Shadows of Time by Jackie Meekums-Hales - Book Tour - Guest Post - Giveaway - Enter Daily!

Hi, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Jackie Meekums-Hales and her new book, “Shadows of Time,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  Also, come back daily to interact with Jackie and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Shadows of Time

by Jackie Meekums-Hales

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Women's Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

Maggie’s daughter, Cathy, is a successful business woman in Australia. After the failure of a relationship and her mother’s death, she returns to England for the funeral, hoping to rekindle her childhood sense of carefree life in the Yorkshire countryside. She is confronted by revelations about Maggie’s tragic past, which has a legacy of loss overshadowing her family’s  present and future. As Cathy and her sister June unravel the truth, her mother’s story unfolds in a flashback to 1945. Life for the young Maggie before they were born reflects the world of mid-century attitudes towards women who dared to have a baby out of wedlock. The illusion of the Maggie her daughters knew is dispelled.

Meanwhile, two young women explore family history, and fate takes a hand. Three families are linked through coincidences and circumstances they did not know they shared. Cathy must decide how far, and for what reasons, she allows herself to live in the shadows of the past.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT ONE:

The wind was roaring down the side of the house and through the chimney, and the daffodils were bending their heads in submission. It might be nearly spring, but that news did not seem to have reached the village yet. The smell of burning wood always brought back memories of bonfires at the bottom of the garden. Cathy's thoughts lingered on bonfire nights at the farm next door, when the children had ridden down to the middle field on bales of hay on a trailer pulled by an old tractor. How simple everything seemed then.

Cathy sensed that June’s tense shoulders meant she was steeling herself for something unpleasant. Cathy was busy trying to work out how to ask her what was wrong, when suddenly, staring into the flames, June announced, “We may have to sell the house, you know.”

Cathy heard the words but didn’t believe she had. “What?”

“We may have to sell the house. The solicitor phoned today about the reading of Mum's will. The house may not be ours, Cathy. We may have to move.”

“WHAT?”

“Stop saying what! It seems that someone has appeared out of nowhere since Mum died. Something about someone else being entitled to something. I don't know the details. I’ve been dreading telling you, and I didn’t want to say anything in front of the twins.”

“How on earth could that be? I don’t believe it! There can’t be anyone else, can there? There must be a mistake!” She felt the cosy, comfy world she had come back to claim crumbling to ashes and dust.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

My Book Cover, and How it Came About

I am delighted with the cover of “Shadows of Time”, because the artist has pulled together the ideas I had for what to put on it and come up with an interpretation that goes beyond that, with an understanding of characterization in the novel.

Jackie and her husband in Cornwall, above the rocks

PC: Jackie Meekums-Hales

When I was asked what I’d like on the cover, I sent in a photo of The Bedruthan Steps, a coastal view in Cornwall. Standing at the top of the cliffs, looking down, I’d been struck by the power of the waves crashing against the rocks, and yet their permanence. I knew I was looking at what my father had looked at, many years ago, so the view transcended time.

Jackie’s dad in his RAF uniform in Cornwall during the war

PC: Jackie Meekums-Hales

So why Cornwall? It had crept into my novel after a pilgrimage to where my dad was stationed during the Second World War, when he was in the RAF. I’d visited the remnants of the base, the church where he would have sung the hymns that had become so familiar every Remembrance Day of my childhood. I’d researched what happened at the base, because we had all teased Dad about being on holiday in Cornwall, and I knew that wasn’t the truth. In the novel, Bob’s late wife came from Cornwall, and he and his daughter, Vicky, pay a visit to the house where she grew up. Vicky stands in the very spot where I’d stood, struck by the passage of time and its effects on her own father, but the character standing there on the cover isn’t Vicky…

My original vision was of someone with the wind in her hair, informally dressed, but this is where the artist’s impression captures something enigmatic that I didn’t envisage, because I didn’t specify that appearance. With a hat on her head and wearing gloves, the character the artist has drawn says to me that it’s a 1950s version of Maggie, but it could just as easily be the well-groomed Cathy, her daughter, who has to come to terms with the enduring past. The pose is of someone retaining their dignity, and we can’t read the emotion hidden behind the control in the face. For me, it captures exactly what Maggie and Cathy had to do, faced with a society that didn’t support them.

In the background, flying over the sea, is a fighter plane, representing Maggie’s pilot, who didn’t come back, leaving her to face the consequences of being an unmarried mother in the 1940s. It isn’t overt, but there is a bit of a tribute to those brave men who ensured the freedom in which I grew up, influenced by that visit to St Eval, though the story is not that of my parents, who were already married when war broke out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

Jackie is a member of the Society of Authors, whose debut novel Shadows of Time was the fulfilment of an ambition nurtured during her working life as a teacher, inspired by her research into her own and others’ family histories. She has been writing as a hobby since childhood, contributing to poetry anthologies since her undergraduate days and being a Poetry Guild national semi-finalist in the 1990s. She has also written short stories for friends, family and students. Since retiring, she has contributed to Poetry Archive Now (2020), with 20-20 Vision, uploaded to YouTube, and has had poetry and flash fiction published online by Flash Fiction North. One of her flash fictions is to appear in an anthology, having been selected from entries during the Morecambe Festival 2021. She had a creative memoir, Shelf Life, published by Dear Damsels in 2019, a precursor to collaborating with her sister on a creative non-fiction memoir Remnants of War, published in 2021. She writes a blog about her walks and thoughts in the Yorkshire and Somerset countryside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH JACKIE:

Blog – Jotting Jax:

https://jottingjax.wordpress.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Jackie-Meekums-Hales-103410038936426

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/jackieihales

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/128512053-jacqueline-hales

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60846244-shadows-of-time

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/377a86F

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3KAGYKZ

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3y87sRu

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/Shadows-Time-Jackie-Meekums-Hales-ebook/dp/B09WPJJZQP

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/Shadows-Time-Jackie-Meekums-Hales/dp/1950502678

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadows-of-time-jackie-meekums-hales/1141340186

Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Shadows-Time-Jackie-Meekums-Hales/9781950502677

Books-A-Million Paperback:

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Shadows-Time/Jackie-Meekums-Hales/9781950502677

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFO:

Jackie will be awarding a $25 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those fabulous community outreach projects and awesome giveaways on here**

This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.