A WELCOME FROM JANET
Thanks for visiting! If you love books, history or 20th century nostalgia I hope you’ll find something of interest here.
My historical novels cover many political events and social upheavals of the previous century, and span the globe from India to Britain. I’ve written 21 books including The India Tea Series, the Jarrow Trilogy, the Durham Trilogy, and the Tyneside Sagas. My India novels start in 1904 and go through the momentous times of the final years of the British Raj. They were partly inspired by diaries, letters and old cine films belonging to my grandparents who had lived and worked in India.
The novels regularly appear in ebook bestseller charts: The Tea Planter’s Daughter was an Amazon Kindle top ten bestseller, as well as being a bestseller in France, Russia and Italy. The Jarrow Trilogy and Tyneside Sagas have topped the Kindle Family Saga category.
If like me, you grew up in the 1960’s, then you’ll love my childhood memoirs – an unashamedly nostalgic depiction of both Scotland and the North East of England in the 1960’s – the heyday of the Beatles!
If you want to get in touch or leave comments, I’d be pleased to hear from you.
All the best, Janet.
janetmacleodtrotter.wordpress.com 
I was interested to see (from our History Workshop Journal article website) that you had ancestors who also evaded the 1911 census – dressing in fancy dress.
Was this in the North-East? the coast of Durham? or Tyneside?
And I wonder if you’ve discovered their census schedule?
I’m intrigued,
best wishes,
Jill Liddington
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Hello Jill
I’m a great fan of your work!
My great aunts were from Edinburgh and this is where they spent Census night – in a cafe having a fancy dress party! There are photos of the occasion in the National Library for Scotland (George IV Bridge, Edinburgh) as my last surviving great aunt Beth (whom I knew) donated them. They are part of the Gorrie Collection. I managed to track down the census schedule to confirm that they had been absent from home in Edinburgh and recorded as ‘on holiday’. There is a post about this on the blog. (entry for Jan 16th under researching the stories).
All the best
Janet
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The Jarrow Lass – The book was a Christmas gift from my daughter in law, Jane Calder who lives in Austrailia.
Jane was born in South Shields and her mother was a local GP.
The book was interesting and kept me reading and waiting, a reminder of my young life in Ireland, South Armagh. Second eldest of 11 children, went to Belfast at 18 and saw the dock poverty, now where the big interest in the Titanic is.
The ending was great, I always had an interest writing and did a few short stories in the past. You have had a great impact on my interest and look forward to reading more. Thank you, Rita Quinn.
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Thank you very much Rita for you kind comment. As you say, there’s a lot about the Belfast docks and the Titanic in the news at the moment with the 100 years anniversary. The Jarrow Lass was originally just going to be one novel, inspired by the early life of Catherine Cookson and her mother, but I soon realised that Rose the grandmother was important too. So they ended up getting a novel each! I hope you go on to enjoy A Child of Jarrow and then Return to Jarrow which completes the story.
All the best
Janet
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I have read both the Durham Trilogy and the Jarrow trilogy and I loved both of those series. I just stumbled upon them on Amazon. But now I know that somehow you are connected to Catherine Cookson and I am very curious as to the connection.
In doing a family tree I found that my grandmother was young and left pregnant out of wedlock in the French Pyrenes in 1908. I cannot begin to imagine the hell she must have endured because of the prejudices in that time period. When my grandfather left her there he came to the United States and then impregnated another woman and married her. This woman and the baby died because of the childbirth. Oddly enough, my grandmother went to a psychic and was told to contact my grandfather because it was OK now and it would work out. She did and he sent her the money to come to the States.
Her daughter was left in France and never came to the States which now makes me curious if her story was very like that of “Kitty”.
I will be reading the rest of your books as time goes by now but I had to let you know how much I enjoyed the first 2 trilogies (I cried at least 4 times). I learned so much about true poverty in that time period and how these people endured.
Thank you for enlightening me.
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Hi Jeanette
How lovely of you to let me know how much you enjoyed the trilogies – thank you!
What an amazing family history you have – your poor grandmother must have gone through hell – but she must have been a strong person to have started a new life in America. Did you know her? Do your family live in the US now?
I used to live in the same street as Catherine Cookson once did in Newcastle – but that’s the nearest I got to meeting her in the flesh! She did though, pass on encouragement when I first began to write novels. ‘Write, write, every day!’ she said.
I hope you go on to enjoy the other novels – let me know how you get on.
Thanks for contacting me.
Best wishes
Janet
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I am amazed that you replied to my email. That was the first time I have every written a “fan letter” to anyone. I felt the emotions of each character of your books and I will definitely read all of your books as time goes by.
That grandmother died at age 49 before I was even born. She had six children. My grandfather was quite a devil his entire life. He was jailed 3 times that I have been able to verify for violations of prohibition and once for taking a shotgun after the Deputy State Treasurer of Nevada. Most difficult for my grandmother was the fact that he was a womanizer the entire time they were together. He even had a long term affair with the wife of the only doctor in town (population was probably about 3000 at that time). He was a very cold person emotionally. The other side of my family was just as dysfunctional but really interesting in its own right. I would
love to have your talent to write their stories.
