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A slightly different post this time. Instead of the usual few paragraphs about the books I read, this post is about an author talk I attended this week.
The last book I read was Adele Parks' 'Just my Luck', and I'm afraid I thought it wasn't really my type of book and I took it back to the library thinking I wouldn't bother with any more from the author. Anyway, that was a few days ago, and now I've listened to Adele talk about her writing career, I'm beginning to wonder if I haven't been unduly critical, and maybe I should give her another chance.
I turned up to the talk with an open mind because you have to admire anyone who can shift 4.5 million copies across 31 languages, and today's fiction market is a very crowded place. Adele has written a book a year for the last twenty years, and always has one in progress, one in editing and one to be promoted. At the time of writing, she was just days away from the publication of her latest book, Just Between Us which will be a follow on from One Last Secret, although you can read either of them independently.
Adele's husband, Jim Pride, also took part in her author talk and he was in the rather strange position of having to interview his own wife, although he did explain that this allowed the evening to have some structure and ensured they covered the points they wanted to make.
Adele is from Teesside and told us she had wanted to become an author since she was a little girl voraciously reading picture books in her local library. As she went through school she was always good at English but also did well in other subjects so her father had hoped she would take a job in a scientific field. She eventually got her wish to study Englaish Literature and after graduation she secured herself a very good job in advertising. Despite the obvious attractions of a company car and an expense account, deep down she still wanted to be a writer so she started writing her first book in her spare time. Her job entailed many nights alone in hotel rooms and this was a perfect opportunity to get down to some writing without fear of interruption. It wasn't long before she had her first manuscript and she set about finding an agent by looking through the Writers and Artists Year Book.
Her first book appealed to young women who enjoyed Bridget Jones and having found her genre Adele Parks stuck with Chick Lit for the next few books and the publisher couldn't get enough of them. She does so well these days that her editor doesn't even need to approve her subject matter and she is trusted to know her reader and produce something that will become a best seller.
Over the years, Adele has moved on from Chick Lit, and has two historical novels in her collection, but for the most part she is now writing psychological thrillers. The historical novels are set within the twentieth century with one around the time of the First World War and the other in the 1920s. I would be interested to read one of the historical novels as she has chosen themes that will be of interest to women of all ages and they are close enough in time to remain relatable.
Adele clearly had many fans in the room and after she finished talking there was a great throng of people around her table waiting to buy some of her books and have them signed by the author. As we set off home my friend and I both agreed that we need to try another book, so that's what we are going to do.
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