400 was not the same  in Córdoba seven hundred years earlier.  I had to focus my research.
Then of course came the hard part - what to leave out.  I had to include enough research to bring the period to life without boring my reader.  After all this was a novel about love and adventure, not a history book.

THE SHINING CITY is available in paperback and as an ebook

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDITOR'S PICK (HISTORICAL NOVELS SOCIETY REVIEW)
The Shining City by Joan Fallon is a beautifully told story set in tenth-century Spain which focuses on a city in southern Spain that flourished for a brief time only: Madinat al Zahra.

Built by the caliph, it becomes a rival to the capital, Cordoba. The book covers many aspects of the times: history, culture, religion and day-to-day life. Giving great attention to detail, Fallon depicts court etiquette with the same confidence as minor details, such as bakery and food preparation. I knew comparatively little about Spain under Muslim rule and found myself easily and entertainingly educated.

The characters are well chosen and developed, likeable and driven by their dreams and ambitions. This is a story of the little man seeking his fortune with insights into the rules of Muslim life, life at court, slavery, loyalty, betrayal, forbidden love and human tragedy.

The book is very well written, perfectly paced and atmospheric. It feels authentic, has a good story and a fascinating topic.

The only thing I can criticise are the colours chosen for the cover which makes the writing difficult to read, and maybe the chosen font size and type inside the book could be improved? A very enjoyable read.

1 Comment

    Author

    Joan Fallon is a writer and novelist living in Spain.

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    January 2013
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012

    Categories

    All
    Abd Al Rahman III
    Albarino
    Al-Hakam II
    Amy Fitzpatrick
    And Al-Rahman III
    Andalusia
    Ann Victoria Roberts
    Australia
    Autobiography
    Bell Book & Candle
    Biblioteca Nordica
    Biography
    Blitz
    Blog Tour
    Book Clubs
    Books
    Cambados
    Camino De Santiago
    Canterbury Tales
    Cape Torment
    Captain Smith
    Cathedral Of Santiago De Compostela
    Celebrity Books
    Child Migrants
    Christmas
    Compostela
    Cooking
    Cornish Pasties
    Costa Del Sol
    Costa Women
    Crime Thrillers
    Daughters Of Spain
    David Lean's Dedicated Maniac
    DI Paolo Storey
    Editing
    Ernest Hemingway
    FINCA DEL NIÑO
    Frances Di Plino
    Free Kindle Books
    Galicia
    Historical Fiction
    Historical Novel Society
    Holiday Reads
    Http://larosilla.info/
    International Women's Day
    J G Harlond
    Jg Harlond
    Karen Mcmahon
    Literature
    Local Television On Costa Del Sol
    Lorraine Mace
    Madinat Al Zahra
    Madinat Al-Zahra
    Malaga
    Margaret Humphreys
    Memory Keepers Workshop49d8720cd8
    Mijas 340 Television
    Mijas International
    Moors In Spain
    Novels
    Paul Anthony
    Pilgrimage
    Police Anthology
    Publishers
    Publishing Deals
    Punctuation
    Raija Oranen
    Santiago Tales
    Sea Evacuees
    Self Publishing
    Self-publishing
    Spain
    Spanish Civil War
    Spanish Lavender
    St James
    The Chosen Man
    The Empress Emerald
    The Hemingway Project
    The Master's Tale
    The Shining City
    The Way Of St James
    Titanic
    True Story
    Umayyads
    Uncuffed
    Vlad The Inhaler
    World War Ii
    Writing
    Writing Courses
    Writing Holiday
    Writing Workshops

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly