I have something to show you! 😭Waaaaa!💃🎉
My copies of The Wise Witch of Orkney have arrived and loooook! 😭
Wolves in this period were hunted and associated with the Devil, just like troublesome women and quarrelsome dames! I'm so pleased one of the wolves made it into the cover 🐺📚
#HistoricalFiction #WitchLit #Wolves #ReadingRecommendations #BooksBooksBooks 📚✍️✨
I'm so sorry for the sniffing, ew. But this is one video you can't film again 😬 And sorry for the little swear eek, didn't notice that until I watched it back!
Here I am opening the bag of proof copies of my novel The Wise Witch of Orkney, for some reason wittering on about my husband's bike (🤦♀️) and making some quite strange noises...
What a moment 📚📚📚📚📚📚📚🎉💃🎉💃🎉
#HistoricalFiction #WitchLit #Orkney #MyBook #WhataMoment 😭📚
How good do these look?! The Wise Witch of Orkney book cover out and about in the world 📚 Which one of these do you think would be the coolest?
Maybe the billboards aren't real (yet!) but everything's starting to feel very real at the moment, and it doesn't hurt to dream does it? 😄
The final picture is me at the Ring of Brodgar stone circle in Orkney, dreaming that one day my book would be published, in the hands of readers (and maybe even on a billboard!)
#HistoricalFiction #WitchLit #BookCover #AuthorLife #AuthorsofInstagram 📚
Nothing like starting the weekend with a cry 😄
Elspet has a song 💕✍️
My husband is a man of few words. Music is everything to him. It is what books are to me (but it takes up a lot less room in our house😄) I sometimes wonder if we'd have stayed together if we hadn't courted in the days of mix tapes so he could tell me how he felt!
I wrote before about how thoughtfully and carefully he read The Wise Witch of Orkney, and today he sent me this song, Kittiwaako by Erland Cooper, and said I think this is Elspet's song 😭
I've just listened and my word it is beautiful 💕 It's absolutely perfect. From Cooper's album Solan Goose, where he takes inspiration from Orcadian birds.
#HistoricalFiction #ErlandCooper #Orkney #lovelyman #hotguyreading 😄📚✍️🎶🎵🎶
I'm not certain I'm doing any of these things well mind you, but I do feel alive! 😄📚✍️
The juggle is real! Writing a follow up book, continuing to promote The Wise Witch of Orkney, earning a living and keeping a family alive. How is one person supposed to do all this? 🤦♀️🥵
#HistoricalFiction #WritingLife #AuthorLife #authorsofinstagram #juggle ✍️📚
I was lucky enough to chat to the woman, the legend, 'the DJ with the best music taste in local radio'* Paulette Edwards, again this morning on BBC Radio Sheffield, all about The Wise Witch of Orkney and living a creative life in the Hope Valley ✍️📚
I didn't realise the format would be a coach trip with Paulette, so forgive me if I sound a bit gormless and confused 😄
Last time I spoke to Paulette, it was from my car on tour in Orkney and we discussed dancing naked and wantonly in the moonlight on Stanton Moor 😄💃🌛 This time it was all about writing inspiration and where to get a decent brew in the valley! Always a pleasure 😊
Link to listen in my stories. Go to 11.13 😊✍️📚
#HistoricalFiction #AuthorLife #HopeValley #WritingLife #LiveInHope ✍️
*This quote is from me by the way 😄Paulette plays some total bangers!
'The desire to discover wickedness invariably found it'. This quote from Steven Veerapen's Witches: A King's Obsession stopped me in my tracks 📚 How true it is.
I am thoroughly enjoying this book and honoured to be sharing a stage with Steven and the incredible CJ Cooke as part of Paisley Book Festival. Please do come along and hear us chat about the witch trials in fiction and non-fiction.
King James VI is a shadowy figure in The Wise Witch of Orkney, appearing only a few times 'on stage'. But his actions loom large and drive the whole plot of the book in one way or another 📚✍️ I can't wait to discuss this fascinating and meaty topic with such experts!
