Why it's not a simple matter to report child abuse...

I've hesitated before writing this post, for a number of reasons.

The main one is that I feel very uncomfortable about the idea of using the recent allegations against Jimmy Savile to promote my book. The idea that I'm somehow exploiting the suffering undergone by so many young people appals me. This is why I've already begun this post on two previous occasions and then deleted it.

But... the subject needs airing. We all need to talk about it much more. It was almost impossible to tell anyone, back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s, that you were being abused. It's easier now, I'm told. But it's still not as easy as it should be. There is stigma and there is shame associated with being a victim of such abuse. There shouldn't be, but there often is.

My book, Charity's Child, is set in the 1980s. I don't usually tell people it's about child abuse, because I don't want to give away the plot, though I do tell them that it deals with some difficult issues.

But who cares about giving away a plot, in comparison with what we are now discovering has been going on in real life? My story offers reasons why a young girl in the 1980s, a member of a small church, found it impossible to tell anyone what was happening to her. I'm not claiming that her reasons are typical or common ones. There were and still are all kinds of reasons why young girls and boys find it difficult, if not impossible, to tell anyone what's happening to them. This is just one instance. It is not based on a true story. The events in the book did not, I'm very glad to say, happen to anyone I know. But sadly, I know that there are many people who have experienced something similar.

Charity's Child is a book for an older YA (14+) and adult readership. It does not go into graphic detail about sexual abuse, but the direct and indirect effects of such abuse on the lives of two young girls are explored. If my novel can play even a small part in helping to raise awareness of the abuse of children and young people, and make it any easier for people to recognise and report it, I would be very pleased.

If you are interested, you can find the link to my book in the right hand column of my blog.

Best wishes,
Ros

My Review of 'The Bower Bird' by Ann Kelley...

... is posted on An Awfully Big Blog Review today

Ann Kelley's wonderful YA novel 'The Bower Bird' is a sequel to 'The Burying Beetle'.

It's a great story - part of the Gussie series - highly recommended for age 12+.

More Rosalie Reviews coming soon!

Happy reading,
Ros

On An Awfully Big Blog Adventure today - Children's Fiction and Mental Health

Especially for World Mental Health Day - which is today - I'm blogging on children's and YA fiction that deals with mental health - focusing on bipolar disorder.

http://awfullybigblogadventure.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/bipolar-characters-in-childrens-and-ya.html

ALEXA'S SONG is now available on Amazon

It just went live!

Cover design by Rob Tysall

Note: It's aimed at adults, and is a love story of a kind between two creative people who are each fighting their own demons.

Watch this space for news of an exciting competition on the theme of the book, coming soon....

See Alexa's Song on Amazon UK

... and on Amazon USA

More soon,
Best wishes,
Ros

Exciting news - I'm now a fully qualified proofreader

Just heard that I've been awarded a Merit for completing the 'Basic Proofreading by Distance Learning' course run by The Publishing Training Centre. This qualification is highly regarded by the publishing industry and I'm very proud of my achievement. It was hard work!

You can see my proofreading website (run by my alter ego, Sheila Glasbey), here.

I offer a quick and reasonably priced service to anyone who wants to make their prose as perfect as possible ready for publication. 

'Alexa's Song' is almost ready to go!

It's been a long time coming. Back in June, I was preparing my new novel for adults, Alexa's Song, for publication, when the sad and sudden death of my father intervened. Since then, I've barely had the time or the inclination for any writing activities at all.

But I'm slowly getting back to something vaguely approaching normal... and I'm back at work on formatting Alexa ready for release as an eBook for Amazon Kindle. If all goes well, it should be ready to download by the end of this week. I'll let you know...

Alexa's Song is a book close to my heart, because both of its main characters have mental health problems and their conditions interact with their personal and creative lives in all kinds of (I hope) interesting ways. Jake is an artist and Alexa a musician - a pianist and composer of both classical and pop music. Jake has been in love with Alexa for years and they lived together for a while, until along came Alexa's brother, Steve, who rather disrupted their relationship. But now Jake has a hope of winning Alexa back - except that she is pregnant and it's unclear who the father is (it's not Jake - that much he knows...)

Jake's life is complicated by the fact that he has bipolar illness. His medication helps, but he believes that he does his best painting when he comes off the tablets - with disastrous results for himself and those around him.

Alexa suffers from recurrent depression owing to a traumatic event when she was a student, years ago.

The big question is, can these thirty-somethings find happiness and fulfilment in among all these conflicting demands and desires? And will the song Alexa wrote for Jake be enough to save him, when he gets himself into real trouble?

Here's the cover, which I love - beautifully designed for me by Rob Tysall of Tysall's Photography, Nuneaton.

More on Alexa soon!

Happy reading
Ros

Review of Ann Kelley's 'The Burying Beetle'

My review of Ann Kelley's wonderful YA novel 'The Burying Beetle' is on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure today

http://awfullybigreviews.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/the-burying-beetle-by-ann-kelley.html

More Rosalie Reviews coming soon...

Best wishes,
Ros