Heart of the Story

“My heart is in Cumbria,” said Kathleen sadly, knowing she would never be there again.

“It got me here,” said Gail the hairdresser, putting her hand on her heart. 

Gail is a lovely young woman, a Cumbrian through and through, who loves reading. As I struggled to lift the heavy box left by the desk while I got my hair cut, her curiosity got the better of her, and my pride in my first batch of real books resulted in me digging into the box and showing a sample of what I was about to deliver to the bookshop in Carlisle. The result was that she bought the first copy sold of Moon in Leo.

I was back at the hairdresser’s yesterday, and she told me how much she loved the book: “as a Cumbrian myself, it made me feel like I was part of the land and history the writer is talking about”

We have had some great feedback from a variety of readers, but Gail touched my heart, just as Kathleen touched hers. I expected older, scholarly readers to enjoy it, but this response from a young, fashionable, working girl shows that a really special writer has universal appeal.

"...a real page-turner"

In a new review of Moon in Leo in the May issue of Cumbria Life Magazine, Sue Allan highlights Kathleen's extraordinary sense of time and place: something which many other readers have mentioned as a major strength.

Set in Furness in the period after the restoration of Charles II, Moon in Leo is a novel located so perfectly in time and space that you can feel the chill of the wind across Morecambe Bay, and plot the action in the landscape. Herbert's meticulous historical research, combined with her knowledge and love of the area underpin the novel, but it is her talent as a storyteller that brings alive the tale of Rosamund and her search for truth, and love, in turbulent political times. The peninsula and bay provide a suitably wild and somewhat claustrophobic setting for a real page-turner.

"...with a little help from the Trifolium Blog"

I have to come clean here- I am posting this review from a friend who didn't manage to post it on Amazon. While we are at it, I have noticed discussions on various blogs and lists about how useless Amazon reviews can be. Apparently, no-one believes them if they are all 5 star, and the first few are in any case almost all from people who know the writer. Well- yes, I managed to figure out who most- but not all- the reviewers of Moon in Leo are, but I didn't ask them to give it five stars! And, refreshingly, Nan Hawthorne's review, quoted elsewhere on this blog, is posted with only four stars on Good Reads. Does this mean we've arrived at last?

Anyway, this is what my friend, Mrs B S, a voracious reader, thinks:

I had expected to find Moon in Leo a difficult read as I am not very good around history in the 16/1700s and also have no understanding of the occult etc. However, to my surprise, with a little help from the Trifolium Blog and the good old dictionary I slowly read my way through the start of the book and was soon enjoying the characters and the gripping story. I loved and lost myself in the descriptions of the surrounding countryside. The ending was lovely and the sort I always opt for! All in all I would thoroughly recommend this book. Congratulations to the Author and the Publishers.