Georgia Hill returns to my blog this week to talk about whether her childhood reading influenced her writing. Georgia is about to publish New Beginnings at Christmas Tree Cottage on 29 September 2023 with Bloodhound Books. Over to Georgia …
Huge thanks to Morton for once again hosting me on her blog. Morton’s support for other writers is unstinting and how she keeps up with a weekly blog is a source of wonder!
I was recently asked what books I enjoyed reading as a child and how they may have influenced me as a writer so thought I’d expand on the theme for this blog. I confess I hadn’t given it much conscious thought before, but it turns out the books I loved as an early reader have really influenced what I’ve gone on to write as an adult.
As a child I was an absolute book hound. Always had my nose stuck in one. I can remember dawdling home from school reading while I walked. Luckily, I was a child of the sixties, lived semi-rurally and there was little traffic! I was also lucky enough to come from a home filled with books. Dad’s choice steered towards history and biography, Mum loved her Mills and Boon. The weekly family trip to the public library was a highlight. Dad also belonged to the Folio Society and there would be regular deliveries of stunningly produced books, some of which I have now. Love for a good book has never left me.
The author I read most as a small child was Enid Blyton. Starting off with Noddy and moving on to Malory Towers, St Clare’s, and the Adventure series. I liked the Secret Seven, but it was to her Famous Five books that I returned time and time again. I had the whole series. I simply adored their adventures. I was in love with Dick, wanted desperately to be George and pestered my parents endlessly for a dog I could call Timmy! Unfortunately, my pristine collection of 1960’s editions (one bought each week for 12/6 old money – that dates me) went astray when I left home. I’m still in mourning for their loss!
When older, I developed a fascination for historical stories and loved a bit of time travel, especially if it came with the hint of a ghost story. I read Tom’s Midnight Garden, gobbled down Moondial and The Amazing Mr Blunden, read Susan Cooper and her The Dark is Rising series, Alan Garner and Rosemary Sutcliff too. I went through a brief theatrical phase when I read Noel Streatfeild and graduated to KM Peyton and her wonderful books which would probably now be categorised as YA. Most memorable: A Pattern of Roses(more timeslippy spooky stuff) and The Flambards books (set in my favourite historical period just before World War One). Aged thirteen I discovered Mary Stewart who gave me a fascination for Greece, taciturn heroes, poetry, and the classics. Mary Stewart has been with me ever since and I still reread her early novels every now and again. And, of course, I borrowed Mum’s Mills and Boon. How I loved those tales set in faraway, exotic (to me) places like South Africa and Madeira, featuring at their heart the will they, won’t they relationship between the two main characters. My favourite trope, the enforced proximity novels where the hero and heroine are stuck somewhere like a snowbound log cabin. Sigh. The romance of it all!
As an older teen, along with consuming Jane Austen, Dickens, and Emily Bronte, I also devoured the Gothic romances of Victoria Holt. I also read her as Jean Plaidy and have only latterly discovered she’s the same person! My introduction to pseudonyms and branding.
Reminiscing about my reading history it’s no surprise to see its impact on my own writing. Most writers are avid readers and I’m no exception; I think I absorbed all the influences by osmosis. From Enid Blyton I learned pace and storytelling. All the ghostly timeslips found their way into my dual narratives; my novel While I was Waiting owes a debt to Flambards and Victoria Holt’s intense Gothicism influenced my timeslip On a Falling Tide. I’m a romance writer, first and foremost, and putting a romantic relationship at the heart of the novel stems from my love of 1970’s Mills and Boon.
My main influence, though, must be Mary Stewart. Her skill in setting the reader right down in the middle of a Greek village or on a wind-swept Scottish island is second to none. Read any of her opening chapters and you’ll see what I mean. Eloquent, descriptive, precise. All the things I’m not being here! She’s also a master at blending romance and suspense. Oh – and her heroes are wonderful: capable, unshowy, caring and highly intelligent. I definitely aim to write similar male characters.
I still like to read a slightly scary book with a goodly dollop of history, classic myth and folklore thrown in. I still value having books around me, to escape into, for research and sometimes to appreciate as a thing of beauty. What’s certain is my To Be Read Pile will outlive me!
About Georgia Hill
Georgia Hill writes warm-hearted and up-lifting contemporary and dual narrative romances about love, the power and joy in being an eccentric oldie and finding yourself and your community. There’s always a dog. It’s usually a naughty spaniel of which, unfortunately, she has had much experience. She lives near the sea with her beloved dogs and husband (also beloved) and loves the books of Jane Austen, collecting elephants, and Strictly Come Dancing. She’s also a complete museum geek and finds inspiration for her books in the folklore and history of the many places in which she’s lived. She’s worked in the theatre, for a charity and as a teacher and educational consultant before finally acknowledging that making things up was what she really wanted to do. She’s been happily creating believable heroines, intriguing men, and page-turning stories ever since.
You can find her here:
Twitter/X @georgiawrites
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/georgiahill
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/georgiahill5681
Website www.georgiahill.co.uk
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.co.uk/georgiawrites
About New Beginnings at Christmas Tree Cottage
Here’s some info about New Beginnings at Christmas Tree Cottage, the latest book in my life. It’s a contemporary Christmassy romance, full of cheesy Christmas music and mince pies and is out on 29thSeptember 2023.
The little town of Lullbury Bay goes all out for Christmas and teacher Honor Martin loves it. After a bad break up she’s settled into the simple pleasures of seaside life and Christmas is the high point of her year. Glass artist Jago Pengethley, however, doesn’t share her enthusiasm. A new arrival in town, he’s here with his mother and sister to start anew after a devastating family tragedy. He doesn’t want to celebrate Christmas ever again. But, to help his sister replace bad memories with good ones, he accompanies her to all the various wild and wacky festivities Lullbury Bay offers. They keep bumping into Honor and, as Jago gets to know her better, might she be the one to teach him how to love Christmas again?
Buying links for New Beginnings at Christmas Tree Cottage:
Thank you, Georgia. I have been fortunate enough to be given an advance copy of New Beginnings at Christmas Tree Cottage and am now 80% through the book and don’t want it to end! Absolutely loving Jago and Honor’s story and already know it will be a five star review! Mx
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I also hope to have news of a new addition to The Secrets of Borteen Bay series shortly.
Recently, I was featured on the Choc Lit / Joffe Books blog. You can read my question and answer session here.
About The Secrets of Borteen Bay Series
Christmas at the Little Beach Cafe
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Morton S. Gray - Author 
I really enjoyed reading about Georgia and her childhood reading. It pretty much matches what I used to read!
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Yes and mine 😀
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