Richard and Judy Book Club Choice

‘ Your book has been chosen for the Richard and Judy book club.’

It was a weekday morning in late February, I was alone in my house, and I was on the phone with my agent. I yelled down the phone, ‘Are you joking?’

I knew that my publisher had put forward my book, Dear Thing, for the Richard and Judy list—a nationwide promotion for commercial novels that can make your book an instant bestseller. But I hadn’t heard anything for ages and I had resigned myself to the fact that it hadn’t been chosen. Publishers choose very few books to put forward, so being considered was a huge honour in itself.

But Dear Thing had been chosen. I could hardly believe it. I danced around my house, my agent and I giggling like children over the phone.

The full list wouldn’t be announced until May, and I was sworn to absolute secrecy until then. (I did tell my husband and my parents.) For over two months I carried the happy secret with me. Every now and then I did a little dance. Fortunately I had already written my next book by then, because a lot of the time I was too excited to work.

Before the cat was out of the bag, I took a secret trip to London to meet with Richard and Judy and record a podcast about my book. I bought a new frock and shoes and had my hair done, but when people asked what the occasion was, I just said I was having my picture taken as promotion for the book.

On the morning of the interview, I turned up at the school gates to drop off my son, in full makeup and in a posh dress. As I usually turn up in pyjama top and jeans, having not combed my hair, this required some explanation for the other parents. Fortunately, I had a cover story: I was filming at the Penguin offices that morning for some promotion for My Independent Bookshop.

The filming at Penguin was great fun, but my publicist Tessa and I kept on catching each other’s eye, not allowed to tell anyone what we were doing afterwards. As there was a tube strike on that day, we walked to the boutique hotel where the podcast was being recorded.

I still couldn’t believe it. I didn’t believe it, in fact, until I saw Richard Madeley sitting across the room from me, chatting with a journalist.

Richard and Judy were charming and welcoming, and full of lovely things to say about my book. We talked about the book’s subject of infertility, and how it was inspired by my own experience of miscarriage; they discussed the baby they had lost, years ago, and how it affected them. I was touched by their openness and I was delighted that they had enjoyed the book. Then we had some pictures taken, and Judy said she liked my shoes, and I dragged Tessa across the road for a much-needed glass of wine.

The news came out before I was ready for it: the books were in WHSmith, in the Richard and Judy promotion, several days before I’d been told I could tell anyone. Loads of my friends got in touch to congratulate me, but I wasn’t allowed to confirm or deny—even though I’d visited my local WHSmith myself and took a photograph of my book on the shelf!

For the past month, it’s been pretty incredible. My book is everywhere—in every WHSmith, up and down the country, in train stations, motorway services, airport terminals. Friends have sent me photographs of the posters and the bookshelves. I’ve had so much goodwill from fellow writers, and from readers, who have got in touch to tell me that my book moved them and made them laugh and cry.

Writing is often a pretty discouraging job. You spend a lot of time alone; you pour your heart into your novels and sometimes they sink without a trace. For the past few months, my life has been the opposite to that, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

 

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Julie Cohen grew up in the mountains of western Maine, USA, and wrote stories from an early age, most of them involving rock stars or magic. After taking an honours degree in English from Brown University, she moved to the United Kingdom, where she spent three years researching fairies in Victorian children’s literature. As this had very few practical applications, she became a secondary school English teacher, writing novels in the evenings and in the school holidays. She currently writes full time and lives in Berkshire with her husband, son and about a million guitars.

Find out more about her on her website www.julie-cohen.com and follow her on twitter @julie_cohen

You can buy her novel Dear Thing here

Tags: Book Club Choice, Dear Thing, featured, Julie Cohen, Richard and Judy, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing