The Wilder Path
November 23, 2024 at 2:15 pm,
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We have a publication date and a cover for my novel The Wilder Path, which was joint winner of The Virginia Prize for Fiction earlier this year (named after Virginia Woolf). Publication is 1 May 2025, and here is the cover! It was designed by Michelle Hughes.
Rosalie is walking her favourite cliff path when a storm blows in. While sheltering in a small cave, her exit becomes blocked by a rockfall and she is trapped. With no certainty of rescue, time weighs heavily and memories of her son Jonnie, a climate activist lost at sea many years ago, come flooding back unbidden.
Her only companion, an injured bird, bears silent witness as Rosalie reflects on how Jonnie's death has compelled her to fight for the planet too. But her friends and family don't understand, and seem not to care.
Can't they see that there is no Planet B?
And will she be able to find a way out, back on to the path?
I am currently looking at my publisher's notes and working in some edits. We have had to change the title, which was 'A Wilder Shore', as Penguin published a major new book with the same title in August 2024. I am looking forward to reading that, a new look at Robert Louis Stevenson and his relationship with his wife, and the fact that they travelled extensively seeking better conditions for his poor health - hence the rather wonderful title... But The Wilder Path is also a good title, and I am now used to it!
The Wilder Path is available to pre-order from the publisher Aurora Metro Books, on Amazon and from all major bookstores.