Oops.
Eight months is a mighty long time for you, lovely reader, to wait for an update… I assure you I have spent the time very wisely – finishing my new novel RUMOURS which is going to print as we speak and will be on the shelves and available as a download on 21st JUNE 2012. I have to say, as much as I really didn’t enjoy writing Chances, I had an absolute blast with Rumours – and I hope very very much that you’ll love the story and the characters. I’m looking forward to hearing what you make of the lead characters Stella and Xander (he’s yummy) and Lady Lydia Fortescue – who, along with Django, is one of my faves. You’ll also have the opportunity to hang out in Long Dansbury, the fictitious Hertfordshire village in which this novel is set.
Also in June, I’m so excited to tell you that we are reissuing my backlist – my first 6 books. Sally, Chloe, Polly, Cat, Fen and Pip. Each has a gorgeous new cover design AND a new ‘afterword’ by me full of anecdotes and my memories of writing those early books. They’ll also be available for the very first time as downloads (still not entirely sure what one of those is… remember – I’d write my novels by quill on parchment if they’d let me!)
Elsewhere in my life, I have planted more trees, resuscitated an old natural pond, spread 5 tons of mulch hither and thither, made 6 kilos of jam and tried to be a good Ma to Felix, Georgia, Twig (woof) and Nathan (neigh). In Feb, I treated myself to the trip of a lifetime to Orlando – and dragged the kids along too. Here’s me, with one of my heroes. Cowboys have always been my weakness…
I will shortly update the other areas of the website – in the meantime, do join in the fun on my facebook ‘page’ – I tend to post there most days. For now, let me leave you with this funny aside: you know the shout lines on the front covers of my books? Secrets - would you share yours? Chances - would you take one? Well, unfortunately my publishers vetoed my idea for Rumours.
I wanted to have Rumours - would you spread yours?
Geddit?!
Though this was my 4th novel, it was this book that really drummed home to me that I WAS AN AUTHOR. I had long been a fan of the Tour de France – from the comfort of my sofa…and now, my writing credentials enabled me to bag an access-all-areas pass. Bizarrely, life imitated art rather than vice versa – and I followed in Cat’s footsteps, spending my time on the Tour masquerading as a journalist, writing for the Times, for radio and for cycling magazines. The first Tour I went on was 1998 – which was the one with all the huge drug scandals. It was won by the inimitable Marco Pantani – who later died from a drugs overdose. The next Tour was won by Lance Armstrong. Many of the real riders, all of whom were very kind and welcoming, traded anecdotes or rides in their team cars for a cameo appearance in the book!
Read the first chapter of Cat
Read a brief synopsis of Cat
See what happened next to Cat
When I was trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to do a PhD, I went traveling in the USA one summer. I fell in love with Vermont – its landscape, its people, their way of life. I finished writing Chloe in summer 1996, Sally was due to be published that November – which gave me ample time to return to New England and to the love people I’d met 6 years previously. But I wasn’t returning as a tourist – I had my writer’s cap on this time. With the American links in this novel, it was fitting to have the launch party at Joe Allen in London. Burgers and fries all round. But by then, with the third book done, dusted and riding high in the charts, my thoughts turned from America to Europe – specifically France, the setting for my fourth novel, Cat.
See what happened next to Polly
Read a brief synopsis of Polly
Oops. Sorry to keep you waiting… The rest of the year galloped by and I’ve only just caught my breath. I assure you I wasn’t so much neglecting my website…as simply prioritizing my 10th novel, which I finally finished in late August. Now that my website-wizard (James Beechinor Collins Esq.) has taught me how to do my own updates, my intention is to do precisely that! I hope you’ve been enjoying the new-look website and my blog but I intend to keep the Journal section going too because it gives me the opportunity to blether on at length. JBC is very strict about keeping blogs pithy and short – but I’m having the final say on Journal length! So…here am I, in cold-snap January, thinking back on the last twelve months. Over the months, the Romantic Novel of the Year Award followed me like a dancing butterfly – with so many people continuing to congratulate me, even now! Each time someone says ‘well done’, I re-live the thrill all over again!
The Spring and Summer I devoted to Secrets. Do you like the title? I know it doesn’t have my usual quirkiness, but I think it’ll be a hard-working title. And it does what it says on the packet…because both hero (Joe the bridge-builder) and heroine (Tess the runaway) have more than a few secrets between them and the book charts their journey on whether to conceal…or reveal…! I hasten to add, it all ends happily ever after. Would you ever speak to me again if it didn’t?
