Today's the day to reveal the beautiful cover for my new short story collection, Scratched Enamel Heart. As it depicts a Russian Easter egg, this seemed the perfect weekend to share it for the first time. The cover designer is the talented Triona Walsh. I shared the idea and colour sheme I had in mind with Triona, and she captured it perfectly.
It's a difficult time to launch a book, and it's a difficult time to write a book too! I'm still working - though after my Easter break I'll be working from home rather than the office - so I haven't any more time than normal for writing. Like many people, I'm struggling to concentrate at the moment, so I'm just writing a daily diary, which I share with friends by email once a week.
I had a few readings set up, both to promote my poetry collection, The Collective Nouns for Birds, and one to launch SEH in June. Of course these have all been cancelled now, so I'm hoping to make up for it with new dates in the autumn.
I'm also planning an online launch party on Facebook - 4PM-8PM on 27th May. There'll be readings and chat and virtual champagne, and I'd love it if you'd pop in and say hello! If you'd like an invite and you're not on my Facebook friend list, then now's the time to send me a friend request!
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Scratched Enamel Heart contains the Costa prize-winning story, 'Red', and will be released by Retreat West Books on 27th May, for Kindle and in paperback. The Kindle edition is already available to pre-order here.
THE BLURB:
The resilience and frailty of the human heart lie at the core of this second short story collection from award-winning author, Amanda Huggins.
A lonely woman spends a perfect night with a stranger, yet is their connection enough to make her realise life is worth living? Maya, a refugee, wears a bracelet strung with charms that are a lifeline to her past; when the past catches up with her, she has a difficult decision to make. Rowe’s life on the Yorkshire coast is already mapped out for him, but when there is an accident at the steelworks he knows he has to flee from an intolerable future. In the Costa prize-winning ‘Red’, Mollie is desperate to leave Oakridge Farm and her abusive stepfather, to walk free with the stray dog she has named Hal.
These are stories filled with yearning and hope, the search for connection and the longing to escape. They transport the reader from India to Japan, from mid-west America to the north-east coast of England, from New York to London. Battered, bruised, jaded or jilted, the human heart somehow endures.
'A remarkable writer.' Cath Holland
'With just a few killer sentences she hooks you into a new world' Ali Thurm
'Huggins’ prose is both beautiful and heart breaking' Tracy Fells
'Huggins
is a highly accomplished writer who uses language both beautiful and at
the same time sparing, there are no indulgent passages of prose to
detract from the main message. Every word is weighed before inclusion. A
delight.' Sandra Danby
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