I’m thrilled to announce the launch of my latest author’s fantastic novel.

Helen Pengelly’s debut novel, The Pepper Seed has launched today – 18th September 2020 – and I can highly recommend it!!

Helen and I first came across each other on LinkedIn (if you don’t follow me, click here to send me a connection request). It was definitely a case of serendipity. The stars were aligned that day. Helen had been working on her book for a while, and just needed that final sign from the universe that the timing was right (and why not, most of the world was on lockdown anyway, so what better time to focus on your book publishing dream?!) and so when I sent her a connection request, boom! We started talking. She sent me her Word document. And pretty soon, her draft was proofread, formatted, typeset, and popped onto its very own Amazon bookshelf. Ta-da!

I know she has more in the pipeline (there’s a teaser at the end of this book for her next novel and if you’re a teacher or work in education, I think you need to sign up to Helen’s mailing list because it’s going to be E.P.I.C)!

Anyway, here’s the blurb. If historical fiction, stories about women, motherhood, family, relationships and a bit of supernatural are your thing, I’d say it’s well worth buying.

An emotional tale of remarkable women and an unbreakable 200-year-old curse.

No-nonsense, senior business reporter, Helena, likes to keep her family life private.

But when her editor catches her staring at a photograph one day at work, she finds herself tasked with the most significant assignment of her journalist life.

The photograph’s a happy one, full of smiling faces from the seven generations of her family. But behind the smiles lies a 200-year-old curse that none of the matriarchs has been able to break.

And when the features editor discovers that since the turn of the 19th century, every woman in Helena’s family has given birth at the age of 15, she can’t resist the temptation to bring their haunting story to life.

Naturally, Helena has reservations. She doesn’t even know some of the stories herself and assumes the facts will never be published. But when she broaches the subject of exposing the family’s historic laundry at her great-great-grandmother’s 106th birthday party the following day, she’s amazed by their reactions.

As the generational tales emerge, Helena realises she isn’t the only one who’s intrigued.

From young love, ban the bomb marches and a strange gypsy woman with piercing blue eyes, to rock stars, betrayal, white lies, inappropriate relationships and devastating events, no one realises just how explosive this seemingly ordinary family’s story is.

Will sharing the family secret help them end the curse?
Or will it create more problems for this loving yet tragic family?
And what about Hannah, Helena’s granddaughter, who is fast approaching that fateful age of 15?

Find out in this gripping family saga that will touch your heart and soul and stay in your memory long after the story is over.

This is an intriguing tale with a supernatural twist, where a mother’s love is tested to the limits and knows no boundaries.

I, for one, won’t forget this story. It’s one of those plots that stay with you forever.

Available in Kindle and paperback formats now.

Click the image to buy your copy today and start reading instantly!