Moondancing

by Celia J. Anderson

Together since their teens, Molly and Jake have four children, a house in a sleepy village, and jobs that bore them to distraction. Their marriage is an accident waiting to happen. When Nick arrives in Mayfield, young, disturbed and in desperate need of mother-love, Molly doesn’t realise that he will be the catalyst that blows everything apart. Add a headmaster whose wife doesn’t understand him, and Molly’s unpredictable, frustrated best friend to the mix, and the blue touch paper has been well and truly lit.

ebook

Published January 12, 2016

About the author

After years of searching for the perfect job, I think I’ve finally found it in teaching, especially since changing to part-time hours to leave more space for writing. Let’s face it, where else do you get paid for reading stories, playing with glue and paint and making small people laugh? Over the years I’ve child-minded very contentedly, taught cycling proficiency (forgot to mention at the interview that I was still learning to ride a bike, but they found out quite soon), stamped books in a library, sold second-hand maternity clothes, dabbled in mental health care, to name but a few of my jobs.

When I’m not marking books or writing, I spend far too much time on Facebook talking to other, much cleverer writer people. I also blog as part of The Romaniacs online writers’ group. These are the ladies that make me laugh and keep me sane when I think I’ve run out of steam. My ultimate dream is to have children’s books published too.

The rest of my non-writing time is taken up with running Upstage – a children’s drama group – cooking, eating and walking off the damage. I live with my husband and deranged cats in South Derbyshire but, sea-starved in the depths of the Midlands, I can often be found striding over the Quantocks or wandering happily around Brighton visiting my two daughters and pretending to collect ideas for my next book.

Reviews

[Lucy Felthouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've very much enjoyed all of Celia's books so far, and Moondancing is no exception. It's a prequel story to one of her other books - Little Boxes - but it can be read as a standalone. Though it'll make you want to read Little Boxes if you haven't already.

It tells the story of Molly and Jake, their close family and friends, with a couple of strangers thrown in for good measure. Things are falling apart for the various characters in spectacular fashion, and we follow their respective stories throughout the novel, to some expected, and unexpected conclusions. I don't want to say too much, though, and give the game away.

What I like about Celia's books is that they're very grounded in real life. Her characters have flaws, just like real people, and make mistakes, and so on. This was another exceptional and quirky read from this author, and I look forward to more.

[Brandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can say by the description this book was not what I thought it was so much better!! I liked how the author has weaved all the characters to get this great story. I didn't see the twist with the twins being Poppie's kids from so long ago and that she was the last to meet them was so funny. I really think we have all felt like running away so seeing 2 characters do it in this story was nice to see :).