Carol Rivers's Blog

Why the title, “The Values of Newsletters, Google+, FB, Twitter”? Well, because the value is in the connection. Great ways for writers to get to know more about their readers. And even more so now after the publication of my recent first Newsletter – the next will be in summer when my new book Lizzie of Langley Street is published. Social media such as Google+, FB and Twitter, are perfect vehicles for learning more about your lives and what you enjoy reading. These little pearls of information help me to know where you’re coming from and how I can improve in delivering my stories to you. Almost everyone has a computer in the house and I’m happy to say that my books are gathering great reviews. Giant online retailers like Amazon invite readers to discover the best Family Saga Fiction in the Best Sellers lists and find the top 100 most popular items. And I’ve accepted this offer many times and count myself lucky to have my sagas featured. One click for an instant ebook, or just a day or two’s wait for a paperback by post. How I love to receive a paperback in the post wrapped in its trendy parcel! Paperbacks are still hot and my readers tell me that just the smell of the pages transports them into another world. Audio versions of my Best Sellers are available for those who want a laid-back form of reading or enjoy browsing the libraries. So it’s a big hurrah for books of all shapes and sizes in 2015 and just as big a cheer to the social media platforms supporting them! I’ll be waiting to hear more from you in response to my next Newsletter, complete with a competition, pics, prizes and hot gossip. Meanwhile, if you haven’t received my Newsletter already, go to this link, subscribe – and read all about it. With love and very much more to follow! CAROL’S NEWSLETTER

Hello everyone! This close-up image of Lizzie of Langley Street is a stunner! The full book jacket cover profiles Lizzie against the busy backdrop of Cox Street market, my East End meeting place for all the Rivers  characters (and the blueprint of Chrisp Street market in London’s East End.)

Marking WORLD BOOK DAY I’m happy to confirm that LIZZIE OF LANGLEY STREET is to be published in July of this year, ahead of Lizzie’s gritty sequel THE FIGHT FOR LIZZIE FLOWERS.

I’m really looking forward to a double celebration of two published novels at the end of summer. And can’t wait to join you on social media especially since my Google+ posts brought in such a lot of interest at the mention of my Blitz recipes (and their slimming qualities!) The first of which is to be published in my March newsletter.

Now here’s a word or two from Simon & Schuster, my publisher, on Lizzie …

“Following her mother’s untimely death, market trader’s daughter Lizzie Allen is facing desperate times. Her father Tom, crippled in the fighting during WWI, has been left a broken and bitter man; her elder brother Vinnie is in serious trouble with the local hard man; her two younger sisters are in danger of being taken into care, and her sweetheart Danny is heading for Australia to seek his fortune. Determined to keep her family together, yet unable to escape the poverty and degradation of the slums, the heartbroken Lizzie is tricked into marriage by Danny’s unscrupulous brother, Frank. Will she ever find the strength to protect her family from the underworld thugs who monopolise the Isle of Dogs? Can she escape her increasingly unhappy and violent marriage? And will she ever be reunited with her one true love, former barrow boy, Danny Flowers?”

So has this whetted your appetite? If so, you can find LIZZIE OF LANGLEY STREET for sale in July with AMAZON, SIMON & SCHUSTER, WH SMITH all online bookshops and in many small bookstores and other supermarkets. Meanwhile I’ll look forward to meeting you with just a click of the Google+ and social media tabs below.

Lizzie of Langley Street, sold in Kindle, paperback and hardback.

See you soon and happy reading on World Book Day.