Thank you so much for your response.
Jeanette Supera
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Janet, I thought it too much of a coincidence that my name is Trotter; I grew up in the North East of England in the 60’s; visited Persepolis in 1972 while living in Saudi Arabia and have published a novel, ‘The Orphan Sniper’ on Amazon – Kindle and paperback. What do you think?
Happy New Year,
Mel
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Hello Mel
thanks for getting in touch. We do seem to have things in common – including the same initials! Your spy book sounds very interesting – I’ll add it to my Kindle list. Having visited Iran in the 70s, you might enjoy my mystery novel, The Vanishing of Ruth, which follows the old Overland route.
All the best from the North East,
Janet
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Happy New Year to you Janet. I will buy The Vanishing of Ruth – keep in touch.
Regards
Mel
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Thanks Mel – will do!
All Best
Janet
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I JUST FINISHED the Jarrow Trilogy . I have been a fan of Catihrine Cookson for many years have all her books which I read over and over. Thank you for writing her story. You have become my favorite author next to Catherine Cookson. Looking forward to reading all your books.
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Hello Willmetta
How kind of you! I’m really pleased that you enjoyed the Jarrow books. There are plenty more set on Tyneside so hope you find something of interest for your Kindle! Please keep in touch and let me know how you get on. In the meantime I send greetings from the North East of England, which is looking beautiful in the snow today.
All the best
Janet
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Having Read The Beltane Fires, Chasing the Dream, A child of Jarrow,A crimson Dawn, The Darkening Skies,The Hungry Hills,The Jarrow lass,Never stand Alone,Return to Jarrow, The Suffragette and The Vanishing Of Ruth. You have become one of my favourite Authors and have reduced me to tears on quite a few occaisons. I have to say the vanishing of Ruth is not a book iI would normally have read but I really enjoyed it. As some one who has done some family research , but my family come from south of england, your books make me imagine life for working class people at those times, the struggles of everyday life. Oh how lucky was I to be born in the 50’s.
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Hello Sally
That’s lovely of you to let me know you’ve enjoyed all those novels – and that you have one or two still to go! Vanishing of Ruth was a bit of departure from the historical sagas, as you say. Having done the Overland trip myself in the 70s, I knew I had to write about it at some point, though I wasn’t sure in what form – fiction or non fiction. In the end, it just seemed to lend itself to being a mystery and I enjoyed writing in a different style. You might like to have a go at my other mystery, The Haunting of Kulah, which has a historical strand in it too.
Good luck with the family research – that’s what brings social history alive, isn’t it?
Best wishes from a fellow 50s baby!
Janet
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Hi Janet
I fell over one of your books in a book shop in durham city, i have read the JARROW LASS and i am fancinated as to how you got hold of the information, it is really really my most favourite book ever, well done.
I am living in the midlands of england but i originally come from Easington village in county durham. I was born in 1952, so yet another 50’s baby. My mam’s family came from High Pittington which is a pit village near to durham city, or was a pit village, i still think of the north east with the pits as we left the area in 1988 before the collieries had closed. My mams sister used to live at Byker, Jesmond and then on City Road, Newcastle city itself. My dads family have an uncertain past and i have tried really hard to find out more about them but they moved to easington village from the birmingham area around1910 and moved back to that area after 1945, not quite sure why, but my dad remained at easington, met my mam and married and setting in easington village. Dad died around1971 from cancer.
My mam sadly died in 2009 at the age of nearly 100! and she used to have lots of tales to tell about the past and now i wished i had wrote them all down. Fancinating stuff.
I wonder if you could let me know which books are in the durham trilogy, jarrow trilogy etc and what is your latest book out.
many thanks for a great read and for the future.
Sandra
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Hi Sandra
great to get your message – thanks very much! The Jarrow Lass began as one book, but ended up turning into a trilogy! The next instalment is A Child of Jarrow, and then Return to Jarrow. When I was researching the books, the local history society of Jarrow and Hebburn were really helpful with background detail of the times. Hebburn now also have a website and message board, if you want to take a look: http://members3.boardhost.com/hebburn/
That’s really interesting to hear about your family’s association with Easington – that is where I did a lot of my research for Never Stand Alone, the mining novel set in the times of the ’84 Strike. That is the third novel in the Durham Trilogy, so you have to start with, A Hungry Hills and then The Darkening Skies. These first two novels are set in a mining village in West Durham, so maybe there will be similarities to your mother’s family experience in High Pittington?! If you read them, please let me know what you think.
My latest book out is No Greater Love, which is a new version of The Suffragette novel with a new ending, brought out to mark the centenary of famous Northumberland suffragette, Emily Wilding Davison. http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-greater-love-Tyneside-Sagas/dp/1908359242/ref=la_B0034Q5LPQ_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1365089782&sr=1-3
All these books are also available as ebooks if you have a Kindle or e-reader.
Please keep in touch.
