simondale

I'm 40 and live in London. I studied English Literature and have an MA in Creative Writing.

Throughout my childhood I was a voracious reader, popping down to the village library* on a Saturday morning to stock up on adventure stories and magical tales of places so far, far away that they could only exist in the imagination. The House of Sherbet is a throwback to those childhood days of immersion in a strange, gothic world in which the impossible can happen.

Writers I love include Roald Dahl, Andrea Levy, Susan Hill, Jean Rhys, Jonathan Frantzen, Hilary Mantel, Ian McEwan, Cormac McCarthy, Tsitsi Dandgarembga, Sam Selvon, Julian Barnes, Peter Carey, Paul Bowles, Zora Neale Hurston, Anne Tyler... gosh, it would be a long list....

Here's what an award winning writer, Christina Koning (winner of the Encore Prize and longlisted for the Orange Prize), has said about The House of Sherbet.

"Like all good tales of mystery and imagination, The House of Sherbet begins at Christmas, as the hero - twelve year-old Jake - and his parents journey through a snowstorm to the home of Jake's grandfather, wher they are to spend the festive season. Arriving at the dilapidated mansion - the cover illustration is straight out of Hammer House of Horror - they are met by the terrifyingly spry Granddad Sherbet, who clearly has plans for entertaining his grandson that don't involve crackers and turkey... What follows is an increasingly dark and gothic tale of sorcery and suspense, in which Jake finds not only his own life at risk, but those of his nearest and dearest. From the opening sentences onward, the pace is never allowed to slacken, and shock follows shock in heart-stopping - and very entertaining - sequence. Buy it for your resident teenager, but read it yourself first - its Dahl-esque twists are a delight."