Beautiful new covers for the Drumbeats Trilogy – but are they ‘history’?

Posted on August 3, 2023 by juliaibbotson

My genre for the past few years has been (and still is, really!) decidedly historical fiction, mainly early medieval time-slip, Anglo-Saxon in particular. But my earlier novels were more modern (twentieth century). I’m told that ‘history’ is prior to 50 years ago, so I guess they too are within the historical novel genre. Drumbeats opens in 1965.

My news is that the Drumbeats Trilogy has just been re-published and re-released with a new publisher and with lovely new covers and some minor revisions. I hope you like the new covers; I think they’re more eye-catching than the previous ones from my last publisher. The trilogy starts in the mid-1960s with Drumbeats when 18 year old Jess goes off to Ghana, West Africa, on her gap year, to teach and nurse in the bush villages. It’s a year of joy and tragedy, loss and discovery. The series continues with Walking in the Rain through Jess’s life of uneasy compromises in the 1970s to 80s, to Finding Jess in the early 1990s and finally sees her return to Ghana and her second chances of happiness. The trilogy is a feel-good exploration of one woman’s rise above adversity and the triumph of hope and love.

I’m on book tours with the new editions through the autumn – do look out for the flash discounts to celebrate the new covers and the tours!

I seem to be on a mission to revamp my remaining books too, having moved to a new publisher, so The Old Rectory and my children’s book S.C.A.R.S will also be flaunting new covers and new editions soon. The Old Rectory is the story of rescuing an old early Victorian house and the exploration of the historical food and drink that would have been prepared in its kitchen, while S.C.A.R.S is a fantasy time-slip tale based on medieval literature.

And currently, I’m also working on a new series of Anglo-Saxon time-slip/dual time novels set in Mercia, with a new protagonist, a specialist in interpreting runes, who joins up with an archaeologist to solve strange mysteries of the past.

So I guess that all my books are historical fiction at heart! Discover them at https://Author.to/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

Ghana – revolution: the events of 1966

Posted on March 2, 2021 by juliaibbotson

Ghana, West Africa, is a fascinating country with an intriguing history that stretches way back to ancient times. When I worked there, I learned a lot about the ancient Ashanti heritage and culture. However, the momentous events of the mid-1960s were the basis I chose for my novel ‘Drumbeats’, the first in the trilogy because they were arguably one of the major turning points for the country’s history and relatively recent, that is, within living memory.

I’ve tried to represent the momentous political events which happened in Ghana in 1966 as accurately as feasible, bearing in mind that these are written here as they are perceived by the character of Jess and in the light of a writer’s license to create drama and consistency of plot. But I wanted to show the effect of a sudden coup d’état on my main character who was already experiencing turbulence in her life.

So here is the run-down of those events, albeit a brief outline. President Nkrumah was deposed as president of Ghana on 24^th February 1966 and at 7 o’ clock the announcement was made that “the armed forces, in cooperation with the police, have felt it necessary to take over the reins of power and dismiss the former President, Kwame Nkrumah, the Presidential Commission and all Ministers and to suspend the Constitution and to dissolve Parliament. This act has been necessitated by the political and economic situation in the country.” The report continued to declare that “the country is on the brink of national bankruptcy.” Only three days before, Nkrumah had passed through parliament his “socialist budget” which the announcement claimed “increases the economic burdens and hardships of the population.”

K.A.Bediako (in The Downfall of Kwame Nkrumah) says: “it is hard to believe that such a take-over could happen in Ghana at a time when any whisper of complaint on the policies of the government was risky and could mean imprisonment without trial in a country in which security men and women maintained a band of secrecy around their identity …” (1966).

Nkrumah had led Ghana to independence from British colonial rule nearly ten years before, in 1957, and became the country’s first prime minister and president. He established many huge and acclaimed projects in Ghana, including Akasombo Dam on the Volta River which was opened in January 1966.

But he was on a state visit to China in February 1966 when his government was overthrown in a military coup d’état led by General Kotoka and the National Liberation Council. He later hinted at a possible American complicity in ‘Dark Days in Ghana’ (1969). Some argue that this suspicion was based on false evidence originating from the Russian KGB; others claimed that CIA documents provided evidence of the involvement of the US in the overthrow. Myths and accusations were rife. Conspiracy theories were in abundance, as they are today with regard to many world events. Whatever the truth, what really happened is still unclear.

