I've written a novel!
- Chloe Hall
- Feb 28, 2024
- 3 min read
I am so excited to announce that my debut novel, Dragging a Donkey through Treacle, is coming out on Friday 22nd March! Below is the cover design, my blurb and a short extract. I really hope that you enjoy reading it.
The blurb
It’s hard to solve a mystery when you can’t even remember there’s a mystery to solve…
Suffering from partial amnesia, and unable to recall the events surrounding the accident that caused this state, twenty-one year old Dipali Kaur is placed under the care of Dr Thorn, a genial therapist who unfortunately has his own mental health problems.
Who did Dipali inadvertently save from plunging to their death? Does a six-year-old boy on a red tricycle really have any answers? And just who is the alluringly mysterious young man she meets on a visit to a WWI battlefield in France?
Throughout her witty, entertaining and occasionally poignant narration, Dipali highlights the fact that nothing in her life is as straightforward as it may seem, but her thoughts about everything and everyone are affirming and uplifting.
This is an extract from the first chapter. My main character, a young woman called Dipali, and her basset hound, Rufus, are out on their early morning walk.
Today something felt different. Rufus alerted me by abruptly stopping in his tracks. His stance was rigid, head raised, ears pricked, as if he had seen a cat or a pigeon. I followed his stare. A grey squirrel was up on its hind legs, provocatively taunting the dog, confident in its escape.
But there was something else. Near the far end of the viaduct, a figure appeared to be standing on top of the barrier, right on the edge. I was seventy metres away, and the silhouette didn’t reveal any details.
I felt how the dog looked. However, Rufus quickly recovered his poise, and was tugging determinedly at an oversized stick, fit for a comedy sketch in which the dog would become ever more exasperated trying to batter through too small a gap in the opened gateway.
‘Oh, Rufus, just leave the bloody thing alone! It’s never going to work.’
Bizarrely, the first idea that came into my head was that a member of the local mindfulness group was performing an alarmingly precarious ritual. But within a few seconds I felt my mouth turn dry and my heartrate increase as the alternative reality dawned on me. This was surely something much darker. Somebody was a step away from oblivion.
I didn’t know what to do. Should I head back and pretend I hadn’t seen anything? Could I write it off as a trick of the light? But instinctively I knew. I had no choice.
‘Come on, Rufus. Shall we see what this is about?’ I wanted to sound matter of fact but there was a tell-tale tremble in my voice. I tried to clip on the lead, but Rufus scrabbled to get away. Apprehensively, I scuffed my way on.
As the distance shortened, I felt more acutely drawn to the familiar features of the viaduct. The rusty sign saying 30; the old metal clamps still bracing the blockwork skeleton of the barrier; and the roughly carved coping stones, with the awkward gap where one had long ago plunged to the valley floor.
By now I was about halfway along the track. What on earth was I going to say? Should I ring for help? But that would mean backing away out of earshot, and everybody always says that I’m too loud on the phone… Could overhearing a panicky 999 call be the final straw? What if I got it completely wrong? I couldn’t imagine the guilt.
Thank you for taking the time to look at this extract.
My book will be available in hardback format from United Writers, Amazon and all good book shops. It will also be available in eBook format from Amazon. Please click on the links below if you would like to find out more.
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