All the best
Janet
All these books are also available as ebooks if you have a Kindle or e-reader.
Please keep in touch.
All the best
Janet
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Thank you janet for getting back in touch with me.
I have just started reading “return to jarrow” and i just can’t put the book down, it is great.
My mam and gran used to tell me stories of when they grew up and i do wish i had taken more notice of them at the time and maybe wrote notes but i was only 8 years old when gran died at the age of 87. Mam did used to say about a family called Baker Baker who lived near High Pittington and her and her brother and sisters used to go on their land and pick the bluebells in the woods on the estate. Mam would recall the stories of a grand house. We did go back to Pittington on a few occasions and walked around St Lawrence’s church and there is a plaque in the church to the Baker Baker family Because i used to think that my mam had made a mistake and they were only called Baker, but she was right. Also my mam’s sister, aunt mary used to live at both byker and jesmond for a time. But mam would tell me of the hardship her sister faced when her sister had to take stuff to the pawnshop on a friday to get it out on monday, so sad, yet aunt mary went on to be a nurse at the RVI hospital at newcastle and later her and her husband became caretaker at the clinic on city road, newcastle. Mam was also a nurse and she worked at a place caled Whinney House then Sheriff Hill and then Dryburn hospital at Durham city. She had a younger brother who sadly was killed in the second world war by the japanese when he was only 19.
I will go onto read the durham trilogy and one day i hope to get the family history more linked up when i do the family tree. This i have promised myself to do once i retire which will be in the next couple of year.
Sorry Janet i hope i havent bored you too much, but i get carried away and i am so fascinated by anything to do with the great north east of england.
Many thanks for you wonderful books
Kind regards
love
sandra nicholls (nee pearson)
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Hello Sandra
You have a really interesting family background – you must find out more when you have the time! Pittington is a lovely spot.
There is some information in the archives at Durham University about the Baker Bakers (for several generations just called Baker!) Here is the link:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/library/asc/collection_information/cldload/?collno=9
Interesting that your mother was a nurse and ended up at Dryburn, which all of us who grew up in Durham knew well. Hope you enjoy the Durham mining trilogy. Where are your family living now?
All the best
Janet
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Hello Janet
Thank you so much for getting back in touch with me. I love pittington area, especialy St Lawrence’s church were a few members of my mothers family are buried Thank you for the link i will have a look at that.
I have just started reading THE HUNGRY HILLS and already i just dont want to put it down. I have passed my Jarrow trilogy books onto my friend to read. They were great but i just couldnt believe the terrible time that Catherine Cookson had had. She was my mam’s favourite writer because she could picture the area that catherine wrote about because my aunt mary lived around there for years.
I moved to the midlands, back in 1988 due to a job relocation on the part of the husband at the time, but after two years down her i finally got away from him, a long story and one which i have started to put pen to paper about. I stayed in the midlands. I brought my mam down to the area and she sadly died at the age of 99 (ten months from her telegram) back in 2009. I have a few relative living in the north east, but we sadly are not in touch with each other, something else i intend to change in the future. My dad grew up with his gran from the age of 8 at easington village in some small houses, now long gone that used to stand opposite THE KINGS HEAD inn, which is now a block of flats.
I think the northeast has a fantastic and fascinating history and i will always be proud to be from that area.
Once again, thank you so much for getting in touch.
take care
sandra
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Pleasure Sandra! Please keep in touch.
Greetings from the North East,
Janet
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Hi Janet
Just a quickie to say that I have just finished reading THE HUNGRY HILLS and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. Oh how I wanted Reginald to come a cropper!!!!! Which village in County Durham was it based on? I wondered if Whitton Grange was actually Witton Gilbert or was it Langley Park? Also were there pits called the Beatrice and the Eleanor because it seems to ring a bell in my memory somewhere.
I have just started the second book in the trilogy and I just wished I didn’t have to go to work because I just want to read this from start to finish in one hit. Great.
Many thanks for excellent books and I will get mine sorted one of these days when I retire, which will be next year.
sandra x
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Hi Sandra
thanks for your lovely feedback! Whitton Grange was based on an amalgam of villages in West Durham – but I suppose the one that was most in my mind was Esh Winning. As far as I know, the Beatrice and Eleanor were fictional, but as coal owners sometimes named pits after their offspring then it’s very possible that there could be historical ones out there!
Really glad that you are now enjoying The Darkening Skies – even if it is tempting you away from work! Just think of all that reading time you will have once you retire. Please keep in touch.
All the best from the North East,
Janet
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Hi Janet.
I have read quite a number of your books.and thoroughly enjoyed everyone of them.I recently purchased A child of jarrow.which I am about to read. I was Born and Bred in the Northeast of England .and now Live in Dorking in the Southeast.after meeting and marrying my Late Husband.I feel by reading your books I can relate to my childhood my Late father Having been a Coalminer.Please keep them coming
BEST WISHES
MARGARET TAYLOR
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Hello Margaret
thanks very much for getting in contact – I’m really pleased you are enjoying the novels! Whereabouts in the North East were you born? Interesting to hear that your father was a miner. Just the other day I attended the Durham Miners’ Gala which is still a huge day out, despite all the mines in the area having closed. Many of the colliery bands are still active and there were great processions of banners marching behind. As a miner’s daughter, you would have been very proud!
