The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumpkin Allan
Suzie Twine
Author Bio
Born in Scotland, the youngest of four, I spent the majority of my childhood living in Buckinghamshire. Following secondary education at Slough High School, I trained as a nurse in Oxford, later specialising in the care of older people. I have always thrived on meeting interesting and unusual individuals, and have gained a wealthy mental portfolio of remarkable characters, particularly as a community nurse, who have helped to underpin my imaginative writing.
I now live in The Chilterns with my husband, three fast maturing children, two dogs, a cat, a horse and occasionally eight or so black Labrador puppies.
The Unorthodox Arrival of Pumpkin Allan is my first novel, with a sequel on the way. My enjoyment of the countryside, together with my interest in human idiosyncrasies and love of humour, has enabled me to paint a colourful picture of life in a rather special, rural English hamlet.
Description
An uplifting and moving story of an urbanite couple’s move to an unexpectedly quirky country hamlet.
Tom falls off his mountain bike three days before buying their cottage, leaving a pregnant Lois and her close friend to collect the keys. The horrors that greet them have Lois sick with worry that she should never have persuaded Tom to leave London. But as they settle into their new community, Lois uncovers a wonderfully eclectic mix of friends, enemies, crooks and eccentrics whose strength of character astound her.
Lois and Tom’s rapid series of major life events culminates in high drama, with their wedding and the birth of the baby in very quick succession and a melodramatic twist, as uninvited guests arrive at the home delivery.
Book excerpt
Box-file labeled ‘Honeysuckle’ clutched tight to her chest, Lois made her way from the flat, along numerous Islington side streets, to track down her car. She contemplated the checklist she had imprinted in her head repeatedly as she walked. Money transfers completed, check. Signed documents with solicitor, check. Cash from parents, with solicitor, check. Mortgage in place, check. ‘Yes,’ she thought, ‘everything should run smoothly today.’
Tom had been anxious about her dealing with all the financial details, but now she was about to prove that, despite having a naturally ‘carefree’ approach to life, she could be organised if the need arose. And, everything had gone incredibly well. Apart from thirty thousand pounds disappearing into cyberspace for several hours during that ‘immediate transfer’, which had certainly sped up her metabolic rate. Oh, and the little hiccough with the money from her father, which had much the same affect.
The solicitor would ring shortly to say that exchange and completion had taken place. Lois and her best friend Mel would go and pick up the keys from the estate agent and she’d take Mel to see her and Tom’s wonderful cottage, nestling in the Chiltern Hills.
Lois climbed into her MG convertible, slinging her large handbag behind the passenger seat. She drove, stop-start, from Islington to Mel’s flat in Finsbury Park and continued to dream of the exciting day that lay ahead. Once she had shown Mel around Honeysuckle Cottage, she would make some tea. They would sit out in the stunning back garden, breath in the fresh air, admire the flowers and listen to the birds singing and the bees humming. Heaven! Then, perhaps she would go and introduce herself to some of the neighbours. Lois felt excited flutters of adrenalin flow through her. She couldn’t believe she and Tom were actually going to own a home of their own, and the cottage could not have been more perfect.
Lois had booked herself and Mel in for bed and breakfast at Harewood Manor, a gorgeous hotel, which lay only a few hundred yards from the cottage. She’d arranged for some local builder-decorators to come the following day and quote for giving the inside of the house a face lift. Yes, it had to be said, her organisation on this occasion had been practically faultless.
Mel seemed almost as excited as Lois at the prospect of the next two days, ‘in the country’. Being emphatically the more fashionable and well turned-out of the two, Mel exited her flat with a small suitcase for the overnight stay. She looked stunning as always. Her long, wavy, auburn hair, shining as if she’d just been being filmed for a L’Oreal advert. Designer dressed from head to toe. The white jeans and healed sandals accentuating her long skinny legs and making Lois feel more short and dumpy than ever.
Author Website
http://suzietwine1.wix.com/suzietwine