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A Palette of Magpies
A world of unfolding romance and unexpected friendships. A story about embracing life’s ebbs and flows.
Judith, after a long career as an art teacher, moves back into her childhood home in the Cotswolds.
Out of the blue hand-painted postcards land on her doormat, each one portraying a line from the well-remembered magpie nursery rhyme.
Nudged by their arrival Judith interprets them as a sign to seek out those in the village who most need her help and to face her past. Enticed out of the doldrums of retirement, her compassion is ignited, and she discovers passion and purpose in her role as an unlikely confidant to many.
With her closest friend, Louise, encouraging her to pick up her art, and her life again, Judith embarks on her journey of rediscovery, unlikely connections and renewed hope. And, with a bubbling excitement, she realises this is the start of something new.
But who is sending the cards and when will they reveal themselves, if at all, and, when romance is rekindled, with a long-forgotten school friend, will Judith too, at last, find happiness. After all that’s what we all want in life, isn’t it? A beautifully sensitive story heralding change, acceptance, and forgiveness on the journey to finding happiness.
Out of the blue hand-painted postcards land on her doormat, each one portraying a line from the well-remembered magpie nursery rhyme.
Nudged by their arrival Judith interprets them as a sign to seek out those in the village who most need her help and to face her past. Enticed out of the doldrums of retirement, her compassion is ignited, and she discovers passion and purpose in her role as an unlikely confidant to many.
With her closest friend, Louise, encouraging her to pick up her art, and her life again, Judith embarks on her journey of rediscovery, unlikely connections and renewed hope. And, with a bubbling excitement, she realises this is the start of something new.
But who is sending the cards and when will they reveal themselves, if at all, and, when romance is rekindled, with a long-forgotten school friend, will Judith too, at last, find happiness. After all that’s what we all want in life, isn’t it? A beautifully sensitive story heralding change, acceptance, and forgiveness on the journey to finding happiness.
- GenresRomance
274 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2023
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Soulla Christodoulou
12 books42 followersBorn in London to Greek Cypriot parents Soulla Christodoulou spent much of her childhood living carefree days full of family, school and friends. She was the first in her family to go to university and studied BA Hotel & Catering Management at Portsmouth University. Years later, after having a family of her own she studied again at Middlesex University and has a PGCE in Business Studies and an MA in Education.
Soulla is a Fiction author and wrote her first novel Broken Pieces of Tomorrow over a few months while working full time in secondary education. She is a mother of three boys.
She is a compassionate and empathetic supporter of young people. Her passion for teaching continues through private tuition of English Language and Children’s Creative Writing Classes as well as proof reading and other writing services.
Her writing has also connected her with a charity in California which she is very much involved in as a contributor of handwritten letters every month to support and give hope to women diagnosed with breast cancer. One of her letters is featured in a book ‘Dear Friend’, released on Amazon in September 2017.
When asked, she will tell you she has always, somewhere on a subconscious level, wanted to write and her life’s experiences both personal and professional have played a huge part in bringing her to where she was always meant to be; writing books and drinking lots of cinnamon and clove tea!
She also has a poetry collection, Sunshine after Rain, published on Amazon and The Summer Will Come is her second novel. She is currently working on a third novel Trust is a Big Word about an on-line illicit relationship that develops between two people.
Soulla is a Fiction author and wrote her first novel Broken Pieces of Tomorrow over a few months while working full time in secondary education. She is a mother of three boys.
She is a compassionate and empathetic supporter of young people. Her passion for teaching continues through private tuition of English Language and Children’s Creative Writing Classes as well as proof reading and other writing services.
Her writing has also connected her with a charity in California which she is very much involved in as a contributor of handwritten letters every month to support and give hope to women diagnosed with breast cancer. One of her letters is featured in a book ‘Dear Friend’, released on Amazon in September 2017.
When asked, she will tell you she has always, somewhere on a subconscious level, wanted to write and her life’s experiences both personal and professional have played a huge part in bringing her to where she was always meant to be; writing books and drinking lots of cinnamon and clove tea!