I hope you enjoy A child of Jarrow and then go on to read Return to Jarrow. Thanks again for your lovely message of support.
All the best
Janet
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Hello Janet
Thank you for replying to my comment.
Just a little background of myself, I was Born in Sunderland and lived in Grangetown.I attended Commercial Road Girls secondary school.until 1956 I worked as a clerk at Brian Mills moved on to Jackson the tailors until I joined the Women’s Royal Army Corp’ s in 1961 where I then meet my future Husband, we married in 1964 My father worked in Seaham Colliery also known as the Nak for over 40 years I remember how he came home black in those DAY’s ( no showers) had to use the tin bath in front of the fire .We used to go to all the Durham Gala’ s such a Great Day out for all the family
Best wishes
Margaret
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Hi Margaret
That’s all really interesting. When I was researching my novel, Never Stand Alone, (which is based on the deep mines of the Durham coast) a friend from Easington took me and my kids for a day on the beach at Seaham. By then, the pit was closed. All that stretch of coast is good for walking and cycling now.
I send greetings from the sunny North East!
Best wishes
Janet
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Hi Janet
Thank you.I look forward to reading Never Stand Alone.so pleased you all enjoyed your time at the Beach at Seaham..my sister often goes there .mostly to the shops she still lives in Houghton-le- Spring .I hope to visit the Northeast in the very near future to visit my siblings
Best Wishes
Margaret
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Have a great visit Margaret!
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Hello Janet, your article about Iran brought me back so many memories. Could you please contact me. I need to ask you about the pictures. Thank you.
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Hi Ali
glad you enjoyed the blog post.
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Hi Janet
How are you? Well we have just come back from a holiday at USA and it was fantastic. I went with my husband Paul and we stayed for most of the time with my aunt and uncle. The uncle I had never met before and it turned out to be really great. My aunt I saw 10 years ago and we stayed at their house at Fairfield, Connecticut. We also met up with three of my cousins, one of which I saw 10 years ago, and the other two around 50 years ago! It was fantastic. We stayed at one of the cousins for four days on Manhattan in his apartment which overlooked the water. We had a day trip to Boston and I am so glad that we hired a car, everything is miles apart. The beach near to my aunt’s house at Fairfield was just lovely, looking over Long Island Sound. The reason that I am telling you is the fact that my aunt, is one of my dad’s sisters and she was born at Easington Colliery, County Durham, 86 years ago. She met and married an American GI and the she moved to USA back in 1947 were she became a model and then went on to have three boys. Another reason I am writing, I took the Teaplanters daughter to read on the flight and it is such a fantastic story. It kept me gripped when we flew during the night and all the rest of the plane seemed to be asleep except for me. What a fantastic read. I have read the Durham trilogies and the Jarrow ones and now I am working my way through the Tyneside one, fabulous.
Best wishes
Sandra
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Hello Sandra – what a fantastic trip, sounds like your relations did you proud! Thanks very much for your kind comments about The Tea Planter’s Daughter – sorry it kept you awake the whole flight, but glad you enjoyed it! You might be interested to know that I’m writing a sequel at the moment called The Planters’ Brides, set in the 1920s, so I’ll let you know when that becomes available. All the best and thanks for keeping in touch,
Janet
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I have just finished reading the Jarrow Trilogy on my Kindle Fire and loved it. I have been reading Catherine Cookson for years and have all her books and can keep going back to read them again. When I got the Kindle last month I saw your book in the list and bought it and I’ve not been disappointed. I’ve also bought the Durham Trilogy and feel sure I’ll enjoy that as much. I’ll certainly check out other novels by you because you write my sort of novel. Being a 70 year old disabled person gives me plenty of time for reading and I’m really pleased to have found another author that I enjoy reading.
Thank you Janet for extending my reading pleasure.
Joan
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Hello Joan – what a lovely message, thank you! I’m really pleased that you enjoyed the Jarrow books and hope the Durham Trilogy brings you pleasure too. Do you have connections with the North East of England? I’ve just completed The Planter’s Bride (the sequel to The Tea Planter’s Daughter) which will be out soon. Please keep in touch and let me know how you get on with the other novels.
Best wishes
Janet
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Hello Janet
I have just discovered your books through my daughter buying me an ebook for Xmas and telling me I would probably enjoy reading Return to Jarrow, I started reading it and realised it was the last in the trilogy so downloaded the other two! I have just finished all three and thoroughly enjoyed every minute! I stopped reading a few years ago always said I didn’t have time! well I now read every evening before bed and sleep better for it, so thank you! I am totally hooked on your books and have downloaded your Vanishing Ruth and Tea planters daughter, is their a sequence with the tea planters books as I have noticed a couple with similar titles? Many thanks for inspiring me to read again, I only now know how much I missed it.
