Thank you for dropping by! I can’t believe I’m updating this bio with the news that I’ve now written five novels. That’s nearly half a million words of mine out there in the world…I’m quite shocked by that.
It all started back in 2013 when I had the idea for what would become my debut novel, The Second Chance Tea Shop, which was published by Head of Zeus in 2017. Based loosely on the village in Somerset where I live, this was the first of the Little Somerby novels and writing it got me through some tricky times with a new baby. Two further novels make up the Little Somerby series, and they all feature the exploits of the cider making Carter family. Readers will notice many real locations in my stories, alongside brooding heroes, self-possessed heroines and more than a few flavours of the county. A lover of all things Somerset, my aim is to show what a heart-thumpingly passionate county it really is!
It was so exciting to see ‘A Place to Call Home’ in The Works in Wells recently.
I moved slightly further into Somerset for the first of my next series of novels, A Place to Call Home, and many readers will recognise locations in and around the iconic and spiritually diverse town of Glastonbury. It is the story of what happens when opposites attract but principles collide, and unfolds in both Somerset and Westminster. My fifth novel, Snowflakes Over Bay Tree Terrace, was released by Boldwood Books in August 2020, is also based in the same town, and explores the lives of a school teacher and an air ambulance pilot who just happen to live next door to each other.
Bertie, my walking and writing buddy!
When I’m not writing fiction, I’m a secondary school English teacher, a wife, a mother of two daughters and the keeper of a large, demanding Weimaraner dog called Bertie. I can often be found on the Strawberry Line, being dragged from pillar to post by either dog or children, and I’m only now coming to terms with the fact that some of my students, current and former, occasionally read my novels.
I’m proud to be a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and my next book will be released in 2021. If you’d like to keep up to date with my writing and find out a little more about me (or my dog!), please subscribe to my newsletter here.
And if you’d like to buy my books, click the pics to be taken to my author page on Amazon.
Fay Keenan 
Hello Fay, Thank you for the like and the follow, I’m very happy to return the favour and your site is just lovely! Funnily enough, you have happened to ‘cast’ an actor whom I’ve also ‘cast’ in one of my books (your Jonathan Carter). Look forward to reading more x
Hi Helen,
Thanks so much for the comment and the like and follow, too :). I found you via the W&A website’s email, and I’m really glad I did as it sounds like we’re on a similar writing journey :). I can’t resist ‘casting’ my characters in my head – I’m constantly looking for the images in my mind in the actors I see, and the ones I’ve posted pictures of are the closest approximations :). Was it Simon Baker or Simon Woods you had in mind for your character? I can’t decide which one’s more ‘Jonathan’! And what made you decide about him as one of yours? :). x
It was Simon Woods 🙂 I needed a handsome redhead, and he fit the bill perfectly! I’m the same, I have a sheet with photos of actors for all my characters – I just haven’t had the guts to share it yet, other than with a couple of my beta readers. Maybe when the books are published 🙂 I’m so glad you found me via W&A – I think we are on a similar journey – can’t wait to hear more about yours x