I’ve tried to reflect many of these events in my novel, Drumbeats. But whatever is the truth, Nkrumah never returned to Ghana and was exiled in Conakry, Guinea, where he died of prostate cancer in 1972. He was buried at the village of Nkroful, where he had been born, but his remains were subsequently re-interred in a national memorial tomb in the capital, Accra. And to complete the turn-around, in 2000, he was named “Africa’s man of the millennium” by listeners of the BBC World Service and the “hero of independence”. And then in 2009, President John Atta Mills of Ghana declared 21^st September to be Founder’s Day, an annual holiday celebrating the legacy of Kwame Nkrumah and glorifying his presidency.

Who knows the truth and why we change our views on famous figures? History and who writes it, is an interesting thing to reflect upon, isn’t it?

http://myBook.to/Drumbeats

Can you feel the heat?

Posted on January 29, 2019 by juliaibbotson

So here I am, on my big book blog tour throughout Great Britain and beyond … and all from my desk in my PJs! Thanks to @rararesources I am on tour just a day after my shoulder operation. Truth be known, I didn’t start promotion until yesterday, Day 3, as I was hardly compos mentis for the first 48 hours after my op and am typing with one hand!

I thought I’d share with you my first guest post published on Sunday, Day 2, on the lovely blog The Magic of Worlds with many thanks to this book blogger and all the others who are taking part in my 42 stop tour https://themagicofworlds.wordpress.com

SCROLL DOWN TO JANUARY 27th!!

Can you feel it – the heat, the sounds, sights, smells of tropical Ghana? Here’s the guest post …

Today I’m celebrating the publication of my three Drumbeats novels in one Omnibus/box set edition for kindle books by my lovely publisher, Endeavour Media. It’s great to see the whole Drumbeats Trilogy all together in one – and at a bargain price too (currently £5.99 for the three books together)! It’s a saga of love, betrayal and second chances, and most particularly it’s about one woman’s (Jess) strength and spirit rising above adversity. You can find it at: http://mybook.to/DrumbeatsOmnibus

I’ve been working on the three books for about four years, with a couple of other books published in between! Finally, the long-awaited third and last novel of the trilogy was published this summer, called Finding Jess, http://mybook.to/FindingJess, and it’s set in Ghana (West Africa) and starts with: “Outside, the sun is beating down pitilessly, that sweet-sour stink of rotten meat and putrefying vegetables in the open drains at the side of the road. Yes, she knows that intense heat, that smell, the sound of the kpanlogo djembe and the donde, those kente-clad mammies, from all those years before …”

Jess is haunted by her experiences in Ghana when she was an 18 year old on a gap year, the basis of the first of the trilogy, Drumbeats, http://myBook.to/Drumbeatstrilogy where she is fascinated as a girl in 1965, by the whole idea of Africa: she looks around her in wonderment: “The streets were incredibly noisy, smelly, and bustling with people calling out to each other across the streets, jostling Jess. Swarms of little boys were again surrounding her, pushing at her for attention. The hot thick air stank of rotting vegetables, spices, melting tarmac. Jess pressed herself against the safety of the wall as plump women swathed in bright Ghanaian cloth swept haughtily past her. Their babies swaddled on their backs blinked passively at her with glassy eyes and long black eyelashes. Shallow platters piled high with tomatoes and mangoes were balanced on turban-bound heads, as the women made their way gracefully up and down the dusty streets, taking no notice of the foul open drains and the begging children around their feet.”

Ever since I spent time working in Ghana, I’ve been driven by the desire to write about this fascinating country. It’s a country of contrasts: poverty but richness of generosity, the arid landscape of the sub-Saharan north but the lushness of the rainforests and coastline. Then there’s the climate: intense heat of the dry season and the welcome deluges of the rainy season.

As a writer, I like to create stories set in a particular time and location, as those are the books I love to read myself, such as Dinah Jefferies’s far eastern novels and Kate Mosse’s Languedoc series. Wonderfully evocative! So, Drumbeats #1 starts in a specific time (1965) and place, the intriguing African country of Ghana.