London, the capital of Britain, its history and culture, from the plague to the Blitz, has always fascinated me. I have Eastender blood flowing in my veins, so it’s a foregone conclusion then, that my writing niche might be London’s 20th century with two world wars and only 20 years to separate them. My books are described as gritty sagas and family dramas, their heroines always a force to reckoned with. An Eastend background is relentlessly tough and demanding. Crime, poverty, and destitution drive a person to desperate measures. And its the psychology of poverty in particular, an inevitable outcome for deprived, war-torn and marginalised communities, that inspires me to write. Without hope and charity, none of us could survive in today’s world. No wonder our hearts beat faster when we see a home-grown success on a TV talent show. Or hear the voice of an angel flow from the lips of someone who’s had to fight their way tooth and nail to success. In that moment of triumph, we’re given hope as an incentive. Hope, the infinitely precious gift without bounds or social status. Sustenance, to help us on our way, through our own particular journey. And if just one of my books gives hope to someone somewhere, I’ll keep writing. So if you’d like to check out my website at www.carolrivers.com or meet me on Google+ Twitter and Facebook, I’d love to see you there and talk about what matters most to you!

“Get out there and knock it down!” So say the awesome Three Degrees during the Breakfast Show of late January 2015. Now celebrating 50 years in the entertainment business the band we all recognise for their unique and soulful voices, are hitting the road on their tour of Britain. This from Valerie Holiday, who joined the group in 1967; “In some cases, we may not have always succeeded but we have never given up. It still amazes me when we see teenagers singing along with our songs. And yet we still have the fans who have grown with us.” This definitely struck a chord with me! Longevity in the entertainment business is a tall order. You’re trying to please your fans while discovering who you are as an entertainer. But then, somewhere along the way you actually connect and really do start to “knock it down”. The scary and yet most fascinating truth is, you just have to keep going. Through all the ups and downs, the good times and bad, like a marriage, you just keep on keeping on. The Three Degrees have had their share of rough times, but as they sat on the studio couch this morning, they looked and sounded fabulous! So it’s back to the drawing board for this writer, with the help of iTunes, together with a modest caffeine kick and the inspirational notes of “When Will I See You Again” … a great opening line for the first chapter. And who knows, perhaps the last.

My last blog of 2014, is the perfect time to wish you all an awesome festive season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Thank you to those who have bought my books, blogged, posted and taken precious minutes from their busy schedules to write to me, support me and join me on a raft of social media. I loved hearing from you and look forward to hooking up again in my January Newsletter. I can’t wait to share some very special personal moments and, since TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS climbed to the top of Amazon’s genre charts, I’ll be celebrating the book’s success with quizzes, pictures, competitions, freebies and hot gos! So once again, thank you for sharing with me along the way. I hope we’ll continue to forge friendships in the months ahead but at this very moment I’d like to wish you love, light and peace in your lives, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. As my all time favourite Dickens character, Ebenezer Scrooge affirms, “I will start anew, I will make amends and I will make quite certain that the story ends on a note of hope on a strong amen and I’ll thank the world and remember when I was able to begin again.”

I’m sure everyone is very busy at this time of year, so this is just a quickie to let all subscribers to carolrivers.com know that Simon & Schuster are offering a free signed copy of TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS on their Simon Claus Advent Calendar.  To take advantage of this offer, just follow the link below and click on the yellow number 2 Christmas tree decoration and answer an easy question.

Together with this offer, there is a Kindle promotion on Amazon at the time of writing – December 2015. TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS is priced at  99p, IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER 98p and A WARTIME CHRISTMAS  at £1.49p. The books are travelling higher each day in Amazon’s bestselling saga charts, so if you are interested in a Kindle offer, this is probably a good time to check out Amazon’s shelves.

Click here for the Simon Claus Advent Calendar and freebie.

