THE HORROR

I rediscovered this today. Written and vanity-published by an elderly ex-neighbour from before I moved here, she sent me a copy of her first novel (this is from the blurb on the back cover) telling me that she was relying on me to give an honest opinion. Yikes! Fortunately she was happy for me to say that it was a rip-roaring, fast-moving plot with lots of twists and a real page-turner (but for many of the wrong reasons... I didn't tell her that bit ... for example the dastardly French pirate chief had been elected to that post because he was the one who knew where in port to buy the best pies for his crew). Also fortunately, she had thoroughly enjoyed writing it, which is the most important thing, and later treated herself to a correspondence course in creative writing where she told me she learned to see all the things that she could improve about it. She carried on writing for her own enjoyment until she lost her sight, and then passed away a couple of years ago.