I try to use all the senses to make the reader feel as though they are actually there, to make it as vivid as possible. I was therefore thrilled to have reviews that said: “beautifully written, conjuring up the colour and culture of the country”, and “feel the searing heat of Ghana burning off the pages.” How lovely! Then I had: “It’s a brilliantly crafted book where sights, sounds and even smells of the Ghanaian way of life are conjured up quite vividly… details … woven so well into the fabric of the story it becomes an essential part of the read” and even “Julia Ibbotson’s descriptions of Ghana instantly transport the reader there… It is very clear that the author has spent some time in Ghana as her knowledge of the country and its political strife is extensive. I love the symbolism of the drums throughout the book, making it so atmospheric.”

Many thanks to those readers, whoever they are! If my readers can feel the location too, I’ve done my job OK. I do hope you think so too.

Can you be my left hand? – on my upcoming Drumbeats Trilogy book tour

Posted on January 22, 2019 by juliaibbotson

So here we go with my exciting upcoming book blog tour, with Rachel’s Random Reads. 42 stops over two weeks! Goodness, I’ll be busy keeping up with three stops per day. Even more so now that I have an operation to my shoulder on Friday and the tour starts Saturday. Ouch! But the joy of a blog tour is that it can be done from my desk. No longer do I have to take a plane, travel between cities, appear in my professional togs, make-up perfect. I can sit at my laptop in my pjs if I so wish! Just as well as over the next few weeks I’ll have my left arm immobilised in a sling and probably won’t feel much like dressing up and putting on my make-up – let alone actually trying to brush my hair – even if it was remotely possible! You may think I exaggerate, but I have gone through all this before (twice!) with my right arm, so I am currently filled with trepidation …

However, the prospect of a lovely book blog tour cheers me up and I shall try to click on each stop each day and share/retweet, etc, although I may need to get my long-suffering husband to serve as my left hand for typing.

Can you help? Could you be my left hand?

I’d love it if you could share/retweet with me. The stops each day are in the poster below and the links will be on my facebook and author facebook pages. Thank you so much – much appreciated.

rrr drumbeats tour schedule – sheet1

Book Tours and a plot ‘spoilers’ challenge

Posted on December 6, 2018 by juliaibbotson

The brand new Drumbeats Trilogy Omnibus edition is just out in ebook from my publisher Endeavour, and it’s available on Amazon right now – all three novels together in one place for only £5.99. The trilogy overall is a saga about love, betrayal and second chances – and one woman’s search for the strength to rise above adversity.

http://mybook.to/DrumbeatsOmnibus

It’s the story of Jess and we first meet her in Drumbeats as an 18 year old in 1965 on a gap year in Ghana (West Africa) where she’s teaching and nursing in the bush. She goes with a naive mission to make a difference in the world, but faces tragedy, civil war, and a new romance – with the echoes of the village drumbeats warning her of something … but what?

The next, Walking in the Rain, follows Jess back to England, and marriage, motherhood, and disaster … and the drumbeats continue to pervade her dreams.

The final book, Finding Jess, published singly just last August, sees Jess coping with betrayals, family problems and desperately trying to juggle a job at the same time … and finally returning to Ghana to try to ‘find herself’ again as an individual. Will she succeed? And what are the drumbeats trying to tell her throughout it all?

Some of the wonderful reviews I’ve already received: “scenes of raw emotion”, “an emotional roller-coaster”, “a heart-warming read, wonderfully written, compelling, warm and uplifting”, “feel the searing heat of Ghana burning right off the pages”, “a powerful story”, “so evocative, it transported me to a different time, different place; I couldn’t put it down”.

There’s a major launch of the omnibus edition and a book blog tour with Rachel’s Random Resources from January 26 to February 8. The tour’s full and all ‘sold out’ for 42 stops. So, I’m busy preparing content for the tour: guest posts, Q&As, selecting extracts …

How do you select extracts from all three books without giving away ‘spoilers’ for the plots? Goodness, it’s difficult! I’ve worked on several attempts. One host wants an extract from just one of the books, OK, but I have to select very carefully as it’s the second book in the series. Two of the hosts want extracts from all three and a few words about the context of each one. Fair enough, but what a challenge. All three hosts need a selection of different extracts, because I guess many blog readers will be following the whole tour and obviously don’t want to be reading the same stuff over and over! I wouldn’t! Should I take a different ‘theme’ for each, maybe? But even so, how do I do it, especially the context statements, without giving away too much of what happens to Jess through three whole novels and 30 years?! Well, I’ve given you enough above! Yikes.

Any advice, gratefully received! In the meantime, I’ll be ensconced in my study for the duration.

