Going Rogue in Richmond

Forty-five years after my parents dropped me off at the Maria Grey Campus at the West London Institute of Higher Education, by Richmond Lock Bridge, I find that I am once again drawn to the place. For I have signed with Richmond Literary Press, a new partnership publishing company that has its home in Richmond. That’s Richmond, Surrey, not Yorkshire.

I was supposed to study languages, French and German, at university, but when I was caught bunking off PE at school, I was sent to a local special school to volunteer my services. I fell in love with the work and with a little lad who was autistic and had no verbal communication, but had the most winning smile. I changed tack and decided to go to a teacher training college to study to be a teacher of pupils with learning difficulties. So, in 1981, my parents drove up to West London with their little orange Simca full of Habitat crockery (I still have a jug from that time), my cassette player (The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and a Peter Powell exercise tape), a Monet print and a typewriter for my essays.

I remember sitting on the edge of my single bed in the halls of residence after they left, wondering how the heck I was supposed to do this. Brought up in a fundamentalist religious cult, where anything ‘secular’ (friends or activities) was frowned upon, I had no idea how to mix or make friends.

Luckily for me, a blonde head appeared around the door soon afterwards and in a broad Lancashire accent, asked if I was going ‘t’bar’. That was Jane. I’ve written about her before, and dedicated my first novel to her, writing ‘To Jane, a true friend’ as the dedication. The article below gives a flavour of what those early days in Richmond were like. I won’t repeat myself, and if you are a paid subscriber, you’ll be getting all the juicy details of my early days in my memoir pieces: Sex, Gin and Chocolate Cupcakes, so named because that was what I lived off in the first year of leaving home.

It could be said that I went rogue.

Meet Jane...a true friend

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July 16, 2023

There is so much Jane could tell you about me, things that only she knew, things that don’t need repeating. She was my best friend and I’ve dedicated my first novel, The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn, to her.

Now I’m back in Richmond, forty-five years later, going rogue for a different reason. I am now an author, having left teaching far behind and am about to publish my second novel, Molly McFlynn Goes Rogue.

If you’ve been following my writing and publishing journey for a while, you’ll have been with me through all the excitement of getting an agent, which I hoped would lead to a traditional publishing deal. That was not meant to be, and so I set my sights once again on hybrid or partnership publishing. I did not want to self-publish.

• I want my books to be handled by a distributor, to be listed in Gardeners’ full catalogue and to be easy for bookshops to get their mitts on.

• I love the support that partnership publishing gives - we’ve just been working collaboratively on the blurb for the back of the book. I feel listened to and supported, whilst still holding total control over what is said.

• I want a quality book, not one that is print-on-demand or handled solely through Amazon.

• I want a cover and design that will make my book stand out, and working with Richmond Literary Press and their cover designer, Charlotte, promises to do just that. I am so excited about the design and can’t wait to share it with you.

• I want the logo of a publishing house on the spine.

• I really appreciate all the editorial and marketing skills that Zoe of Richmond Literary Press is bringing to the table. She has contacts and knowledge that are so valuable.

• Time is of the essence - I am 64 - I don’t have time to phaff around! I’ve got more books in the pipeline, and partnership publishing helps me produce quality books in a reasonably short time frame.

  

I love a story that goes full circle - I’m thrilled to be returning to Richmond, and hope very much to go down there for a launch event. I’ll make sure to get a photo on Richmond Lock Bridge.

Molly McFlynn Goes Rogue will be published by Richmond Literary Press on 30th October 2026.

This is the second novel in the Molly McFlynn series, the first, The Rewilding of Molly McFlynn is still for sale via my website or wherever you get your books.

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There were two trees in Molly’s life - one she could no longer bear to be around and another that was calling her back.

Haunted by grief and unable to live the life she once knew, Molly is drawn to Sycamore Gap. It’s the only place that makes sense to her – where the legendary tree stood alone beside Hadrian’s Wall for generations, a symbol of strength, memory, and belonging.

On the night before the beloved tree is brutally felled in an act that shocks and devastates the nation, Molly finds herself standing beneath its branches.

And something shifts.

Pulled into a world far older and wilder than her own, Molly is swept back to ancient Britain, into a world of Iron Age tribes, druids, and old magic, at the time when Hadrian’s Wall is being constructed.

As the line between past and present blurs, Molly rediscovers her spark and creativity and uncovers a fierce power buried deep within herself - one fuelled by grief, rebellion, and hope.

Thanks for being here this week!