Regards
Pauline
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Hello Pauline – how wonderful to get your lovely comments! Thanks so much. I’m really glad that the novels have kick-started your appetite for reading once more.
You’re right about the India Tea novels – they do come in sequence. The first one is The Tea Planter’s Daughter (originally called The Tea Planter’s Lass) and the sequel is The Planter’s Bride.
Hope you enjoy them too!
Very best wishes
Janet
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I could not agree more with Pauline. Since I got my Kindle a couple of years ago I am reading even more than I ever did before. I always have it with me so even when I have just a few minutes I can read. I think at this point I have read all of your books and have loved every one of them. I am a really big fan of your writing. You have a great talent and I always just transport myself to where ever your location is for the story. I am always waiting for the next one to come out.
Jeanette
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Oh Jeanette, thank you! Really kind of you to say so. The Planter’s Bride is the most recent. Have you read it?
Best wishes
Janet
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I’ve just finished the Jarrow Trilogy and wanted to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Your portrayal of Catherine cooks on brought the author to life for me. It is a pity that my Mum was no longer with us as I know how much she would of learning about Mrs. Cooks on, as she was one oy Mother’s favourite authors. Due in part to some of the stories made her gain a insight into the lives of the people of Northern England, and her own mother’s reluctance to talk about the past. My own Mum came to Canada in 1925 after my grandfather died from consumption that he caught as a result of being a POW during the first world war and remembered very little of living there and remembered nothing of her father. After coming to Canada my Nan didn’t want to talk about my grandfather or their past life in England.
Thank you so much for making the area that is so distant in miles but close in heart because it produced one of the finest woman I know, my mother.
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Dear Mary Ann
You’re very kind to share your comments on the Trilogy and your family story. How very traumatic it must have been for your Nan – and very brave of her to start a new life in Canada. I’m pleased that the books have been able to give you a flavour of where your mother came from and sorry that she didn’t get to read them. Perhaps you’ll get to visit NE England some day?
I really appreciate you getting in touch – a wonderful start to my writing day! I hope you might try some of the other North East sagas. Let me know if you do.
Best wishes and “gan canny” as they say over here.
Janet
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Dear Janet, I’m attending a conference in August on World War One.The conference is hosted by London University and one of the guest speakers is Jay Winter. The subject of my paper is pacifism in fiction. My primary source is ‘A Crimson Dawn’. I wonder if you would like to comment on how fiction in general, and your novel in particular, helps us to understand pacifism at the beginning of the twentieth century? I also wonder if you would share with me your thoughts on how literature has a special ability to explore the complexity of historical issues such as pacifism. What in particular does your novel help us to understand about the situation for pacifists in World War One.
If you are kind enough to respond to my questions, may I quote your answer(s)?
I really look forward to hearing from you, Janet.
With all good wishes and many thanks,
Jane
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Hello Jane
thanks for getting in touch – the conference sounds really interesting. I’ll give it some thought and reply to you by email though I have a lot on in the next few weeks so bear with me!
Kind regards
Janet
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Dear Janet,
Thank you so much. This is very kind of you. I do appreciate that you have a great deal to do but hope that you can give me a few ideas before July 31, when I leave for London. I live in Sweden now.
With very many thanks, Janet.
And wishing you all the very best,
Jane
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Being far from my roots (im a Gateshead Lass from the 1950’s now living in New Zealand) it’s a breath of ‘fresh’ air reading your books.
We take so much for granted in what we are told about our families that it can be a real eye opener when the veneer of respectability is peeled away.
Researching the family history I’ve discovered so much, from ancient times when we were directly descended from the ruling families of Northumbria, to ancestors burned at the stake for their religious writings, which was the precursor to the King James Bible. In more recent times we were deep in the slums in the tenements of Oakwellgate in Gateshead – so much for being brought up a ‘snob’. At least I know I come from a long line of rebel rousers!
Look forward to being transported in your books
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Hello Sue
thanks for your great message from across the seas! Which novels have you read so far? You might particularly enjoy A Crimson Dawn as it is set largely in and around Gateshead in the Edwardian/1st World War period. Keep in touch and let me know how you get on.
All the very best
Janet
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Having been a Catherine Cookson fan for years, I have all her books, I thought I’d read your Jarrow Trilogy. I thoroughly enjoyed it I then read the Durham trilogy, another fantastic read, I have now started to read The Tea Planters Daughter and have in my Kindle account the follow on books so I can carry on the line.
I will eventually get all your books as you write the kind of books I love to read. They are the kind that pull you into the story so you feel as if you’re part of it. Please carry on writing as I love your work, I’m 71 now but I hope to have enough years left so I can read all you write.
All the best
Joan
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Wow Joan – you’ve made my day! What a lovely message and so kind of you to take the trouble to write. I will certainly keep on writing – but I’ve got a feeling you are much quicker at reading!
Thanks for your encouragement – please keep in touch.
All best wishes
Janet
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Hello,
i’m french, l don’t speak very well english. But, l had just say thank you for your book “the tea Planter’s daughter”. It’s a fabelous story. Thank you too much. Perhaps, you write anothers books and i wish they’ll be traduct in french.
