JOAN
Put on a happy face
What's JOAN about
“Loved this book! A definite page-turner and easy Sunday chill read.
I loved the subtle references and historic notes and I look forward to reading more from this author!”
Joan looked into the mirror. The minute lines around her eyes, the only hint of her 400 years wandering this world. During those long years, she’d loved, married, and lived out her dream of a family.
Joan squinted at her reflection, and was suddenly overwhelmed by the current nightmarish situation. She remembered a sharp blow from her husband, and then… nothing.
Every instinct in her fought for dominance, fear, anger, frustration. She tried to scream but nothing came out.
Joan’s mind swam with a myriad of thoughts, where was she? When? Why couldn’t she speak? All were dwarfed by a singular question, where was her son?
Joan - Put on a happy face, takes us on the journey to reclaim her life, and family in this fascinating tale of history and fiction grab your copy today.
The Author
During the day I run an Entertainment Agency 'A.R.C. Entertainments'. Most days I can be found at my desk taking calls and facilitating bookings for a range of top-class acts on our roster but these days, in my spare time, I like to write and in 2020 I published my first book 'Joan - Put on a Happy Face'. It began as a one-off standalone historical fiction, a bit of fantasy really. I'd see an interview with one of my puppeteers on Good Morning Britain with Kate Garraway and during the grilling, sorry interview, that ensued, he replied in frustration 'I don't understand what the problem is, they're only blocks of wood!'
Only blocks of wood... ONLY BLOCKS OF WOOD! I found my mind wondering 'but what if they weren't just blocks of wood? What if they were depicting the lives of real people? How would those people feel about now being called 'blocks of wood'? And from there my story took on its own life... Punch and Judy we know the show as. Everyone has heard of Punch and Judy, a children's favourite seaside puppet show. They all know about Mr Punch and his lack of respect for authority, his egotistical, arrogant, irresponsible behaviour, but how many writers have brought us the story from Judy's perspective, or should I say Joan, Dame Joan to be precise.
She was a young girl, thrust into the spot light as Dame after the tragic death of her mother and being required to take on the role of escort to her father and falls in love and marries below her station, against her father's wishes. Her life as a travelling entertainer changes her. Life and a certain healing potion changes her... and her family. They become immortals... They'd married for life 'Til death do us part' they'd vowed, but what happens when there is no death, no end, there is only eternity. Will they once happy young family survive eternity together?
To bring this story to life I have brought a wealth of experience to my writing and that's quite a few I might add; including six and a half years as a Hypnotherapist trained to Fellowship level by Dr Peter L Goodwin founder of the Institute of Hypnosis & Parapsychology in the 1980s. I formed a research group with my mother and sister which we called P.R.I.S.M., 'Psychic Research & Investigation into Sensitive Mediums’ which was and still is fascinating subject especially in the realms of past life regression where history comes to life before your very eyes!
I've always had a 'pioneering spirit' a 'can-do' attitude and it gas taken me on many paths, many of life's journeys. I was a founding member of Stockton Music & Arts Collective and the Stockton Fringe Festival in the early 1990s and later, as sole challenge was to organise the very first BBC Music Live event in Durham City, England, where even the weather created its own challenges; rain, wind, hail, snow, thunder, lightning all attempted to end the event before its due time, but even the weather couldn’t stop me and my brilliant entertainers - folk musicians - the stalwart of the music industry, who love to play, love to entertain, they never gave up! The sun came out and so did the performers. Sitting on the steps of the famous statue of Hussar Charles William Vane Stewart in the very centre of Durham Market Place, they all agreed 'the show must go on!'
Joan - Put on a Happy Face may have started out as a standalone book, but the characters in this book also have their own stories to be told and as we speak I am writing pages from my next book with ideas for several more which will make this into a series, so watch this space - I'll be back soon!