Books Read: Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson

You never forget the one that got away. But what if ‘what could have been’ is yet to come?

Daniel was the first boy to make Alison a mix tape.

But that was years ago and Ali hasn’t thought about him in a very long time. Even if she had, she might not have called him ‘the one that got away’; after all, she’d been the one to run.

Then Dan’s name pops up on her phone, with a link to a song from their shared past.

For two blissful minutes, Alison is no longer an adult in Adelaide with temperamental daughters; she is sixteen in Sheffield, dancing in her skin-tight jeans. She cannot help but respond in kind.

And so begins a new mix tape.

Ali and Dan exchange songs – some new, some old – across oceans and time zones, across a lifetime of different experiences, until one of them breaks the rules and sends a message that will change everything…

Because what if ‘what could have been’ is yet to come?

Amazon Affiliate Links: Kindle or Hardcover

Books Read: Jane Sanderson - Ravenscliffe

Yorkshire, 1904. On Netherwood Common, Russian émigré Anna Rabinovich shows her dear friend Eve Williams a house: a Victorian villa, solidly built from local stone. This is Ravenscliffe, and it's the house Anna wants them to live in. It's their house, she says. It was meant to be.

As Anna transforms Ravenscliffe, an attraction grows between her and union man Amos. But when Eve's long-lost brother Silas turns up in the closely-knit mining community of Netherwood, cracks begin to appear in even the strongest friendships.

Meanwhile, at Netherwood Hall, cherished traditions are being undermined by the whims of the feckless heir to the title, Tobias Hoyland, and his American bride Thea Stirling. Below stairs, the loyal servants strive to preserve the noble family's dignity and reputation. But both inside the great house and in the world beyond, values and loyalties are rapidly changing.

Guest Post: Jane Sanderson talks about using family history as inspiration

Today I'm pleased to be able to welcome Jane Sanderson to my blog to talk about how family history has played a small part as inspiration for her books, Netherwood and Ravenscliffe.

Something really wonderful happened when I started writing and researching my first book, Netherwood: finally, after nearly fifty years, I started paying proper attention to my family’s past. 

We’re all the same, aren’t we? We never make time to talk to our parents or grandparents about their lives – and, indeed, as self-absorbed teenagers and young adults, it never even crosses our mind that they might have interesting stories to tell. Certainly my three children, now 19, 17 and 14, never ask me anything about school, or my early years as a journalist, although from time to time I foist anecdotes on them, and they’re well brought up enough to look interested.