She also has a poetry collection, Sunshine after Rain, published on Amazon and The Summer Will Come is her second novel. She is currently working on a third novel Trust is a Big Word about an on-line illicit relationship that develops between two people.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 2, 2024
"A Palette of Magpies" by Soulla Christodoulou is a captivating novel that weaves a rich tapestry of emotions, relationships, and self-discovery.
The characters in the novel are intricately developed, each with their own unique qualities and flaws.
I was particularly drawn to this inspirational quote, but there were many more like it.
"It was all matter of timing, like most things in life, we have to be ready to not only talk about change but put all that talk into action, to make the decision to do something."
One of the standout features of the book is its beautifully crafted flower quotes. Soulla Christodoulou's eloquent descriptions of flowers create a vivid imagery that enhances the reader's experience.
Some of my favourites were, "drooping tulips", "carpet of forget-me-nots", "creeping thyme"
Furthermore, the novel delights the senses with its tantalizing food quotes. From mouth-watering descriptions of meals to the significance of certain dishes in the characters' lives, the culinary elements add a sensory dimension to the storytelling. Such as
"shop-bought chicken and mushroom pie" , "blueberries and a drizzle of honey", "homemade strawberry jam".
Definitely giving this book a five star review/rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Soulla Christodoulou's storytelling prowess shines through, making this novel a must-read for those who appreciate a finely crafted tale.
Would suit readers interested in art, books with life quotes, foodies, floral descriptions, mystery as there is an element of who is sending what, the English countryside - the Cotswolds and last but certainly not least women who are entering retirement, as there is a whole world of self discovery to be had.
The characters in the novel are intricately developed, each with their own unique qualities and flaws.
I was particularly drawn to this inspirational quote, but there were many more like it.
"It was all matter of timing, like most things in life, we have to be ready to not only talk about change but put all that talk into action, to make the decision to do something."
One of the standout features of the book is its beautifully crafted flower quotes. Soulla Christodoulou's eloquent descriptions of flowers create a vivid imagery that enhances the reader's experience.
Some of my favourites were, "drooping tulips", "carpet of forget-me-nots", "creeping thyme"
Furthermore, the novel delights the senses with its tantalizing food quotes. From mouth-watering descriptions of meals to the significance of certain dishes in the characters' lives, the culinary elements add a sensory dimension to the storytelling. Such as
"shop-bought chicken and mushroom pie" , "blueberries and a drizzle of honey", "homemade strawberry jam".
Definitely giving this book a five star review/rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Soulla Christodoulou's storytelling prowess shines through, making this novel a must-read for those who appreciate a finely crafted tale.
Would suit readers interested in art, books with life quotes, foodies, floral descriptions, mystery as there is an element of who is sending what, the English countryside - the Cotswolds and last but certainly not least women who are entering retirement, as there is a whole world of self discovery to be had.
April 1, 2024
A Palette of Magpies will captivate readers with its well-written narrative and deft touch of emotional intensity.
As someone who knows the area well, I would have liked to have heard more of the locals in their Gloucestershire accent. Smell the lichen on the yellow Cotswold limestone. Seeing in my mind’s eye the age of the village and the flocks roaming the valley. Immersed in the community's warmth.
Setting aside my penchant for the territory, and the story being outside of my genre comfort zone, this was an enjoyable story well worth the read. A touch of class.
As someone who knows the area well, I would have liked to have heard more of the locals in their Gloucestershire accent. Smell the lichen on the yellow Cotswold limestone. Seeing in my mind’s eye the age of the village and the flocks roaming the valley. Immersed in the community's warmth.
Setting aside my penchant for the territory, and the story being outside of my genre comfort zone, this was an enjoyable story well worth the read. A touch of class.
