Back from the Book Launch

I have just about recovered from a hectic weekend!   We had a family reunion in York with two of

my sisters and a brother-in-law.   The rain was lashing down when we set off but luckily had dried up by the time we were in the queue  for lunch in Bettys. 

From there it was off to Haworth where the book launch for the Babe Magnet’s  book  of short stories   Uncle Albert   was to be held in The Black Bull. 

Haworth of course is  the Yorkshire village where the Bronte sisters, Emily, Charlotte and Anne all  lived and wrote in the Parsonage there, producing  classic novels like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and  The Tennant of Wildfell Hall.  And the Black Bull is  the inn where their brother Branwell spent   many hours of his life drinking in the bar.  There is even an old chair reputed to be the chair Branwell sat in regularly during his long drinking sessions.  We had to pass this chair every time we went  upstairs to our room.  That room looked out over the back of the pub and the graveyard by Haworth Church where so many past inhabitants of the village are buried.  Charlotte Branwell and Emily are buried in the crypt below the church.

The Black Bull is reputed to be haunted  by several ghosts – one of which is supposed to be Branwell

Bronte himself -  but in spite of that we slept very well!   It was only in the morning when the Babe Magnet said he had heard an animal –possibly a fox? – crying  in the night. Er, yes, well – one of the ghosts is reputed to be a child crying in the middle of the night.  Fox or child?  . . .   We didn’t investigate further.

Saturday was a cold rainy day but we still enjoyed exploring and revisiting some of our favourite places in Haworth  before we got ready for the evening and the official book launch.  There were glasses of prosecco, great snack food (the Black Bull does great food)  live music – and of course Uncle Albert! There were even Uncle Albert  beer mats all over the bar tables.  I’m not sure that many of the regulars in the bar quite knew what was going on but they  enjoyed the readings and several of them came up afterwards wanting to buy copies of the book for their Dads on Father’s Day.

The publishers also announced their search for new short story writers – check out their web site www.priory-press.co.uk  for details.

By the end of a long  evening we were too tired to care whether any sounds in the night were animal or spectral.  Sunday morning was lovely and warm and we all – the Babe Magnet’s brother, the 

publishers (Priory Press Isle of Man)  and us  enjoyed breakfast on the balcony as the sun warmed up.

So  that’s the official launch – next thing is a trip to the Isle of Man where  ‘Albert’ is appearing at the Douglas library,  talking on Manx Radio – and appearing at  the Mananan International Festival in the Erin Arts Centre Port Erin.  I shall be there in my role as PA  and ‘author’s wife’. It’s 15+ years since I last visited the Isle of Man so I’m looking forward to seeing how it’s changed and visiting places  I last saw in   1987 – when I only had 6 books published!  The island isn’t the only thing that has changed a lot!