Click here for Carol’s books on AMAZON

My husband and I sit on a quiet Sunday afternoon, collecting the images shown in this trailer and uploading them to YouTube. As we work, the trees in the garden sway softly in a mild November breeze. Somewhere church bells are ringing, so faintly we hardly notice them. Crisp, dry leaves scuttle along the garden path and swirl by the garage doors. Life is perfectly normal and yet as we study the faces of the Fallen, young boys and men, who a hundred years ago were losing their lives in the hell of war, the moments stop still. Fathers, husbands, sons, these men all had hope of a future before 1914. But the Great War machine ripped apart millions of families worldwide. So we chose the most poignant image of all to begin our trailer. The Christmas Truce of 1914. There were  just a few hours when troops on both sides put down their arms and played football. The conflict could have ended there if it had been up to those men. And millions of lives saved. But sadly history tells another story …

“They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

October 23rd is almost here, the day when my 2014 novel, TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS is published in paperback form. The book’s beautiful cover shows my central character, Flora Shine, dressed in her Great War nurse’s uniform. Together with her two close friends depicted in the background, this clever artwork hints at the story inside. I’m so grateful to Simon & Schuster, my publisher, for taking such care to make the tale come alive for the reader from the moment the book reaches the shelves. But no sooner than TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS is done and dusted, my attention turns to next year’s story, where the characters impatiently wait in the wings, eager to be written into life. September’s amazing weather has allowed me to work in the garden on my laptop where intoxicating scents of bonfire and horse manure fill the air. I am at once transported back to the blackened chimneys and dilapidated 1930’s terraced houses of London’s East End, my writing turf . If you’ve read my first novel, Lizzie of Langley Street, set in 1919, you’ll know costermonger Lizzie Flowers is as stubbornly determined to succeed in business as she is to protect her family from the hard men of the capital’s underworld. In this sequel, my cast of characters have moved on from their horse-drawn carts and into the modern world of motorized vehicles. Lizzie plans to open a  cooperative for women, giving hope to those families who are burdened by poverty and destitution. But the criminal gangs soon get wind of her enterprise and demand a large slice of her investment. Lizzie knows she has some difficult choices to make. Does she pursue her dangerous path, refusing to give in to the racketeers and perhaps putting her family in danger? Or will she finally realise that survival is more important to her than success? Well, you’ll have to join Lizzie next year to find out –  and I promise it will be worth your wait! Meanwhile, with Christmas shopping already underway, TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS might just prove the surprise stocking-filler you’re searching for!

AMAZON

Sold in supermarkets, bookshops and online in paperback, ebook and hardback.

The parcel arrived from my publisher this morning; a freshly bound hardback copy of this year’s novel, TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS. I turn the clean, crisp pages into 1914 and find myself once again among the leafy plane trees of London’s Hyde Park. I join my East End orphans Flora Shine, Will Boniface and Hilda Jones, just as the country goes to war. The trio make a pact to always be there for each other, come what may. But none of these young people can guess at what lies ahead for them. Or how cruel this war will be. And how severely their vow will be tested. As I read on, I remember the journey I took in their company. It was by no means a comfortable one. I learned of the heartache and tragedy through their eyes and began to understand what happened to ordinary people in 1914, caught up in uniquely extraordinary times. I close the book and gaze at the cover. Flora, Will and Hilda look back at me, just as I remember them.

TOGETHER FOR CHRISTMAS is published in paperback in October 2014

AMAZON ebook

My centenary book for 2014, ‘Together For Christmas’ is published in ebook, August 14th and to paperback in October. The three main characters are orphans Flora – my heroine, and Will and Hilda, her dearest friends from childhood.

It’s August 1914, London. Britain has just declared war on Germany, and the whole country seems to be in uproar. Flora, Hilda and Will, who grew up together in St Boniface orphanage sit in the sunshine in Hyde Park on a rare day off, discussing the impending war and the changes it will bring to their lives.

This book was written to honour the centenary, 100 years since the Great War. Nine million combatants were killed during the period July 1914 – November 1918. The effects of this were to shatter families globally for many years after. Some returning troops suffered what we now recognize as post traumatic stress disorder. My book deals with this issue and goes, I hope, some way to drawing together the contemporary conflicts of today with those of the past.

More information on ‘Together For Christmas’ can be found on the 2014 link at carolrolrivers and at Amazon.co.uk