Véronique
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Bonjour Veronique! Merci beaucoup. Vous etes tres aimable! J’espère qu’il y aura un autre de mes romans traduits en français l’année prochaine. Je vous ferai savoir. S’il vous plaît de rester en contact.
meilleurs voeux
Janet
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Merci pour votre réponse en français….Oui, je veux bien que vous me teniez au courant si un autre de vos livres est traduit. Merci encore beaucoup de cette belle histoire. Maintenant, que je peux dire quelques mots en français, je voudrais rajouter que j’ai beaucoup aimé les description concernant l’Inde. On sent que vous y avez vécu et, du coup, on peut davantage s’imaginer les paysages et les gens. Merci de faire partager votre expérience.
Véronique
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mon plaisir!
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Dear Janet
the night is still vigorous but my brain is worn out with the trauma of reading your book “The Haunting of Kulah”. My gosh what a tangled plot you weave with all those hidden elements and complex characters remaining essentially unresolved until the last minute. You are incredibly skilled as a linguist and as a writer and so I am delighted that Ruth brought your book back from Skye. Now that it has been read I can rest and know that Ally is safe and sound in the arms of her beloved John. Your dear dad and mum would be so proud of you and uncle John DK must now bestow on you the gold medal of the house of Suardal for services to the Clan MacLeod, to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, to the people and community of the faithful and to a new nation that has been able to express its frustration through the referendum process, which will in time lead to a better deal for the Scots. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, a truly great read.
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Dear Ian
delighted that Kulah went travelling to the far reaches of Australia! Very kind of you to make such wonderful comments too. There are a couple of copies circulating in the foothills of the Himalayas at the moment, gifted to fellow travellers on our recent trip to India. We were following in the footsteps of wee Sheila and her parents (my grandfather was a forester there between the Word Wars) and you’ll be pleased to hear that we also stayed in McLeod Ganj where the Dalai Lama lives! We MacLeods roam everywhere – and I’d love to know more about the McLeod in India who gave his name to this town (the upper part of Dharhamshala)
Hold Fast!
Janet
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I so much enjoyed the India Tea novels. Wonderfully told, enchanting… X
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Thank you Angie! So kind of you to say so. I’m working on another India novel at the moment.
All the best
Janet
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I thought the “India Tea” novels were so wonderfully told. Enchanting… X
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Thank you Angie – there will be a new one out at the end of the year 🙂
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I love all of your books and I look forward to your next book coming out. My favourite author!
Best wishes
Sandra
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Aw thanks Sandra – you are one of my favourite readers!
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Janet I have read and own all of Catherine Cookson’s books. She has always been one of my favorites. Now I have just finished your Jarrrow books and fine at the end that Kitty was in fact non other than Catherine Cookson. I fid not see that one coming. Please explain this to me. I am sure I will not sleep until I get your reply!!! The books were so well written. What knowledge you have about this time period.
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Hello Donna – great to hear from you and glad you enjoyed the Jarrow novels. I used to be in contact by letter with Catherine Cookson who lived near me in Newcastle years ago and having read her autobiography Our Kate, I was so inspired by her story that I wanted to write a fictional version of it. When researching the Jarrow of those days, I decided that it was also important to tell the story of the grandmother and mother – 3 strong but very different people. I wanted to give Kate a voice and tell it from the mother’s point of view, not just Catherine’s. Obviously, as a fictional version, some of it is supposition but based on what life was like for women like them in 19th century Tyneside. The local history group were very helpful in the research.
Do you live in the North East of England Donna?
All the best
Janet
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Janet I live in Arkansas in USA. I love anything to do with England. I finally came for a visit in 2013. Hope for another in 2016. We came north to Holmfirth and I loved that area. Also the Cotswolds. The stories of history are my favorite. I can see now that I will have to read Our Kate again. I am now reading The Tea Planters. Thank you so much for your reply. I am so happy that I have talked with someone who had contact with one of my favoriter writers. And I may have to at your name to that list. Thank you again. Donna
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Hi Donna – you’re quite a distance from the North East of England then! Lovely that you got a trip over here a couple of years ago – you’ll have to come back again and come further north to Tyneside!
I hope you enjoy the tea novels and try some of the other ones set on Tyneside and in County Durham. Keep in touch.
Best wishes
Janet
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Hi Janet
I have also read all of your books and you are by far my favourite writer. I love the books about Catherine Cookson, her mam and gran. As you say 3 very different yet strong women. I have just read my first Catherine Cookson book – The 15 Streets and i also found that facinating. My mam, alas now dead, had read all of Catherine Cookson books and i know she would have loved your books as well, especially the one about Catherine. Keep up the good work.
Best wishes
Sandra
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Thanks Sandra – you never fail to lift my spirits with your great support! Must get back to the novel now ….!
All best
Janet
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Dear Janet,
I have just read The Durham Trilogy and used numerous hankies.
