Today it’s my pleasure to introduce you to popular author, Sandra Danby. Sandra now writes fiction full-time. Her short stories and flash fiction have been published online and in anthologies. Sandra is now writing ‘Sweet Joy’, third in the ‘Identity Detective’ series, set in London during The Blitz. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association ‘New Writers Scheme’.

Meet Sandra

I’m originally from East Yorkshire and, though I’ve lived in and around London for a long time now, my heart belongs to my seaside home. In fact I feel the call to return becoming stronger and stronger as I grow older. My family still lives in the same place and my oldest friend too, so I visit often. The black-and-white photograph is from a booth at Butlins Filey, taken on a Sunday School outing when I was ten. This was a big deal as our usual outings were to educational places such as Castle Howard. I’d been longing to go to Butlins as I’d heard about the dodgems. Note, this photo was taken in August but I’m wearing an Aran sweater, knitted for me by my mum.

Being a Northerner is deeply ingrained. I drink [very] strong tea, gallons of it every day. When it gets colder, I put on a jumper. The central heating is never turned above 18°C by me, but when I’m out my husband zaps it up to 23°C which feels tropical to me! And I make great meals from leftovers. Given all of this, it was no surprise to my family that Yorkshire features so strongly in my second book, Connectedness.

And so does my second spiritual home… Spain. For the last ten years, we’ve lived part of the time in Southern Spain near Málaga. Once I’d decided that the heroine of Connectedness should be an artist it seemed logical to make her a Yorkshire woman. And as Pablo Picasso was born in Málaga, it was quick hop and a step to take Justine to art college there.

About ‘Connectedness’

TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD, ARTIST JUSTINE TREE HAS IT ALL… BUT SHE ALWAYS HAS A SECRET THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY EVERYTHING

Justine’s art sells around the world, but does anyone truly know her? When her mother dies, she returns to her childhood home in Yorkshire where she decides to confront her past. She asks journalist Rose Haldane to find the baby she gave away when she was an art student, but only when Rose starts to ask difficult questions does Justine truly understand what she must face.

Is Justine strong enough to admit the secrets and lies of her past? To speak aloud the deeds she has hidden for 27 years, the real inspiration for her work that sells for millions of pounds. Could the truth trash her artistic reputation? Does Justine care more about her daughter, or her art? And what will she do if her daughter hates her?

This tale of art, adoption, romance and loss moves between now and the Eighties, from London’s art world to the bleak isolated cliffs of East Yorkshire and the hot orange blossom streets of Málaga, Spain.

A family mystery for fans of Maggie O’Farrell, Lucinda Riley, Tracy Rees and Rachel Hore.

About the ‘Identity Detective’ series

Rose Haldane reunites the people lost through adoption. The stories you don’t see on television shows. The difficult cases. The people who cannot be found, who are thought lost forever. Each book in the ‘Identity Detective’ series considers the viewpoint of one person trapped in this horrible dilemma. In the first book of the series, Ignoring Gravity, it is Rose’s experience we follow as an adult discovering she was adopted as a baby. Connectednessis the story of a birth mother and her longing to see her baby again. Sweet Joy, the third novel, will tell the story of a baby abandoned during The Blitz.

Unlike Rose Haldane, Sandra is not adopted.

Links

‘Connectedness’ at Amazon https://amzn.to/2q6qy5Z

‘Ignoring Gravity’ at Amazon http://amzn.to/1oCrxHd

Author website http://www.sandradanby.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/SandraDanby

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/sandradanbyauthor

Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/sandradan1/