Meeting Lydia by Linda MacDonald Plus Giveaway!!!

Marianne is the wrong side of 40 and feeling like her life is slipping through her fingers as she fears the dreaded Menopause or the unspoken 'M' word! She is going through an emotional roller coaster and unsure of what is happening within her marriage. Just why is her husband spending more time at the pub, how much of a threat is the tarty Charmaine? And,why now, have her experiences of her time being bullied whilst attending prep school where girls were in the minority becoming all consuming memories no longer staying buried just below the surface where she had kept them for many years?

Marianne, determined to put the ghosts of her past to rest, seeks understanding and closure through tracking down Edward Harvey, a fellow pupil from prep school. He was a quiet and unassuming boy and never teased Marianne as the others had. So, through Friends Reunited, Marianne begins to try to understand her experiences through her contact with Edward. But, is she seeking something else from Edward?

This is a fantastically well written, thought provoking and intelligent book. Linda MacDonald writes with passion, empathy and sensitivity taking the reader through a whole host of emotions. The story explores the emotional scarring that occurs as a result of bullying and how it shapes a person long after the event, eating away at their confidence and self worth long into adulthood.

The book delves into the complexities of human relationships and the tenuous threads by which long term relationships hang and how passions can be lost and found again. Modern life is further complicated by the use of technology such as the Internet, providing a new medium in which to establish new relationships and reignite long forgotten ones.

 

I'd highly recommend this book. It prompts you to think about difficult subjects long after you have closed the book.  Definitely a book that feeds the mind and soul and pulls at the heart strings! I loved it!

Want to be in with a chance of winning a copy of this fantastic book? Then leave a comment below and use the rafflecopter link also. The giveaway  is open Internationally. 

The giveaway is for two signed paperback copies of Meeting Lydia with further prizes of signed postcards and bookmarks. Two weeks after the tour ends, the author will select the winners from the comments. Good luck!

 

 

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BOOK BLURB

“Edward Harvey. Even thinking his name made her tingle with half-remembered childlike giddiness. Edward Harvey, the only one from Brocklebank to whom she might write if she found him.”

Marianne Hayward, teacher of psychology and compulsive analyser of the human condition, is hormonally unhinged. The first seven years of her education were spent at a boys’ prep school, Brocklebank Hall, where she was relentlessly bullied. From the start, she was weak and frightened and easy prey for Barnaby Sproat and his gang. Only one boy was never horrible to her: the clever and enigmatic Edward Harvey, on whom she developed her first crush. 

Now 46, when Marianne finds her charming husband in the kitchen talking to the glamorous Charmaine, her childhood insecurities resurface and their once-happy marriage begins to slide. Teenage daughter Holly persuades her to join Friends Reunited, which results in both fearful and nostalgic memories of prep school as Marianne wonders what has become of the bullies and of Edward Harvey. Frantic to repair her marriage, yet rendered snappy and temperamental by her plummeting hormones, her attempts towards reconciliation fail. The answer to all her problems could lie in finding Edward again... But what would happen if she found what she seeks?"

 

About the Author: 

Linda MacDonald was born and brought up in Cockermouth, on the edge of the Lake District in Cumbria, England. She was educated at the local grammar school and later at Goldsmiths’, University of London where she studied for a BA in psychology and then a PGCE in biology and science. She taught secondary science and biology in Croydon for eleven years before taking some time out to write, paint and make jewellery. In 1990 she was lured back into teaching at a sixth form college in south-east London where she taught health and social care and psychology. For over twenty-five years she was also a visiting tutor in the psychology department at Goldsmiths’.

 

At the end of 2009, Linda broke her wrist very badly through tripping over a classroom chair. Reminded of the fragility of life and how time was passing with her writing dreams still unfulfilled, she decided to publish her first novel independently. Meeting Lydia was inspired by finding an ex classmate on Friends Reunited. The novel explores the effects of school bullying on later life, and the pros and cons of internet relationships from the perspective of a woman going through a midlife crisis. It was published in September 2011. The stand-alone sequel, A Meeting of a Different Kind, had already been drafted before Linda broke her wrist and was published in November last year. It continues the story from the perspectives of two different characters, looking at issues of friendship, loyalty and betrayal. Both books may be read independently and are being very well-received by a wide ranging readership of men as well as women. It is expected that there will be a third part to the series and this is a work in progress. 

Health issues in 2011 prompted Linda to retire from teaching in order to concentrate on her writing career. She hopes that with this new focus she can bring her books to the notice of a larger audience.

 

Linda’s links

 

Amazon UK Author Page:

 

Amazon US Author Page:

 

Troubador Author page Meeting Lydia

 

Troubador Author page A Meeting of a Different Kind