(more…)
[1991] – Freya gave up a PhD scholarship to write her first novel, Sally. For 4 years she turned deaf ears to parents and pals who pleaded with her to “get a proper job”. She went on the dole and did a succession of freelance and temping jobs to support “writing days” every now and then. During this time, she was rejected by many publishers and agents whose comments ranged from “you can’t start a book like that” (referring to Sally’s rather raunchy opening scene) to “I like your idea but can’t stand your style”. Undeterred, she started Chloë as soon as she finished Sally. In 1996 she approached one of the UK’s top literary agents, Jonathan Lloyd at Curtis Brown Ltd. Throwing caution to the wind, Freya sent him 3 chapters and a page of completely fabricated reviews, which she wrote on behalf of the Sunday Times, Jilly Cooper and Germaine Greer. Lloyd took her on and put her work up for auction.
[1996] – 5 publishers enter a bidding war for Freya’s books. A three-book deal for a six figure sum is the result. Sally is published to great acclaim and Freya is heralded a fresh voice in fiction.
[1997] - Chloë doubles Sally‘s release figures and is a Sunday Times bestseller.
[1998] - Polly spends 14 weeks in the original Fiction Top 10. The film rights are sold and the paperback goes straight onto the Sunday Times Top 10 at no.5.
[1999] – Freya’s 4th novel Cat is published in November. Set around the Tour de France, Freya’s research took her deep down to the secrets behind the Lycra.
Freya’s books are translated into five languages. In Holland, she is called the Literary Spice Girl and her books are hailed “better than viagra”. Her fan base is wide, ranging from teenage girls to elderly gentlemen worldwide.
[2000] - in June, Cat is released in mass market paperback. Fen is being written. Pip is being researched. Freya is involved with the Daphne Du Maurier Festival and the Edinburgh International Literary Festival as well as many other book festivals from Bodmin to Bracknell.
[2001] – Freya’s 5th novel, Fen, is published in October. Her son, Felix, was born on Easter Sunday, 15th April 2001.
[2002] - Freya spends the summer writing Pip. Fen is published in paperback in late September and goes straight into the charts, peaking at no.4. Freya is now safely into her second pregnancy with the baby due in early February. Pip is completed late November and Freya and her family move house a couple of weeks later.
[2003] - Georgia Jeannette born on 4th February 2003 at 10.45 pm, weighing 7 lbs 14 0z. Pip is published in August. Freya starts her 7th novel, Love Rules, featuring the adventures of two best friends – new characters, plus the reappearance of Sally.
[2004] – Pip is published to great success in paperback. Freya completes Love Rules and follows her editor to HarperCollins. Freya is now hard at work on no8 – which reunites Cat, Fen and Pip McCabe.
[2005] - Love Rules is published around Valentine’s Day and then in paperback later in the year. The novel is a Top10 bestseller, breaking all Freya’s previous sales records. Home Truths, Freya’s 8th novel is written and the author’s thoughts turn to her 9th…
[2006] – Home Truths is published in March and stays in the Original Fiction Top10 for over 3 months. The book becomes a paperback bestseller in the autumn, making the national Top 10 and riding high over the Christmas period. Pillow Talk, Freya’s 9th novel is written and the author’s thoughts turn to her 10th…
[2007] – Pillow Talk is published in August to great acclaim, going straight into the Original Fiction Top Ten. The tenth novel is underway – and waiting for a title.
[2008] – on 4th February, Pillow Talk is published in paperback and wins the Romantic Novel of the Year Award. Georgia turns 5 years old on the same day. It’s a career highlight for Freya, with lots of TV and press to do but soon enough she’s back in the library, completing the 10th novel, Secrets.
[2009] – Secrets will be published as an exclusive airport edition in February, and in paperback in May. Freya thought she needed a rest…but now she’s planning her 11th novel – and a couple of top secret projects too… watch this space!
[2009] – Secrets was published and spent over four months in the bestseller lists with sales figures doubling those of Pillow Talk. Freya toured the North East doing signings and talks and continued her role as Ambassador to the region.
[2010] – What a year. The US rights for Pillow Talk and Secrets were sold to Source Books, with Pillow Talk due for stateside publication in July 2011. Freya and her children moved from London to the Hertfordshire countryside. Cancer challenged Freya’s mum to fight for her life – and she won. Freya wrote her 11th novel, Chances.
[2011] – Chances is published on 31st March, peaks at number 4 in the UK Bestsellers and continues to sell strongly throughout the summer reading season. Freya is now hard at work on her 12th novel, Rumours.
Catriona McCabe, 28, only ever known as Cat, is trying to improve her career as a sports journalist and move on from a failed relationship. What better way to do both than follow the Tour de France one Summer?
From Provence to Paris, up the Pyrenees and over the Alps, Cat and an entourage of podium girls, anxious wives, autocratic team directors and seasoned hacks pursue the ruthless riders. With sex, drugs, lashings of lycra, glistening thighs,large bulges and larger egos, the soap opera that is the Tour de France unfolds with Cat’s life frequently mirroring the peaks, perils and pace of the race.
“Freya North is on a roll…stamped with foxy, feelgood flair” – She Magazine
“A funny romantic romp” – Cosmopolitan
Read more about what happened to Cat
Follow Me!