New Book News... by Lynne Benton

 It’s so hard at the moment to think about anything else when the news from Ukraine is so appalling. 

And in some ways it feels really heartless to even think about trying to promote my latest book at such a time – but if I don’t do it, who will?  And if not now, when it’s just been published, when? 

"Billy and the Queen" is a middle-grade book set in 1953, the year of the Queen's Coronation.  It's the story of ten-year-old Billy, who is very excited about the prospect of going to London to see the Queen and the whole Coronation procession, so when the promised trip falls through he is very fed up.  However, his schoolfriends are more concerned about the mysterious stranger in the village who they are convinced is a dangerous spy, so Billy agrees to investigate him.  But the spy has a lovely dog, just the sort Billy has always wanted, so he is torn between wanting to get to know the dog while investigating her owner for possible criminal activities.  Then, just before the Coronation is due to happen, things take a dramatic turn when Billy overhears something terrible, which might even threaten the Queen herself...

Given the subject matter, it seemed obvious to me that the best time for this book to come out would be in the year of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.  So rather than waiting to have it published by a mainstream publisher, which I knew would take at least 18 months, I decided to publish it myself in good time for the Jubilee celebrations in June.

I have self-published books before, so I knew what to do – and after various lovely writer friends had kindly read the manuscript and made helpful comments, I was able to publish it last week, complete with a great cover designed by my son (who, luckily for me, just happens to be a professional graphic designer and illustrator!)

Anyway, that’s my blog for today, and thank you for reading it.

And if anyone is tempted to buy the book, it’s available from Amazon as both an ebook and a paperback.

website: lynnebenton.com