Break a Leg… as they say in showbiz
10th April 2017
On Saturday morning, I finally put the finishing touches to my edited manuscript of Alice in Theatreland and pressed the send button which saw it winging its way across the Atlantic to San Diego where Yvonne, the lady who formats for me, lives. My copy editor, Justine, and I have worked a little differently on this book. Usually, I wait for her to edit the whole book and send it back to me but time was pressing on this one as I had promised an April publication date, so Justine agreed to send it back in sections to enable me to make a start on it during my five-day fortnightly break from my day job at QVC. I was thrilled with her reaction to it: ‘It’s hugely enjoyable, with great characterisation and evocation of London’s theatre world in the 1970’s’.
I also promised an excerpt on this blog so let me set the scene for you. It’s 1976. The title character, Alice, is a nineteen-year-old dancer from the provinces who travels to London to audition for a new West End show. She is an experienced professional dancer, having previously worked in summer seasons and pantomimes but is rather less experienced in the ways of the world. At the audition she is befriended by Gina, who has seen and done it all, and has a second job working as a ‘hostess’ in a London nightclub, working for a boss who she fears may have mafia connections. Gina has worked for Larry, the new show’s choreographer, before but it is the producer, Richard, who has the final say on who will make his chorus line. Unknown to Alice, one of the stars of the show is Peter Flint, the former lead singer of a pop band called Moot Point who she has had a crush on since she was fourteen.
The book is contemporary women’s fiction/thriller with a hint of romance. I hope you will like Alice, Gina and Peter as much as I did when writing them but I think you may be rather less keen on Richard. Here is the first time we meet him in Chapter 2:
The sun streaming in through the lead-light windows of the dining room caused Richard to raise his newspaper higher to prevent him squinting as he read. Most of the time, he flicked through stories with little interest, but at least it meant he didn’t have to try and make polite conversation with his wife, Anita, who was sitting at the other end of the dark oak table. The jingling sound of her charm bracelet each time she reached for her cup of tea or another slice of toast was jangling his nerves. Who gets up in the morning and puts their full make-up and jewellery on before breakfast? he thought, lowering his paper slightly. Anita was staring at him.
‘What?’ he asked, barely able to keep the irritation out of his voice.
‘You’re not even aware that you do it, are you?’
‘Do what?’
‘Tut,’ she said. ‘Every time I move my hand, you tut.’
‘It’s that bloody bracelet. It’s so annoying. Do you have to wear it all the time?’
‘You know why I wear it, Richard. It makes me feel closer to Mum,’ she said, fingering the gold charms and battling to hold back the tears that were welling in her eyes, threatening to spill over and cause her perfectly applied make-up to run.
Oh great, here come the waterworks, Richard thought, lifting his paper back up so that he didn’t have to witness the salty tears, coloured black from mascara, streaking down his wife’s face.
I hope that has whet your appetite but I must warn there are some rather graphic scenes in places.
The research for this book has largely been down to memory as I was a professional dancer in the 1970’s, but the characters and story-line are pure fiction… well, mostly! Alice in Theatreland will be out on Kindle on 27th April (paperback to follow shortly) but should be available to pre-order later this week.
I’ve also decided it was about time to have another competition on this blog. The covers of the Liberty Sands trilogy of books were all done in a matt finish whereas Alice in Theatreland will be gloss. Well, I say all, but a couple of Life’s a Beach and Then… somehow got printed with a glossy cover. As they are the only two in existence, I am keeping one but the other is up for grabs and will of course be signed. To be in with a chance of winning, sign up to my newsletter (I know some of you already are) and then email the answer to this question before midnight on 17th April 2017 to info@juliarobertsauthor.com The winner will be randomly selected.
Where in the world are we at the start of Life’s a Beach and Then…?
a) Barbados
b) Hong Kong
c) Mauritius
Good luck and Happy Easter
love
Julia xx
