Redemption by Alice May - Book Tour
The House
That Sat Down Trilogy: Omnibus Edition
Inspired
by a true story, The House That Sat Down Trilogy is a tale of triumph over
tragedy. It is an astonishing account of sudden, first-world homelessness in
the heart of the New Forest, and the unexpected consequences. Written entirely
from a mother’s point of view, following the collapse of her family's home, it
is an uplifting and positive read in spite of the subject matter, with a thread
of wry humour throughout. Follow this ordinary woman on an extraordinary
journey of survival and self discovery as she reels from disaster, before
picking herself up and coming back stronger and wiser than before.
Packed with humorous observations about what it
is like to live in a tent in your garden with your husband and four children
after a significant part of your house falls down out of the blue one day, this
story takes you from the depths of despair right through to the satisfying
heights of success against the odds, with lots of tea and cakes on the way.
Follow this crazy family as they cope with
disaster in their own truly unique and rather mad way, and celebrate each small
triumph along the way with them.
Purchase
Links:
Redemption
– Moving on from the House that Sat Down.
Book
3 in The House That Sat Down Trilogy
Let us return to our favourite cottage in
the country once again.
In this final instalment from the house
that sat down, the family’s incredible journey is drawing to a close, leaving
an unexpected bonus in its wake.
The cottage has been rebuilt and the family
are moving on, but this tale has an astonishing legacy in store for our
heroine, if she can find the courage to reach for it.
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Link:
Excerpt
Hello and welcome to some
words from The House That Sat Down.
The following extract is taken from Redemption, the third book in
The House That Sat Down Trilogy.
I’ve chosen this particular passage because it covers the two boys’
(Quiet and Small) initial reactions to the fact that their mother, an artist,
has stopped painting in favour of writing. It is an unusual departure for her
and does cause them some confusion.
I am constantly amused by the fact that in many cases our children
often don’t see us as anything other than their ‘mother’. Granted, this is an
important role, but the fact that we might want to do something else as well,
can cause some consternation. At this point in the trilogy, the mother in my
tale is undergoing a massive shift in focus, away from art towards writing.
This is a transition that I have made myself, and I wanted to work with that
idea.
So, here it is…
‘Returning
to the past…
“What on earth is she doing?”
The not very hushed whisper hissed from the doorway behind me.
There was a pause and then a
shuffling sound.
“Uuuum!” Came a second,
deeper, hushed voice, “Well…. it looks like she’s typing!”
“What, you mean like on a
computer?”
More shuffling.
“Yup!”
“Why?”
“Well how should I know?” The
deeper voice came out more impatiently this time.
“I didn’t know she could do
that.” The first voice expressed a degree of muted outrage!
Part of my mind registered the
hushed conversation taking place behind me and found it quite amusing how
surprised Small was that I might have skills of which he was previously
unaware. Admittedly I wasn’t the most technologically minded of parents, but,
what on earth did he think I did all day at work? Use chalk and a slate to send
messages? I might not know much about social media or be able to send text
messages from my phone using both thumbs at the speed of light like teenagers
could, but my typing skills were something I was quite proud of.
Anyway, back to the unsubtle
discussion going on behind me. I was so focused on my ‘scandalous’ typing, that
I was only vaguely listening to them.
“What should we do?” asked
Small.
There was another pause before
Quiet answered him.
“I think we should make a
sandwich.”
“Good idea!” There was a pause
before Small continued, sounding a bit concerned, “But we don’t know what she
wants in it!”
“Not for her, you dummy! For
us! I’m starving!”
“Oh! OK! That’s a really good
idea!” Small agreed before adding, “Hey! Don’t call me dummy!”
The noise of scuffling ensued
as the boys abandoned me for the delights of raiding the fridge. I could hear
them shoving each other playfully into furniture as they raced to reach the
kitchen first. Having recently restocked, I knew there was plenty in the fridge
and, as such, there was no danger of them starving, so I tuned them out and
focused fully on what I was doing.
My Barbarian boys’
observational skills were absolutely spot on! I was typing. Now normally, as
you know, I’d be painting but I was not painting today, hence the boys’
astonishment. When I had got home from
my shift at work - having done the school pick-up en route - I had felt totally
dispirited. I stood in my unnaturally tidy art studio and looked around.
It had been nearly ten days since
the big studio de-clutter. Ten days in which I had barely been able to bring
myself to enter the room. It was too organised. I daren’t get anything out. If
I started to work on a new piece I knew the whole room would be trashed in no
time, so my instinctive impulse to create was crushed by my knowledge that the
need to find a buyer for the house was far more important and, therefore, for
the first time in ages I felt no craving to paint which worried me because even
though there was no spark to paint crackling in my fingers, my head felt
absolutely full to the point of bursting. Confusingly though, it was not full
of the usual things like images, shapes and colours anymore; this time my head
felt as if it was full of something else entirely, something that had never
particularly interested me before.
Words.
Lots of words.
Words and phrases had been
building up in my mind over the last few days, since my return from Devon.
Clauses kept creeping up on me when I should have been thinking about other
things (like my soon-to-be-gone job). Grammatical constructions were starting
to spill over themselves in my brain in waves, constantly multiplying, then
lurking and waiting to pounce on me at unsuspecting moments, until my skull
felt like it was on the point of exploding with expressions that wanted to
escape.
I didn’t understand it, but
there was only one thing I could think of to do with them all. I was going to
have to write them all down in the hope that they would then leave me in peace.’
I hope you enjoyed that
Love Alice
About the Author
I
am a multi-tasking parent to four not-so-small children, and I am fortunate
enough to be married to (probably) the most patient man on the planet. We live in, what used to be, a ramshackle old
cottage in the country. Our house began to fall down out of the blue one day,
which resulted in the whole family living in a tent in the back garden for
quite some time, while we worked out how to rebuild our home.
A
few years afterwards, I decided to write a book and, once I started, I found I
couldn’t stop.
Inspired
by true-life events ‘Accidental Damage – tales from the house that sat down’
wouldn’t leave me alone until it was written.
Within
six months of self-publishing my novel, I was delighted to learn that it had
won two ‘Chill with a Book Awards’. This was a massive honour and motivated me
to continue writing. Accidental Damage became the first book in a trilogy.
The
Omnibus edition of all three books in the House That Sat Down Trilogy is now
available via Amazon in both paperback and kindle format.
Social
Media Links –
Website:
www.AliceMay.weebly.com
Facebook
www.facebook.com/AliceMayAuthor/
Twitter:
@AliceMay_Author
Instagram:
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