December 14, 2023
Judith is in her sixties, retired as an art teacher, and back to her parents’ home, Chrysanthemum Cottage, in the Cotswolds to spend her free time, with no plans or clues as to what will shape her remaining life’s journey. She also has an elderly cat (sleeping beauty) in Jasper. What a company!
She gets unstamped, pristine postcards with magpie pictures, hand-drawn and painted to perfection, on a regular basis delivered to her doorstep by an unknown person with a one-liner of “one for sorrow, two for joy, etc.” with a hidden message.
In her previous life, as a teenager, Judith was a rebel, to the extent of baring herself as a model for paintings. She left her home on a whim and made a life of her own in London. Of course, she had struggled to reach where she is now singlehandedly, with a cheating partner leaving and losing her child – a self-made woman.
Back to the current predicament, Judith informs her best friend and neighbour Louise (a crossword puzzle-solving geek) about these painted letters and wonders what the clue or task assigned to her through these letters is.
Slowly and organically, the reason for these letters landing in her home unfolds as she becomes the do-gooder for her community, solving various issues ranging from personal to social.
Her first assignment brings her to Kerry, a woman with an unborn child, to cope with her loss and get back to normalcy to the liking of her husband.
Judith’s later clues throw her into challenging situations with people of all ages, from a teenage Polish girl fighting her inner demons and bullying in school to a local pastor living an un-celibate life secretly.
Finally, she finds her only teenage crush (of course, that first kiss) Matt in an unfortunate circumstance and how they decide to continue their relationship this time around that was abruptly cut short in their earlier lives.
The ultimate reveal of her roots and why she was receiving these letters gives an emotional angle and a fitting end to a good read.
𝘈 𝘗𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘴 is a definite must-read for this season to drench and delve into the life of cosy and cool Cotswolds commune and rejoice along with them the power of true love, friendship, and family relationships, and to know how everyone (including you) has abundant goodness in them to share with the outside world and live a happier and better life as a good human.
Overall, I laughed, I cried, and was thoroughly invested in Soulla's witty and brilliant writing. A neat job!
She gets unstamped, pristine postcards with magpie pictures, hand-drawn and painted to perfection, on a regular basis delivered to her doorstep by an unknown person with a one-liner of “one for sorrow, two for joy, etc.” with a hidden message.
In her previous life, as a teenager, Judith was a rebel, to the extent of baring herself as a model for paintings. She left her home on a whim and made a life of her own in London. Of course, she had struggled to reach where she is now singlehandedly, with a cheating partner leaving and losing her child – a self-made woman.
Back to the current predicament, Judith informs her best friend and neighbour Louise (a crossword puzzle-solving geek) about these painted letters and wonders what the clue or task assigned to her through these letters is.
Slowly and organically, the reason for these letters landing in her home unfolds as she becomes the do-gooder for her community, solving various issues ranging from personal to social.
Her first assignment brings her to Kerry, a woman with an unborn child, to cope with her loss and get back to normalcy to the liking of her husband.
Judith’s later clues throw her into challenging situations with people of all ages, from a teenage Polish girl fighting her inner demons and bullying in school to a local pastor living an un-celibate life secretly.
Finally, she finds her only teenage crush (of course, that first kiss) Matt in an unfortunate circumstance and how they decide to continue their relationship this time around that was abruptly cut short in their earlier lives.
The ultimate reveal of her roots and why she was receiving these letters gives an emotional angle and a fitting end to a good read.
𝘈 𝘗𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘴 is a definite must-read for this season to drench and delve into the life of cosy and cool Cotswolds commune and rejoice along with them the power of true love, friendship, and family relationships, and to know how everyone (including you) has abundant goodness in them to share with the outside world and live a happier and better life as a good human.
Overall, I laughed, I cried, and was thoroughly invested in Soulla's witty and brilliant writing. A neat job!
March 12, 2024
A Palette of Magpies by Soulla Christodoulou
I enjoyed this contemporary romance novel written by my fellow author at Kingsley Publishers. I was pleased to discover that the story had an element of mystery too.
