Author Archives: Susan Pape

Meet the author. AJ Waines asks, what if your daughter becomes your enemy?

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

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AJ (Alison) Waines is a hugely successful author, she has sold over 450,000 books worldwide and topped the UK and Australian Kindle Charts in two consecutive years with her number one bestseller, Girl on a Train.

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Following fifteen years as a psychotherapist, she is now a full-time novelist with publishing deals in the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Hungary and USA (audiobooks).

Her fourth psychological thriller, No Longer Safe, sold over 30,000 copies in the first month, in thirteen countries.

Her most recent book is Don’t You Dare, a thriller that explores the dark side of a mother-daughter relationship when pushed to the limit.
Continue reading →

Viewpoint: listen here – we’re on the wireless and it’s so much better than TV!

22 Thursday Feb 2018

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I love radio – listening to it and appearing on it. I love watching television too, but I’m not quite so keen about appearing on TV – not that I’m asked often. But radio? Yes, give me a radio appearance any day.

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I’m still feeling tense about the recent TV recording Sue and I did – more of which when the programme is screened. Until then, our lips, brightly coloured and contoured by the make-up department, are sealed.

As well as having to perform well under bright studio lights and in front of a live audience, we had to take different outfits. The idea was that the wardrobe people would pick those which would look good under studio lights. Continue reading →

Review: She had her life worked out, then an unexpected act changed everything

12 Tuesday Dec 2017

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Eleanor Oliphant taught herself how to survive – but she doesn’t know how to live. This unsettling story shows an extraordinary young woman locked in a way of life that provides the only sort of security she knows.

It’s a life of absolute routine: wearing the same clothes every day, eating the same meal deal at lunchtimes, and drinking two bottles of vodka every weekend. Continue reading →

Review: Books about children can teach adults so much about grief, love and life

27 Monday Nov 2017

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Books featuring children don’t feature highly on The Novels I Have Read list, and books featuring children coping with grief are similarly low on my To Be Read pile.

So it was a surprise to enjoy two books which both have young girls as their central character and grief as the main premise.

And if it seems odd to enjoy books about grief, let me add that although there were moments of touching sadness in both novels, there was also wisdom and humour. It seems there is much to be learned about grief, love and life – by adults as well as by children. Continue reading →

Viewpoint: Are you ready for a close-up? We will be – as soon as we’ve sorted our wardrobes.

16 Thursday Nov 2017

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I’ve a new respect for people who take part in televised events. Sitting on the sofa at home watching the box, it all looks so easy: participants chat happily, respond calmly to comments and answer questions.

But let me tell you – when you’re in the sights of a studio camera, complete with hot lights and an audience, it’s nerve-racking.

And the worst of it is deciding what to wear. Continue reading →

Viewpoint: If you have to ask, ‘Who spends that much on clothes?’ you’re a dummy! Apparently.

16 Monday Oct 2017

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Have you ever been described as ‘depressing, judgmental and ignorant’ and then been accused of being a dummy?

Well, actually, you might have. If you saw one of the glossy magazines that came with a particular Sunday newspaper yesterday, you could have looked at the so-called fashion spread where a coat costing nearly £3,000 was featured with matching £1,000 trousers (mentioned but invisible as they’d been cropped out of the photo), and asked: ‘Who spends that kind of money on clothes?’ Continue reading →

Viewpoint: What should an author do? We write the books – and now you want us to perform as well.

01 Friday Sep 2017

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How should authors interact when they are taking part in book events? Should they stay quietly at their tables, behind piles of their recently published novel?

Should they concentrate on a book they’re reading and avoid looking up?

Or should they leap forward whenever anyone comes near and start doing a major sales pitch?

It’s an interesting dilemma and something considered by freelance copy editor, Emma Mitchell, who wrote a blog on her website asking: ‘Do we expect too much of authors?’ Continue reading →