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Dear Reader,
Please welcome today's guest author, Sally Hepworth to the book club. There are two copies of her newest release, The Things We Keep waiting to give away to readers. Be sure to send Sally an email and you'll be automatically entered to win. Email: hepworth.sally@gmail.com. As always, be sure to include your shipping address, in case you are a winner.
Sally has lived and travelled around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the U.K., and Canada. While on maternity leave from her job in Human Resources, Sally finally fulfilled a lifelong dream to write, the result of which was Love Like the French, published in Germany in 2014. While pregnant with her second child, Sally wrote The Secrets of Midwives, published worldwide in 2015. And her new novel is titled the Things We Keep. Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and two children.
Welcome Sally Hepworth to the book club...
If the judge was female, I'm sure I'd get a suspended sentence. Especially once I'd explained my side of the story. After all, the circumstances were extenuating. A woman can only take so much before she breaks.
It all started three years ago, with some very nice looking planks of wood.
My husband and I were at the hardware store, one of our favorite places to visit. Mine, because I like to purchase things for the house. My husband's, because he likes to purchase things to 'make things' for the house.
Potato, patata? Not when I think of the ornamental stones for the Balinese garden, the mulch for the garden beds, the swing for the garden--all of which are nice and comfy in our garden shed (and have been for some time now).
In light of this, of course, I should never have pointed out the very nice looking planks of wood at the hardware store. But hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. So instead, I smiled and said:
"That wood is very nice."
A throwaway comment.
"It 'is' nice, isn't it?"
My gaze was fixed ahead at the ready-made garden furniture, but at this, I felt my husband's stride slow. By the time I turned, his eyes were faraway. And I knew it was too late.
"It would make a great outdoor table," he said.
On the way home, our car buckled under the weight of the very nice planks of wood.
Since then, we have moved house, had a second child, acquired two goldfish. My husband's golf handicap has gone from 11 to 23 then back down to 15.
Still the wood languishes on my front porch.
The thing is, it used to be a very nice porch. It housed a flowering camellia in a pot, and a pair of kids' scooters: one pink, one blue. Now, whenever we enter or leave the house, my gaze lingers on the wood, half covered by a tarp and sticking out at angles.
"At least it's very nice wood," my husband always says nervously, charging into the house.
And it is very nice wood, I decided last night. Nice and sturdy. Heavy. Perfect really.
If I was taken to court and the judge was female, I'm sure I'd get a suspended sentence. Especially once I'd explained my side of the story. The circumstances were extenuating. After all, a woman can only take so much before she breaks.
--Sally Hepworth
Email Sally and enter her book drawing at: hepworth.sally@gmail.com
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
* This month's Penguin Classics book is THE TURNIP PRINCESS AND OTHER NEWLY DISCOVERED FAIRY TALES by Franz Xaver von Schonwerth. Start reading now and enter to win a Penguin tote bag: http://www.supportlibrary.com/bc/v.cfm?L=drclassqqxqT1AFE3FA7E22&c=CLASSICS
AUTHORBUZZ: DEAD OF SUMMER (Thriller) by Sherry Knowlton
For my latest title, I enjoyed drawing on my own experiences from African safaris and my hippie days at Woodstock. This gripping suspense novel plunges attorney Alexa Williams into the dangerous world of sex trafficking. Weaving together threads of violence against women that span continents and decades, the story follows Alexa's quest to expose an evil that's hiding in plain sight.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on DEAD OF SUMMER to find out more about the book and the author, Sherry Knowlton. Send her an email, she'd love to hear from you.
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