Mavis and Dot by Angela Petch - Book Tour
Mavis and
Dot
A warm
slice of life, funny, feel-good, yet poignant.
Introducing two eccentric ladies who form an unlikely
friendship.Meet Mavis and Dot - two colourful, retired ladies who live in
Worthington-on-Sea, where there are charity shops galore. Apart from bargain
hunting, they manage to tangle themselves in escapades involving illegal
immigrants, night clubs, nude modelling, errant toupees and more. And then
there’s Mal, the lovable dog who nobody else wants. A gently humorous, often
side-splitting, heart-warming snapshot of two memorable characters with past
secrets and passions. Escape for a couple of hours into this snapshot of a
faded, British seaside town. You'll laugh and cry but probably laugh
more."This book is quirky and individual, and has great pathos...[it] will
resonate with a lot of readers." Gill Kaye - Editor of Ingenu(e). Written
with a light touch in memory of a dear friend who passed away from ovarian
cancer, Angela Petch’s seaside tale is a departure from her successful Tuscan
novels.
All profits from the sale of the
books will go towards research into the cure for cancer.
Purchase
Links
Excerpt
Many thanks for having me on your blog. I
like the name you go under and it made me think of one of the chapters I
enjoyed writing the most. For “Mavis and Dot”.
Mavis, one of my two main characters is bored
one evening and in Chapter Sixteen, she sets out for a walk in her seaside
town. She comes across the newly-opened “Knickerbocker Glory Club”, which she
thinks is a new café. There are potent cocktails on offer; she knocks them back
and ends up on stage performing with Cynthia, the regular act. She is still
unaware until the following day that this attractive singer is really Lance,
but they form a happy friendship and Cynthia aka Lance also befriends Dot. I
suppose Cynthia serves as a foil to my two ladies, bringing out more in their
characters and I had great fun hamming it up with them.
“Cynthia’s
third number was a rousing edition of Waltzing Matilda, after which she mopped
her brow with what Mavis thought, almost certainly, was a pair of frilly
thongs, and turning to her audience, she removed the microphone from its stand
and came down the steps into the room, high kicking as she came, revealing a
suspender or two.
‘Your
turn now, you lot,’ she said, fluttering her long, false eyelashes. ‘I’m
knackered, darlings. Now, who’s going to be our star of the evening, I wonder?’
Mavis
had appeared once or twice in Sunday School pantomimes. She had belonged to the
church choir and had always been told she had a good voice. The cocktails had
instilled bravery in her and dispelled modesty. She grabbed the microphone from
Cynthia, whispering what she was going to perform.
‘Nice
one, dear,’ approved Cynthia. ‘I don’t think that will be a prob,’ and she
turned to scan through for the backing music on the I-player. Air on a G-string
ok for you, dear?’ she asked, with a chuckle.
Mavis,
never having been formally musically trained, and missing the innuendo, nodded
agreement. The opening bars boomed out, Cynthia shouted, ‘Take it away, Mave,’
and, before she knew it, Mavis had raised the roof with the audience to a man,
as they raucously responded to the chorus of ‘Woof, woof!’”
The inspiration for “Mavis and Dot” came
via the loss of my best friend twelve years ago. I still miss her. At the time,
our daughters were still at school and we met at the school gates. Occasionally
we had days out together. Both of us loved antiques, auctions and charity
shops. We called each other Mavis and Dot as we walked along, our bags crammed
with discoveries and goodies. When she was very ill with ovarian cancer, I
wrote her a story based on our two imagined characters and she liked it. All
these years later, I’ve added more episodes and turned them into this novella.
I hope to raise some money for cancer research from the sales.
There’s a saying I’ve come across: “If you
laugh, you think, and you cry, then that’s a full day”. I’m hoping that “Mavis
and Dot”, with its span of emotions, will resonate with readers.
Author
Bio
A prize-winning author, Angela Petch lives
half the year in West Sussex and the summer months in a remote valley in the
Tuscan Apennines. She recently signed a two-book deal with Bookouture for her
Tuscan novels and “Mavis and Dot” is a temporary departure from her usual
genre. She has travelled all her life: born in Germany,
she spent six years as a child living in Rome, worked in Amsterdam after
finishing her degree in Italian, moved to Italy for her job, then to Tanzania
for three years. Her head is full of stories and she always carries a pen and
note-book to capture more ideas.
In May 2017, Angela Petch won PRIMA’S monthly short
story competition and recently had a dozen stories published by The People’s
Friend magazine.
“Mavis and Dot” was written in
memory of a dear friend who lost her battle with ovarian cancer. All profits
from sales of the book will go towards research into a cure for cancer.
LINKS
Twitter: @Angela_Petch
TUSCAN NOVELS
“Tuscan Roots” (to be reissued by
Bookouture in 2019) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tuscan-Roots-tangle-Italian-Apennines-ebook/dp/B01DDQDMDE/
“Now and Then in Tuscany” - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Now-Then-Tuscany-Italian-journeys-ebook/dp/B06Y8Y17MG
MAVIS AND DOT
2 Comments
Thanks for letting Mavis perform on your blog. She enjoyed herself!
ReplyDeleteYou're very welcome! :)
DeletePlease try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.