My Dad was a Durham miner, born in 1911 and I grew up in a ‘pit-village’, leaving the County in 1963 to go to teacher Training College in Liverpool. My parents migrated to the Nottinghamshire coalfield in 1961 and I remember my Dad returning from the pit having tossed his ‘bait’ to the lads on the picket-line and then going off to tend his friend’s vegetable plot.
Having read your account of the 1984 strike made me glad that my Dad had died in 1981 and did not have to endure it, because he was a staunch ‘Union Man’.
The bonds between marras are almost impossible to communicate to anyone outside of a mining community but you have captured the essence of loyalty and trust.
Your trilogy could have been part of my family history. I recognised characters, identified parallel stories, and ‘heard ‘ the voices and the dialect I had long left behind.
You have opened the floodgates of memories.
I was privileged to meet Catherine Cookson and hear her speak at a luncheon in the early 1970’s where she spoke lovingly of her ‘Grand-da and the influence upon her of Lord Chesterfield’s letters to his (illegitimate ) son. Afterwards I read many of her books.
I am saving the Jarrow trilogy to read whilst on holiday and look forward to your interpretaion of the strong characters Catherine described when addressing us.
Gill
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Dear Gill,
I’m so very touched by your kind comments about the Durham novels – and glad that they resonated with you and brought back memories of your Dad and his past. Are your family still settled in the Nottinghamshire area?
The Hungry Hills was my very first saga and I had a strong desire to write about Durham (where I grew up) and its mining people. It’s a world that has now disappeared but is still strong in the collective memory.
I hope you enjoy the Jarrow ones too – and have a great holiday!
Thanks very much for taking the trouble to write and share your memories.
Best wishes
Janet
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Just finished the India tea series (within a week!), amazing! Book kept me enthralled throughout. Please say there’s going to be more? I’m hooked on the story of Adela and Sam
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Hi Kelly – thank you so much for your lovely comment and feedback on the tea novels. I wish I could write them as fast as you read them! At the moment I’m writing a stand-alone British India novel but will let you know if the series is to continue. All the best, Janet
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I absolutely loved the India Tea series, which I discovered via my Kindle last week! Couldn’t stop until I had finished all three, but now feel dejected to have finished!! My father was born in 1911 in Madras, later the family settled in Cochin, and my dad was packed off to boarding school in Darjeeling. My grandmother was Indian and grandfather British, so it was fascinating to read your stories which made my family history come alive. So many little details reminded me of things about my own family! You even mentioned the 15th Punjab regiment which was my uncle’s regiment during WW2. Hated getting to the end of the third book – do hope you one day will consider a fourth! Meanwhile, I’ll be reading some more of your wonderful work!
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Dear Rose – that is so kind of you! I’m delighted you’ve enjoyed the whole series – and amazed at how quickly you’ve read them! How interesting that your family history resonates with some of the stories and settings. Where are you and your family living now?
Let me know how you get on with some of the other novels – and please keep in touch.
All the best
Janet
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I just finished the India Tea series….AMAZING!! Will there be a fourth book???? I NEED to know what happens to Adela’s son….
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Hi Tracy
glad you’ve enjoyed the books! Watch this space but I’m hoping to write a fourth and final one…
In the meantime I’m working on a novel set in 19th century Britain and India which should be out later this year – so hope that might be of interest.
Thanks for getting in touch. Do you have any connections with India?
All best
Janet
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Sorry to pounce on someone else’s post. I myself have just finished the series too and have come looking to see if there will be a 4th book. This is fantastic news and I am very much looking forward to reading it.
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Hi Gemma – happy for you to pounce on the post! It means I can give you a further update. The fourth and final novel in the India Tea Series, THE SECRETS OF THE TEA GARDEN, will be published in August. I’ll be putting up more information as we get nearer. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the series so far and thanks for letting me know. Best wishes, Janet
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Discovered ‘You’ this year through my Christmas present of a Kindle. The Indian Tea Series were great, but my favourite to date was the Jacobite Lass. All my history lessons came to the fore, I just couldn’t stop reading it, also the one about the Muscovy lass, brilliant. Have recommended you to a friend so hopefully she will enjoy them too. Many thanks 😋
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Hi Helen
thanks very much for your kind and generous comments! Glad you were given such a useful Christmas pressie!
Thanks also for passing on the recommendation to your friend – much appreciated. I hope you might enjoy some of the other novels too.
All the very best
Janet
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Hi Janet I just love your books I really enjoyed the Jarrow series I have been a great fan of Catherine Cookson read all her books , so am now making my way through yours. Keep them coming. All the best for 2018
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Thank you Marie – very kind of you! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the Jarrow books. Let me know how you get on with some of the other novels. It would be great if you kept in touch. Kind regards, Janet
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I have just finished The Tea Planters Daughter, which I have to confess to being so riveted to it, that other duties just went on hold. I am naturally a book worm, as was when younger, a book always hidden under my desk during my teens and I have always managed to lose myself in a book or two on holidays. My congratulations to you for such a wonderful book, the characters were so alive, the landscapes so well described, the emotions all the way through, all of it was for me anyway, compelling reading. Thank you.
