Hastings-based author offers “spellbinding” new historical novel

An estate is on the line. 1796. Duval Harlington, recently released from prison in France, is on his way home. Memories of the tranquil family estate kept his spirits high through his worst days in La Force so it is no small sorrow to return and find Muchmore thrown into chaos. His despicable father, he learns, has died. And while he has left the estate to Duval, there is one small stipulation: he must be married or else lose everything…

With only two days and seven hours to find a wife, devoted bachelor Duval is prepared to walk away. But then he stumbles upon a wife sale. With women being bought and sold like chattels, Duval is horrified by what he sees. Until he lays eyes on one intriguing figure… a bride with a hidden past.

Duval makes an extravagant bid, and he and Edmée are married with minutes to spare. But little does Duval know, this is only the beginning of his troubles. For Edmée is not who she says she is, and her secrets will soon threaten to dismantle everything he holds dear…

Sally was born in Birmingham, near the Cadbury’s chocolate factory, and grew up in Gray’s Inn, central London.

“I was badly bullied at school because I was different from other children. I had trouble tying my shoes, and coordinating my clothes, and I had no idea what C-A-T spelled once the teacher took away the picture. My brain was said to be a sieve rather than a sponge – I was the child who lost the information rather than retained it.

“At eleven I was told I was word-blind. This was before anyone mentioned the un-sayable, un-teachable, un-spellable word dyslexia, which, hey-ho, even to this day I can’t spell!

“I eventually ended up in a school for maladjusted children because there was no other school that would take me. I suppose this was the equivalent of what now would be a school for kids with ASBOs. I had been classified as unteachable but at the age of fourteen, when everyone had given up hope, I learned to read.

“The first book I read was Wuthering Heights and after that no one could stop me. My mother, bless her cotton socks, said that if I got five O-levels I could go to art school, and much to my teachers’ chagrin, I did just that. At art school I shot from the bottom to the top like a little rocket. I left Central St Martin’s Art School with a first-class honours degree and then went to Newcastle University Theatre, where I worked as a theatre designer.

“Ironically, when I went into writing, where I assumed my dyslexia would be a true disability, it turned out to be the start of something amazing. I was more than blessed to meet an editor, Judith Elliot, who was to play an important part in my journey to being a writer.

“I strongly believe that dyslexia is like a Rubik’s Cube: it takes time to work out how to deal with it but once you do, it can be the most wonderful gift.

“The problem with dyslexia for many young people – and I can identify with this – is that their confidence is so damaged by the negativity of their teachers and their peers that it takes a very strong character to come out of the educational system smiling.”