Judith is a retired art teacher who moves to her childhood home in the Cotswolds. While she is trying to decide what to do with her newfound time & freedom, mysterious postcards begin to arrive through her mailbox. They are beautiful hand-painted pictures of magpie nursery rhymes. Who could be sending them and why?
Slowly, she reconnects with her neighbours in the village - including a former boyfriend. Secrets are shared over tea & scones. Tears are shed. The chapters where Judith helps a bullied teenager actually made me tear up too. And the final postcard reveal was a satisfying surprise.
This is a beautifully written & moving story that I found very relaxing to read, compared to my usual tension-filled thrillers. If you’re a fan of contemporary romance or women’s fiction, I highly recommend this book.
I enjoyed this contemporary romance novel written by my fellow author at Kingsley Publishers. I was pleased to discover that the story had an element of mystery too.
Judith is a retired art teacher who moves to her childhood home in the Cotswolds. While she is trying to decide what to do with her newfound time & freedom, mysterious postcards begin to arrive through her mailbox. They are beautiful hand-painted pictures of magpie nursery rhymes. Who could be sending them and why?
Slowly, she reconnects with her neighbours in the village - including a former boyfriend. Secrets are shared over tea & scones. Tears are shed. The chapters where Judith helps a bullied teenager actually made me tear up too. And the final postcard reveal was a satisfying surprise.
This is a beautifully written & moving story that I found very relaxing to read, compared to my usual tension-filled thrillers. If you’re a fan of contemporary romance or women’s fiction, I highly recommend this book.
November 8, 2023
4.5 Review to come!
November 2, 2023
A Palett of Magpies
Quote: ‘Made-up stories are the ones which tell our truth, the truth we wish we could say out loud.’ From Palett of Magpies copyright Soulla Christodoulou
This book ticked all the boxes for me. It triggered every emotion from laughter to uncontrollably crying at times. Set in a small village in the Cotswolds, which, on the surface all is calm and peaceful.
It introduces us to Judith, a retired Art Teacher, who inherits a cottage from her parents, and deciding to leave London behind her, she takes up residence to live a peaceful life. That is, until the Magpie postcards start to arrive through Judith’s letterbox. What she doesn’t realise, is that in receiving these cards she is taking on a challenge to help the people of the village, but as she does, her own past comes back, making her realign the truth on many levels, causing her to question, ‘is she who she really is?’ Or, maybe fate played a cruel trick on her when she was young. It is by helping others that Judith learns to re-evaluate all that she was, finally coming to terms with her past.
In parts it is heart—wrenching, while others have humour, and warmth, but, we can also feel an element of ‘fate’ taking a hand once more. The issues raised here will relate to everyone, there is trauma, heartbreak, and a lot of soul-searching, but these are so compassionately covered by Soulla, your heart goes out to all concerned.
A Palett of Magpies lends a whole new meaning to the Magpie rhyme, evoking memories of home, places, years that past, suffering and people who only want to right a wrong.
A beautifully written book, and for me, her best to date – amazing! I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Quote: ‘Made-up stories are the ones which tell our truth, the truth we wish we could say out loud.’ From Palett of Magpies copyright Soulla Christodoulou
This book ticked all the boxes for me. It triggered every emotion from laughter to uncontrollably crying at times. Set in a small village in the Cotswolds, which, on the surface all is calm and peaceful.
It introduces us to Judith, a retired Art Teacher, who inherits a cottage from her parents, and deciding to leave London behind her, she takes up residence to live a peaceful life. That is, until the Magpie postcards start to arrive through Judith’s letterbox. What she doesn’t realise, is that in receiving these cards she is taking on a challenge to help the people of the village, but as she does, her own past comes back, making her realign the truth on many levels, causing her to question, ‘is she who she really is?’ Or, maybe fate played a cruel trick on her when she was young. It is by helping others that Judith learns to re-evaluate all that she was, finally coming to terms with her past.
