Today I’m delighted to feature multi-talented Louise Walters.  Louise is a reader, writer, editor, and publisher. She runs her own indie press Louise Walters Books. She lives in north Oxfordshire with her family.

 

 

Which 5 pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?

 

Dancing Queen by ABBA because it’s so uplifting and is very much the soundtrack to my 1970s childhood.

 This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush because I am a huge fan of Kate’s; she is my biggest inspiration. This song is so beautiful and moving. My aunt introduced me to Kate’s music in the mid-80s and I’ve been a fan ever since.

 A Little Green by Joni Mitchell. The same aunt introduced me to Joni at the same time and  I am still hooked! The first album I listened to was Blue and this is my fave song from that album.

 Anarchy in the UK by the Sex Pistols. I love punk, and I used to be one (or so I imagined)! This song has a great sound and rhythm. I never tire of it. It was hard to pick just one punk song but this is as good as any.

 What a Little Moonlight Can Do by Billie Holliday. I listened to a lot of her music while writing my first novel Mrs Sinclair’s Suitcase. This is my very favourite of her songs. It’s happy, light, sunny; not like her later, darker recordings.

 

 What 5 things (apart from family and friends) you’d find it hard to live without.

 

Books

Wine

Coffee

Crisps

Sweets

In precisely that order!

 

Can you offer 5 pieces of advice you’d give to your younger self?

 

This is quite difficult. I’ve been going to counselling sessions for some time and have done some inner child work. I had a “conversation” with my child self and said quite a few things:

 

You’re OK as you are

It’s all going to be all right

Believe in yourself

You can do anything

You are capable and clever

 

Tell us 5 things that most people don’t know about you.

 

Well some of those things must remain unknown (!) but I can say:

 I like Christmas less with each passing year.

I am a Michael Buble fan. He is GREAT.

My favourite word in the English language is unrepeatable in polite company.

When I write I am at my most complete as a human being.

I like myself more now – aged 52, getting wobbly, going grey, wrinkles appearing – more than I’ve ever done before. (Age can finally bring confidence)

 

  Tell us 5 things you’d like to do or achieve.

 

I want to write again… novel number 4 is at 25k words and has been for ages.

I want to keep publishing amazing authors.

I’d love to see one of my authors win a major literary prize.

I want to visit New York.

I’d love to be able to sing (I totally can’t).

 

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Many thanks for joining us today Louise, I for one really appreciate your openness and honesty. It’s good to see another vote for Dancing Queen, I think that’s definitely topping the Five on Friday music charts, and I doubt few would argue for living without with books either. I hope your advice to your younger self is proving positive, such a pity we have to grow up before we can understand what we really needed to hear and/or understand. Glad to know that writing makes you feel complete, with that in mind I’m sure we’d all like to push you along with novel number 4. All good luck going forward with your author’s and hopefully you can tick off another on the achievements list.  

 

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Mrs Sinclair’s Suitcase

Forgive me, Dorothea, for I cannot forgive you. What you do, to this child, to this child’s mother, it is wrong…

Roberta likes to collect the letters and postcards she finds in second-hand books. When her father gives her some of her grandmother’s belongings, she finds a baffling letter from the grandfather she never knew – dated after he supposedly died in the war.

Dorothy is unhappily married to Albert, who is away at war. When an aeroplane crashes in the field behind her house she meets Squadron Leader Jan Pietrykowski, and as their bond deepens she dares to hope she might find happiness. But fate has other plans for them both, and soon she is hiding a secret so momentous that its shockwaves will touch her granddaughter many years later…

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A Life Between Us

Tina Thornton’s twin sister Meg died in a childhood accident, but for almost forty years Tina has secretly blamed herself for her sister’s death. During a visit to her aging Uncle Edward and his sister Lucia, who both harbour dark secrets of their own, Tina makes a discovery that forces her to finally question her memories of the day her sister died.

As Tina finds the courage to face the past, she unravels the tangled family mysteries of her estranged parents, her beautiful French Aunt Simone, the fading, compassionate Uncle Edward, and above all, the cold, bitter Aunt Lucia, whose spectral presence casts a long shadow over them all.

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The Road to California

Proud single parent Joanna is accustomed to school phoning to tell her that her fourteen year old son Ryan is in trouble. But when Ryan hits a girl and is excluded from school, Joanna knows she must take drastic action to help him.

Ryan’s dad Lex left home when Ryan was two years old. Ryan doesn’t remember him – but more than anything he wants a dad in his life. Isolated, a loner, and angry, Ryan finds solace in books and wildlife.

Joanna, against all her instincts, invites Lex to return and help their son. But Lex is a drifter who runs from commitment, and both Joanna and Ryan find their mutual trust and love is put to the test when Lex returns, and vows to be part of the family again.

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Discover Louise’s imprint Louise Walters Books which she describes as tiny, indie, and receptive to books bigger publishers may not be able to consider. Louise aims to publish only the very best in adult literary and literary/commercial fiction, across all genres. Currently she is publishing up to four titles per year, currently one per season.

If you are a lover of small indie publishers you might be interested in becoming a supporter. A regular income is essential for small start-ups like LWB. It provides Louise with funding for print runs, for paying her freelance team to produce her beautiful books (copy edit, interior design and cover design) and to promote her titles. It also provides for postage, which takes up a surprisingly large chunk of the budget!

​For £36  (£50 outside the UK) for a 12-month Supporters’ subscription you will:

– receive an early, signed copy of each of our four annual titles (one book per season).

Subscriptions taken out now will include:

The Naseby Horses by Dominic Brownlow (paperback) August 2020, but sent immediately as I have very early copies

In the Sweep of the Bay by Cath Barton (paperback) November 2020, early copies to be sent out in May

The Dig Street Festival by Chris Walsh (paperback) March 2021, early copies will be sent around December

Old Bones by Helen Kitson (paperback) June 2021, early copies will be sent around February

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