My second novel, The Insistent Garden, will be published by NeWest Press on 1st September 2013.
The book launch will be held at 7pm on Thursday 12th September at McNally Robinson. Everyone is welcome.
Edith Stoker’s father is building a wall in their backyard. A very, very high wall—a brick bulwark in his obsessive war against their hated neighbour Edward Black. It is 1969, and far away, preparations are being made for man to walk upon the moon. Meanwhile, in the Stokers’ shabby home in the East Midlands, Edith remains a virtual prisoner, with occasional visits from her grotesque and demanding Aunt Vivian serving as the only break in the routine. But when shy, sheltered Edith begins to quietly cultivate a garden in the shadow of her father’s wall, she sets in motion events that might gain her independence… and bring her face to face with the mysterious Edward Black.
Two extraordinary English gardens provided inspiration for the book:
Rousham is an eighteenth century landscape garden in Oxfordshire, and Snowshill Manor, an Arts and Crafts garden in Gloucestershire , designed early in the twentienth century.
Rosie Chard 
Fantastic inspiration for the novel. Can’t wait to read it.