In parts it is heart—wrenching, while others have humour, and warmth, but, we can also feel an element of ‘fate’ taking a hand once more. The issues raised here will relate to everyone, there is trauma, heartbreak, and a lot of soul-searching, but these are so compassionately covered by Soulla, your heart goes out to all concerned.
A Palett of Magpies lends a whole new meaning to the Magpie rhyme, evoking memories of home, places, years that past, suffering and people who only want to right a wrong.
A beautifully written book, and for me, her best to date – amazing! I cannot recommend it highly enough.
August 1, 2025
Painting the return back to joy
Judith receives a second picture postcard, colourful watercolours—a pair of magpies, ‘Two for joy.’—no stamp, no signature. The first had been ‘One for sorrow’. An art teacher and collector, she admires the brushwork. Someone was watching her. Would her best friend Louise across the Cotswolds lane have seen anything? She didn’t ask the gossipy ladies at the post office.
She’d left home young, after ‘the dreadful incident’. She inherited the cottage after her parents’ death, but retirement was boring until these cards started coming. Now, with endless time to paint, she has no inspiration. This is her ‘new timetable of life’, says Lou.
Kerry remains locked in her room, grieving after a miscarriage. Judith had lost a child, too. She cheers her up with a basket full of paints. Judith forms the belief that the postcards are instructing her to give people joy.
Another postcard. ‘Three for a girl.’ She identifies her next beneficiary—Maja, the depressed Polish teenager.
‘Four for a boy’. Next is the vicar and his unconventional family. Judith begins to take her own advice to ‘escape the unkind, hard-shelled chrysalis of [her] own making’.
‘Five for silver. Six for gold.’ Relationships among the villagers develop at the Summer Fête.
‘Seven for a secret never to be told.’ Old secrets are revealed, and something new happens in Judith’s timetable of life. Someone is determined to give Judith back her joy.
Beautiful writing, languid life in a sleepy village, poignant and psychological, full of love. Judith notes: ‘Grief stay[s] with you, under your skin, behind your eyes, in your heart and in your thoughts.’ In (semi) retirement myself, I got into this protagonist. Her emergence from the chrysalis is profoundly satisfying.
Judith receives a second picture postcard, colourful watercolours—a pair of magpies, ‘Two for joy.’—no stamp, no signature. The first had been ‘One for sorrow’. An art teacher and collector, she admires the brushwork. Someone was watching her. Would her best friend Louise across the Cotswolds lane have seen anything? She didn’t ask the gossipy ladies at the post office.
She’d left home young, after ‘the dreadful incident’. She inherited the cottage after her parents’ death, but retirement was boring until these cards started coming. Now, with endless time to paint, she has no inspiration. This is her ‘new timetable of life’, says Lou.
Kerry remains locked in her room, grieving after a miscarriage. Judith had lost a child, too. She cheers her up with a basket full of paints. Judith forms the belief that the postcards are instructing her to give people joy.
Another postcard. ‘Three for a girl.’ She identifies her next beneficiary—Maja, the depressed Polish teenager.
‘Four for a boy’. Next is the vicar and his unconventional family. Judith begins to take her own advice to ‘escape the unkind, hard-shelled chrysalis of [her] own making’.
‘Five for silver. Six for gold.’ Relationships among the villagers develop at the Summer Fête.
‘Seven for a secret never to be told.’ Old secrets are revealed, and something new happens in Judith’s timetable of life. Someone is determined to give Judith back her joy.
Beautiful writing, languid life in a sleepy village, poignant and psychological, full of love. Judith notes: ‘Grief stay[s] with you, under your skin, behind your eyes, in your heart and in your thoughts.’ In (semi) retirement myself, I got into this protagonist. Her emergence from the chrysalis is profoundly satisfying.
October 28, 2023
This is a beautiful story that had me gripped at every page. I didn't want it to end! I fell in love with Judith, her friendships, and her unfolding romance. So well written, a 5 star read for me!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews