In this episode of Bookable Space with Yvonne Battle-Felton, we're joined by Sara Sartagne reading from The Year of Yes and No.

About the Author

Having wanted to be a journalist when she was a teenager, Sara actually ended up in PR. From there, it was a short skip to writing for pleasure, and from there to drafting her first book, a romance series where gardens feature in a BIG way. This allows her to indulge her passion for gardening, inherited from her grandmother. Sara’s English Garden Romance series started as a trilogy and morphed into slightly more than a quartet. It has four novels, three novellas and a short story. The novels are The Garden Plot, Love in a Mist, The Glasshouse Effect and A Wilder Heart. All the novellas are available to subscribers from her website. Her dual timeline novels, the Duality Series, are stand-alone books which features two stories, somehow connected. These are The Visitor, which won a Prestige Chill With A Book Award; The Fern Keepers, which also received a Premier Chill With A Book Award; and her latest book, The Year of Yes and No. She’s currently working on a stand-alone contemporary story set in Corfu. She loves hearing from readers who have thoughts about her books and characters - and even about gardening! - so please visit my website (good for news and freebies!)

About the Book

A picture paints a thousand words, but sometimes you just need one.

1802 Colchester Hall, Northumberland. Harriet has been invisible all her life, a dutiful daughter, a dutiful wife and, with her husband's recent passing, a dutiful widow.

But when she inherits her husband's fortune, she discovers a freedom she has only dreamt of. Now wealthy, Harriet can say yes whenever she chooses – but only if she remains unmarried.

Battling her ingrained sense of duty and her conniving mother-in-law, Harriet must fight for her new-found independence. But every day, her feelings for long-time confidante Alexander grow, leaving her with an agonising choice – freedom, or love. Which will she say ‘yes’ to?

2023 London. Gabriella Sullivan has a lot to juggle. Taking on more responsibility at a London art gallery pays the bills, but being her family's default administrator, cook and babysitter is what drains most of her energy.

When Gabriella stumbles upon Regency miniatures of Harriet Colchester, she's fascinated by the differences before and after Harriet’s marriage – one portrait deferential, the other devil-may-care.

Inspired to research Harriet's story, it doesn't hurt that the investigation includes Hugo, the chocolate-voiced owner of the miniatures.

Can Harriet's journey help Gabriella find her own voice, and say 'no' to her family's unreasonable demands?

About the host

Yvonne Battle-Felton is an author, academic, editor, podcaster, host, creative producer, and writer. Her debut, Remembered (Dialogue Books, Blackstone Publishing) was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2019) and the Not the Booker and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2020). Curdle Creek (2024 Dialogue Books, Henry Holt), a gothic horror inspired by Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, is her second novel and has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Awards.

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In this delightful episode of Bookable Space we're joined by Bram Stoker Award-winning editor, author Del Howison. Del reads from The Survival of Margaret Thomas and What Fresh Hell is This.

About the author:

Del Howison is an author, journalist, and SAG actor. He is a Bram Stoker Award-winning editor of the anthology series Dark Delicacies: Original Tales of Terror and the Macabre by the World’s Greatest Horror Writers. He has written articles for Fear.net, Gauntlet Magazine, and Writers Digest among others. Del’s short story Cul-de-Sac appeared in Weird Tales Magazine #369. His western short story The Lost Herd was turned into the premiere (and highest rated) episode, The Sacrifice, for the series Fear Itself. His dark western novel The Survival of Margaret Thomas was shortlisted for the Peacemaker Award given out by The Western Fictioneers. He has been shortlisted for over half a dozen awards including the Shirley Jackson Award and the Black Quill.

The Survival of Margaret Thomas is a dark female driven western novel and What Fresh Hell Is This? is a retrospective collection of published Horror up through 2023 including some new stories.

About the host:

Yvonne Battle-Felton is an author, academic, editor, podcaster, host, creative producer, and writer. Her debut, Remembered (Dialogue Books, Blackstone Publishing) was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2019) and shortlisted for the Jhalak Prize (2020). Yvonne has six titles in Penguin Random House’s The Ladybird series. Yvonne is former Senior Commissioning Editor at Hachette’s John Murray Press and is the Academic Director of Creative Writing at Cambridge University Institute of Continuing Education. Curdle Creek (2024 Dialogue Books, Henry Holt), a gothic horror inspired by Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, is her second novel and has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson Awards.

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In this uplifting episode of Bookable Space with Yvonne Battle-Felton, we’re joined by Deborah Rudell. Deborah reads to us from Grace and Grit: The Transformation of a Ship and a Soul and talks to us about writing, the difference a supportive writing group can make, and getting to know herself through writing.

About the author:

A college professor in San Diego, California, Deborah Rudell participates in her city’s vibrant writing community. She is a graduate of Hay House Writer’s Workshop and the Certificate in Memoir Writing program at San Diego Writers, Ink. Her work has been published in the International Memoir Writers Association’s anthology, Shaking the Tree: I Didn't See That One Coming. Deborah lives with her black cat in a tiny house built in 1906 by a retired sea captain, who carved a sailing ship into the front door. This is her first book.

About the book:

Deborah Rudell’s world unravels when the leaders of her spiritual commune are exposed, arrested, and imprisoned for bioterrorism and attempted murder. Crushed and adrift, she moves her family off the commune to create a sense of normalcy. But when her husband seeks an opportunity to dismantle and rebuild a derelict fifty-foot schooner, Deborah uproots their children once again and joins him in Kauai.

For the next five years, she dedicates her life to restoring a boat. Pouring herself into the work at hand can only distract her so much as disillusionment about the cult’s lies and manipulation slowly rises to the surface. While she grapples with emotional turmoil and contemplates a new life path, Deborah sets out to accomplish something she never thought possible: sailing across the Pacific to the Olympic Peninsula.

Will the dangers that come with navigating the ocean be too much to bear, or will she find resolution and fortitude in the turbulent adventure? Grit & Grace: The Transformation of a Ship & a Soul is one woman’s account of conquering overwhelming challenges with tenacity and ingenuity and ultimately discovering her inner strength

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