Get those brain cells working overtime, Julia. I WILL get there … eventually! In the meantime, I’ll pop up the official book tour banner from my tour organiser shortly. Six guest posts and Q&As drafted … nearly there …

Yesterday Uncovered: back to the 1960s with Chill With a Book

Posted on October 24, 2018 by juliaibbotson

My lovely friend Pauline Barclay, a great supporter of authors, is running a series of features each month revisiting different historical decades through literature. It’s on her blog Chill with a Book and the series is called Yesterday Uncovered. I was thrilled when she invited me to take part. Today I’m slipping back to the 1960s! Well, actually I’m sitting by Pauline’s pool in the sunshine sipping bubbly and chatting, and being interviewed by Pauline for her blog. Pauline features the interview in the Yesterday Uncovered 1960s blogspot about the first of my Drumbeats trilogy and the background to its 1960s setting in Ghana, a time of danger, civil war, and tragedy that swept across West Africa (oh, and it’s about finding love as well!).

So, why did I choose the 1960s and why Ghana? What research did I need to do about the time and place? What was life like then? What were the great bands and songs of the 60s?

And how does the novel Drumbeats develop through the trilogy? Along with its successors, Walking in the Rain and Finding Jess, the trilogy is a saga of love, betrayal and second chances, spanning 30 years.

I’m having a busy time t the moment promoting the trilogy: tomorrow I’m being interviewed on Rachel Brimble’s blog and next Tuesday I’m on Jo Lambert’s Tuesday Talk – I’ll post the links for both next week. November 12-15 I’m on tour with Kelly Lacey and Love Books Group.

The trilogy would make a great Christmas gift in either paperbacks or ebooks! All the books are individually on Amazon in ebook and paperback but my publisher is bringing out the whole saga in an ebook omnibus edition in early December (see below) and check it out at

http://myBook.to/Drumbeatstrilogy

Many thanks to Pauline for inviting me to be a part of her fascinating series. It was great to chat with the lovely and generous Pauline again! Check out the blog by clicking below …
https://paulinembarclay.blogspot.com/…/yesterday-uncovered-… …

Finding Jess – what do I do all day and what do I hate about writing?

Posted on September 17, 2018 by juliaibbotson

http://mybook.to/FindingJess

Wonderful interview with Anne Williams today on her lovely blog, Being Anne. It’s mainly about my newest book, Finding Jess, the last of my Drumbeats trilogy, out now. But it also mentions my other books too, and there are buy-links if you fancy trying one. Finding Jess is a stand-alone, in that I try to provide the context, so you don’t have to read all three. However, it is better, really, if you follow Jess through her traumas from the first of the series, Drumbeats and then on to the follow-up, Walking in the Rain, before Finding Jess.

http://Author.to/JuliaIbbotsonauthor

Anne’s blog is great – I love it. She does lots of research into her interviewees beforehand and her questions are so interesting, and tailor-made to the subject. Apart from asking me about my writing day and routines, she wanted to know what I liked and hated about being an author. Read it and find out!

https://beinganne.com/2018/09/interview-julia-ibbotson-author-of-the-drumbeats-trilogy-findingjess-juliaibbotson/

If you’ve forgotten the three books in the trilogy: let’s start with Drumbeats …

It’s 1965 and 18 year old Jess escapes her stifling English background for a gap year in Ghana, West Africa. But it’s a time of political turbulence across the region. Fighting to keep her young love who waits back in England, she’s thrown into the physical dangers of civil war, tragedy, and the emotional conflict of a disturbing new relationship. And why do the drumbeats haunt her dreams?

This is a rite of passage story which takes the reader hand in hand with Jess on her journey towards growing into the adult world.

Walking in the Rain

Jess happily marries the love of her life She wants to feel safe, secure and loved. But gradually it becomes clear that her beloved husband is not the man she thought him to be. She survived civil war and injury in Africa, but can she now survive the biggest challenge of her life?

A captivating story about a woman’s resilience, courage and second chances.

Finding Jess

It’s 1990 and single mother, Jess, has struggled to get her life back on track after the betrayal of her beloved husband and of her best friend. On the brink of losing everything, including her family, and still haunted by her past and the Ghanaian drumbeats that pervade her life, she feels that she can no longer trust anyone.

Then she is mysteriously sent a newspaper clipping of a temporary job back in Ghana. Could this be her lifeline? Can Jess turn back time and find herself again? And what, exactly, will she find?