#Paisley #WitchTrials #HistoricalFiction #KingJames #WitchLit ✍️📚
Dr Louise Newson has inspired and empowered me, and thousands of other women, to embrace living rich, fulfilling lives into midlife and beyond. So it means THE WORLD to me that she's read and enjoyed The Wise Witch of Orkney!
Dr Newson says: "The Wise Witch of Orkney is a powerful, evocative novel that brings to life a little-known chapter of history with heart and authenticity. Anna’s storytelling is immersive and her characters unforgettable. A must-read.”
Huge thank you Dr Newson for reading my book and for the important work you do.
The Wise Witch of Orkney tells the story of Elspet, a wise woman from Orkney who's summoned to court to care for the king's new bride, Anna of Denmark.
Elspet is trapped between two impossible choices - for she cannot refuse the queen, and she cannot be discovered by the witch-hunting king.
While Elspet struggles to hide her secret identity in a court that wishes her dead, another woman seeks her aid: Kitty Muirhead, outcast, persecuted and desperate to escape the shadows of her past. Kitty and the queen could not be more different, but they may yet be each other's salvation.
The hunt is closing in on the three women. They must concoct a reckless plan to save one another before that fearful death sentence is cast upon them - witch.
One of the themes of the book is female friendship and community, and how this was impacted by the threat of the witch trials. I love to write about older women - whose lives I don't think we always see represented enough in fiction - continuing to live interesting, adventurous lives.
#HistoricalFiction #Menopause #BookRecommendation #BookReview #DrLouiseNewson
The first time I went to Wigtown was in 2022, and my daughter and I bought so many books that when we sat outside for a cup of tea some passers-by stopped and started browsing as they thought it was a stall 😄📚 When we said 'Hands off, these are today's purchases 😄' they laughed at us and insisted on taking this photo!
So I was honoured to be asked to return for the phenomenal Wigtown Spring Weekend. Thank you to @associationwigtownbooksellers@readinglasses17@oldbankbooks and all the organisers, what a wonderful book loving festival 💕📚
I met Kirsten MacQuarrie @glasgowgallerina whose book Remember the Rowan I am loving 😍📚Kirsten interviewed my so expertly, with thoughtful, kind and insightful questions 🙏📚
And I was reunited with the wonderful Flora Johnston @florajowriter who I first met in 2019 at @MoniackMhor the place where cosmic things happen! We were taught so brilliantly by James Robertson and Cynthia Rogerson @cynthiarogersonauthor whilst dreaming of being published authors!
Flora now has three extraordinary historical fiction titles to her name and the superb James Robertson was also on the bill which made it feel even more special 📚✍️
The sort of weekend that writer dreams are made of ✍️📚💕✨📚
#Wigtown #WigtownBookFestival #AuthorLife #HistoricalFiction #BookShopping ✍️📚
It's happened! I've been asked for my rider 😄✍️📚
Will these moments that set me off feeling epically excited again ever stop? 😄 The internet is full of pictures of me grinning like a loon and I don't even mind! If you can't get excited as your dream comes true, when can you?
Now for that rider... Cocaine? Prostitutes? Lions wine gums? M&ms but I can never remember which ones have to be taken out!
Wondering if it'll be time to start trying to be cool soon 🤔😎📚
Just about to set off for Wigtown Spring weekend, hope to see some of you there over the next few book loving days ☀️📚☀️
#HistoricalFiction #BookEvents #Rider #DreamComeTrue #AuthorLife ✍️📚
It feels like about 100 years since this night already. The best evening of my life - the launch party for The Wise Witch of Orkney.
Family and friends from every part of my life coming together for a big 'Hurray - she did it!' This is the third and final of the wonderful Reels created by Will Roberts of @vox_multimedia to help me remember it all!
As I look back on the whirlwind of the last two months, I'm so pleased we captured this. I'll only ever have one debut novel and I don't know if I'll ever have another night like this.
An enormous epic massive thank you to everyone who came and made it so special.
#HistoricalFiction #BookLaunch #PartyTime #MagicalEvening #AuthorLife
