Well, that’s it for this year, folks; the Book Room is officially closed and the authors will be arriving this morning to sign their sales sheets and remove their (hopefully much depleted) piles of books. But just because we aren’t selling any more, doesn’t mean you can’t carry on buying. That’s what Amazon and book shops are for! So, I’ve got one more author to introduce to you. She’s been represented in the Book Room, and when I offered her the final slot of the week, she was happy to take it. So please say hello to Maggie Cobbett.
“As the tail end Charlie on Elizabeth’s blog this year, I’d like to express my gratitude to that lady herself for including me and to thank all the Swanwickers who’ve bought (or still plan to buy) any of my books. I’d be very grateful for any reviews you see fit to post.
A compulsive scribbler, I live on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales in the little cathedral city of Ripon. When not at my desk, usually supervised by my 17-year old ex-feral cat Tabitha, I can often be found alone on my favourite bench in the grounds of nearby Fountains Abbey. However, I also value very highly time spent with fellow writers and belong to Ripon Writers’ Group, York Writers and the newly formed Harrogate chapter of Promoting Yorkshire Authors. As another form of mental stimulation (and extra income source), I travel to Leeds every now and again to work as an ‘extra’ on Emmerdale.
From my first week at Swanwick, I nursed the ambition to see my work in the Book Room. The omnibus edition of my three short story collections appeared in 2014, to be followed in subsequent years by a self help book on writing ‘fillers’. Then came a novel spread over three time periods in a French village and a children’s/YA novella about a young wheelchair user on a school visit to Paris.
New this year is a novel set at the dawn of the 20th century. David Dawson, the eponymous workhouse orphan, is sent up from London to toil in a Yorkshire coal mine and must find a way to rescue the younger siblings he has been forced to leave behind. Inspired by what I was told as a child about a brave young man way back in my family tree, this book is particularly dear to me.
All my books are available from Amazon as downloads and, with the exception of the three separate short story collections, as paperbacks. Please see my website www.maggiecobbett.co.uk for further details.”
