Smorgasbord Free Book Promotions 2023- Share an Excerpt from one of your published books – #FamilySaga – Sisters by Judith Barrow

In this series you are invited to share an excerpt of 500 words from any of your published books .

This feature is for any author who has been promoted on Smorgasbord previously.

Please read full details of how to participate at the end of the post.

The aim of the series

1. 1. To showcase your book and sell some more copies.
   2. Gain more reviews for the book.
   3. Promote a selection of your other books that are available

The featured excerpt today is from the personally recommended family saga Sisters by Judith Barrow,

About the book

A moving study of the deep feelings – jealousy, love, anger, and revenge – that can break a family apart. … Sisters is another absorbing, emotional and thought-provoking creation from the wonderful Judith Barrow. Janet Laugharne

Two sisters torn apart by a terrible lie.In shock after an unbearable accident. Angie lets her sister Mandy take the blame, thinking she’s too young to get into trouble. But she’s wrong.

Mandy is hounded, bullied and finally sent to live with their aunt, where she changes her name to Lisa and builds a new life, never wanting to see her sister again. Angie’s guilt sends her spiralling into danger. Thirteen years later, they meet again at their mother’s funeral. Lisa starts to suspect something is wrong. Angie seems terrified of her husband, and their father is hiding something too.

What does Lisa owe to the family that betrayed her?

I knew I was in for a treat. I wasn’t disappointed… I couldn’t wait to find out what happened to Lisa and Angie… A tale with characters that linger in your mind after you close the book. Jacqueline Harrett

Excerpt Sisters….Part Four Lisa Brooks June 1981 – Chapter Forty-Three

I’m holding the rail at the top of the steps of the bus and peering through the window. It doesn’t help that it’s dirty and smeared with rain. But I can see Micklethwaite is run-down. Shabby.

Though the doors squeal open I can’t make my legs move. I don’t look at him, but I can sense the driver’s impatience and curiosity, and worry for a moment that he’s recognised me. He’s older, but I know he’s the man who used to be the school caretaker. Can’t remember his name but I wait for him to speak. The old familiar fear prickles my skin, I gulp against the sudden tears thick in my throat.

But all he says is, ’On or off, miss?’

I don’t look round at him when I go down the steps clutching my only luggage, my small, blue suitcase. I’m not intending to stay in Micklethwaite long. Standing on the edge of the flagged square, I look around at what used to be the new shops and flats. It’s depressing, exactly as Mum described it last time she was in Ponthallen. She’d said it had deteriorated beyond recognition and she was right. Most of the shop fronts are boarded up, the windows of the flats above covered in yellowed net curtains or wrecked blinds hanging lopsided. Empty crisp packets and torn greasy chip cartons and wrap themselves around the round iron railings once fixed to protect the young saplings, now fragmented twigs.

Except for a group of hooded youths slouched in front of an off-licence, the windows plastered in red and orange posters to entice customers in with offers of knocked down beer and wine prices, there’s no one around. What had been there before?

I can’t remember. Then it comes to me; it was the hairdressers, Mavis’s Waves and Curls. Mum used to come out of there once a month with the same tight perm that all the other women had. And each time, red-faced with an embedded line from a hairnet across her forehead, Mum swore she’d find a different hairdresser. Each time it had taken until the evening for that line to fade.

Angie and I used to tease Mum about it.

The thought makes me feel wretched, broken. Broken was how I felt the last time I was in Micklethwaite, carrying a burden that would be with me all my life. I didn’t think of it in that way then; after all I was just a kid. But I do know no one wanted me here at the time. The sideways glances of hatred and recrimination drove away that feeling of belonging. It’s odd; I haven’t thought of it as home for a long time. I belong in Ponthallen now.

And as for Angie ‒ Angela, I’m not sure how I’ll feel when I see her. It’ll be the first time in over eleven years. The first time I’ll speak to her after my life altered completely because of her.

©Judith Barrow – Sisters.

One of the reviews for the book

Georgia Rose VINE VOICE 5.0 out of 5 stars Gritty and emotional  Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧

Judith Barrow is a writer whose work I snap up the moment it is released and Sisters is no exception. I received an advance reader copy from the publishers, which does not alter my review in anyway, and I will also buy my own copy once it’s released.

The story starts in 1970 when Mandy takes her younger brother, Robert, out for a walk in his pram. Her older sister, Angie, soon joins her and wants to take over but she has an ulterior motive for her sudden interest in the baby.

I won’t give any spoilers suffice to say that something truly, truly terrible happens and that changes both girls lives forever. The rest of this story shows the impact this incident has on Mandy and Angie but also on the rest of the family and community around them.

Barrow makes you feel great emotion with her writing and I have to say the beginning of the book is tough, because of what happened but also because I really hate injustice and I felt there was a lot of that in the way Mandy was treated.

The writing is beautiful, the characterisations spot on and the details of the lives of Mandy and Angie captured so perfectly you can imagine yourself next to them it is all so real. I really enjoyed the development of each character as their lives progressed and the ending is most satisfying.

Sisters is a gritty but wonderfully told tale and I don’t hesitate in recommending it to everyone who enjoys a well-written story that draws you into the lives of its characters. 

 Read the reviews and buy the book : Amazon UK – And: Amazon US

Also by Judith Barrow

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US – and: Amazon UK – Follow Judith: Goodreads – – blog: Judith Barrow – Twitter: @judithbarrow77

About Judith Barrow

Judith Barrow,originally from Saddleworth, a group of villages on the edge of the Pennines,has lived in Pembrokeshire, Wales, for over forty years.

She has an MA in Creative Writing with the University of Wales Trinity St David’s College, Carmarthen. BA (Hons) in Literature with the Open University, a Diploma in Drama from Swansea University. She is a Creative Writing tutor for Pembrokeshire County Council and holds private one to one workshops on all genres.

What will be in the post and how to get in touch

• • • • I will top and tail the post in the usual way with your other books and links, bio, photo and social media.
      • I will also select a review from Amazon or Goodreads that I feel has the best selling pitch for the book.
      • Please share a book that has reviews to select from.
        
      • This series is open to all authors who have previously been featured in the promotions on Smorgasbord.
      • I do have a younger readership for the book posts so please consider that when selecting your excerpt.
      • I suggest an excerpt of 500 words that you feel would encourage a reader to buy the book, or a poem that you feel best reflects the theme of your collection.
      • No need to send the cover as I will have that or will access from Amazon.
      • Please send your excerpt to sally.cronin@moyhill.com
      • I only ask that authors share the link to their social media and respond to each comment individually as a matter of courtesy.

 

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books.. Sally.