Finding Jess is a passionate study of love and betrayal – and of one woman’s bid to reclaim her self-belief and trust after suffering great misfortune. It is a feel-good story of a woman’s strength and spirit rising above adversity.

Competition time! Win an ebook!

Posted on September 28, 2016 by juliaibbotson

Sometimes you need to escape to find yourself …

My October competition is to win an ebook copy of Drumbeats. The book is set in 1965-6, a decade I love to read about – and write about! All you need to do is to tell me (briefly!) your favourite decade and why. You can either send your message on here, my blog, or via my facebook page (if you are a facebook ‘friend’) at https://www.facebook.com/juliaibbotson or on my author facebook page (Julia Ibbotson Author) at https://www.facebook.com/Julia-Ibbotson-author-163085897119236 I’ll need your email address in order to send you the ebook copy, so you can message me privately via my website (see homepage) or PM me on facebook. The winner will be chosen at random by ANO.

Closing date is Saturday 29th October, in time for Halloween, as there are some spooky parts in the book, with drumbeats reverberating across the Ghanaian villages and spirits wafting through Jess’s dreams – to warn her of danger …

Please spread the news!

Good luck!

Invitation! Authors love Reviews.

Posted on July 16, 2016 by juliaibbotson

INVITATION! A SHOUT OUT FOR REVIEWS!
I’d like to invite folks to write a brief review of any of my books they fancy. Authors are always really grateful if readers do this, and often copy/paste them onto their facebook posts! I’ve now written four books: The Old Rectory: Escape to a Country Kitchen ( a memoir about renovating a Victorian rectory in the heart of the English countryside – with yummy and historical recipes!); Drumbeats and Walking in the Rain (the first two of t…he Drumbeats trilogy) following Jess from 1960s Ghana to millennium England; and S.C.A.R.S a children’s book (9-14) about a troubled boy who slips into a fantasy medieval world. My new book, A Shape on the Air, is an adult historical time-slip into the Dark Ages. It’s magical and mystical and there’s a mystery to solve and a home to save.
I’ve now captured my direction as a writer. With a love of history and specialising in medieval language and literature, I am now focusing on historical time-slip (both adult romance and children’s adventure). My work will be focused on the medieval period, both the early Dark Ages and the Anglo-Saxon period.
I do hope you will like my books and if you do, it would warm my heart if you could post a review! Many thanks. Just click on the link below and on one of my books to write a brief review!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B0095XG11U

Tamworth LitFest: Romancing the Word

Posted on June 12, 2016 by juliaibbotson

What a lovely day we had in Tamworth (Staffordshire) at the LitFest, with the theme Romancing the Word. Great to see and chat with readers and fellow authors, sign our books and (for me) give a talk. All in the welcoming and beautiful library and the amazing and very interesting historic church, St Editha’s. Here’s what we got up to in the pics below …

Me, signing my books; my children’s novel S.C.A.R.S seemed very popular!

Laura Morgan who writes a variety of powerful other-worldly novels and with whom I discussed time concepts and quantum mechanics!

Christine Smee, who gives talks on medieval herbal remedies with whom I had a very interesting chat about the medieval world. Loved her costume.

Jane A Heron, a lovely lady with a great book stall and lots of goodies. Good to meet her daughter and fiancé.

S J Warner (Sally) who has a great line in personalised key rings and showed me how to use a logo effectively on swag (hers is a gorgeous – and naughty – pink corset!).

L A Cotton (Leanne) who writes fabulous contemporary romance and romantic suspense.

The Tamworth Writers – what a wonderfully supportive and lively group; I wish I lived in Tamworth!

And others I didn’t get to photograph: AA Abbott (Helen) who writes crime thrillers, Sue Flint publishing great short stories and articles, Carol E Wyer, who is a whizz at romantic comedy, Helena Fairfax, a fellow RNA member who gave a super workshop, Lucy Felthouse, Pat Spence … and more … Wow, what a line-up.

It was a fantastic day of laughter, fun and sharing. Days like this make me realise what a wonderful community writers create, and what enormous joy they give to readers. I’m sure that the readers who attended enjoyed the day and returned home enlivened and inspired.

Many thanks to all who organised the day: the Tamworth LitFest team, including Tina Williams, Anthony Poulton-Smith, Caroline Barker. A day to remember.

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