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So kind of you Rosabel! I’m very glad that you enjoyed The Tea Planter’s Daughter. I always have to have a book on the go too. I hope you might go on to read some of the other novels in the India Tea Series. Let me know if you do. All the very best – and thanks for your kind comments, Janet
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Yes I have enjoyed all your books, the Jacobite series,Indian tea planter series etc. I think my favourite was Far from the Pasmina Mountains, I was there crossing the mountains in all weathers. Shame you didn’t get the gold award, maybe next time. Look forward to your next one
Regards Helen Connolly
Sent from my iPad
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Hello Helen – thanks for the lovely comment! I’m very pleased you enjoyed In the Far Pashmina Mountains in particular – I found it a fascinating period of history to research. I’ll keep you updated about the next novel which starts a new series set in Britain and India. All the very best, Janet.
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I have just finished all four books in The Tea Planter Series and loved them all so much, but now I want to know more about the Robsons and Belgooree .Can you please write another instalment of life in the tea gardens. I learned so much about India from your books and it was fascinating. Thank you, Marcia
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Hello Marcia, thanks very much for your kind comments and feedback on the India Tea series – lovely! I’m really happy that you enjoyed them and found them informative too. I don’t have plans at the moment to continue the series, as I’m working on a new one that is also set in India and Britain – The Raj Hotel Series. But I’ll let you know if I ever revisit the Robsons and Belgooree! All the very best, Janet
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Emerald Affair. Whilst reading, I could feel the heat from India all the way over here, on a very gloomy and rainy day. It was also wonderful to see the Gurkhas mentioned as well 🙂
I look forward to reading more of your work!
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Hello Cornelia, thank you so much for your kind comment – so glad you enjoyed the novel. The sequel to the Emerald Affair will be coming out in November, so I hope you’ll enjoy that too. All the best, Janet.
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Dear Janet,
I am not sure how but stumbled onto your books and your blog. It is so heartening to see you reply to your readers that I could not stop myself from writing. I come from the state of Assam, where I believe your tea book series are based in and currently staying in the UK as an academic. We are so proud of our tea and tea gardens and our heritage, it is lovely to see it written about from the perspective of a British. I am yet to read your books but will do so. Regards, Lipika
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Namaste Lipika! Thank you for your kind words. Assam is a beautiful place with wonderful people, wildlife, scenery and tea. You are right to be proud of your home. I hope you enjoy the novels when you have time. What are you studying or teaching? Best wishes, Janet
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Hi Lipika
You will not be disappointed with Janet’s books as they are fantastic! She is my all time favourite author and I have read all of her books so far – with hopefully more to come! In fact I am planning on reading them again at some point. They are great stories and very informative. I originally lived in County Durham with several relatives living in and around Newcastle-upon-Tyne, so I have a great interest in the books connected to the North East. Enjoy!
Best wishes
Sandra x
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Thanks very much, Sandra! You’ve always been so kind and supportive. Next one coming out in early December – THE SAPPHIRE CHILD x
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Thank you Janet I’ll be looking out for the book in December.
Best wishes
Sandra x
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Please write a sequel to The Sapphire Girl. Those two books are the best books I have read in years!!!!
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Thank you very much, Carolyn! That’s a lovely endorsement and will encourage me to get on with writing the final book in the series! All the best, Janet
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All I can say is I have loved all your books. Love all the ‘series’ books that you do. Can’t wait for the next one x
Sent from my iPad
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Janet, you are my all time favourite author. I have read all of your books and now about to re-read the ones about the north east. An area dear to my heart as I grew up there and lived there for 36 years. I now live in the Midlands but your books transport me back there. I am still putting together my life story book and one day, who knows, I might get it finished. Take care and keep on writing. You are fantastic and clearly one of the most interesting people that I have ever know. Stay safe. X
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Hi Sandra, you always know how to lift my spirits! I’m glad to hear you’re putting together your recollections of the North East – perhaps you’ll let me read some of it one day? All the best with it and keep well and safe too. Janet x
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Sandra are you the Sandra I know from the fan club? We have the same taste in books. I have loved The Tea Garden series and now the Raj Hotel series. Looking forward to the next one,
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Thanks very much for your kind comments, Marcia! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the India novels. 🙂
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Thanks very much, Helen! I’ll try and keep them coming! All the best x
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i love the tea garden series and hope there will be another sequel soon…so exciting and stirringly written…thanks for that! Hopefully there will be some more exciting episodes!
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Thank you Sigi! There may be a follow-up novella in the pipeline …. will keep you posted! All the best, Janet
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Hi Janet,
My friend introduced me to your book some years ago, the tea planters wife.
I fell In love with it and have been slowly making my way through them.
I wanted to ask if you’d be doing any London tours. I would love to attend any of your events if you do happen to come down this way.
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Hi, how kind of you to say so! I’m really glad you’re enjoying the India Tea Series. I haven’t done any events for quite a while and don’t often get to London, but I’ll certainly let you know if I do. Thanks very much for asking. Take care, Janet
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