The Kinder Mermaid
My first novel 'The Kinder Mermaid' has been shortlisted from 1,700 applicants to the final 44 by Penguin Random House as part of their WriteNow mentoring programme.
Excerpt:
Burbage slow and steady track
Curbar’s hearth aflame with heather
Froggatt drops into the green
Stanage guards the gates to heaven
Emmott tells me th’rhyme each time I stop and ask what edge is that. He knows the peaks better’n I, cause Pa takes him out hunting. But when we go to visit Nannan he teaches me along’t way. We start out across Trout Sike with a drink from the rill, then he lifts me up over Rivelin Brook. It’s wide at’moment cause April showers have been filling th’skies. Lucky for us they’ve held off today. Then we see Stanage a-looming, the biggest edge there is. You keep your footing careful here, cause strong winds’ve been known to pluck little girls from their boots and whisk them away cross the moors.
