Rosie Radcliffe: On Writing

I’m the debut author of Frankie & Dot, and although this should be irrelevant I’m also 70 years old, a wheelchair user with severe inflammatory arthritis, a retired Church of England priest who gets bored easily, a lifelong feminist, and generally gobby old(er) lady. While these things are true I refuse to let any of the above define me or force me to lie down and give in! Wheels, brain fog and cognitive impairment notwithstanding, I’m still an interesting person with things to say, not to mention an outstanding example of a woman fighting back and being creative against the odds (no pity parties here).

Us pensioners get very little attention in the Western world (except to assume that we all own our own homes and have pots of cash salted away). Neither is true in my case. Yet I’ve become more invisible with every wrinkle, and when you add having to sit in a wheelchair my experience is that you become a person of no account. People even talk above my head to my husband as if I wasn’t there! 

As someone with, shall we say, a colourful vocabulary I put them right sharpish. And another thing, just because I’m a priest (one of the first women to be ordained in the UK thirty years ago) doesn’t mean I’m smug and over religious, because I live in the real world where bad things happen to good people, and that’s what I write about. They see my collar and ask me to explain why. No easy answers here, but I try and work it out in my writing and in the belief that things work out as they are meant to. We’re all stitches in a bigger picture, like a Kaffe Fassett tapestry.

In retirement I was bored. Talking to yourself can lead to Bad Things happening, so when lockdown hit and I had to shield at home, I sat at my trusty computer and wrote a book. So much fun, but it was really bad, so I set out to learn my craft and persevered. After hurling myself at the impregnable gates of Literary Agents – “we love it but (insert excuse here)” – for three whole years, I said some very bad words (see page two of the book) and signed with a partnership publisher The Book Guild. This means no advance and we split the costs of getting the book out there, but they’ve done a super job and I absolutely love my cover – the title lettering is raised and shiny which adds a lot and makes me want to stroke it. 

The bottom line is that I’d have preferred a traditional book deal because I simply didn’t have the skills to self-publish. When I decided to go with the Book Guild I did some sums and realised that the cost to me was approximately the same, so it was for me the right way to go. The paperback quality is excellent and they make the book available through all the usual suppliers, including Waterstones in the UK and Barnes & Noble in the USA, and of course online.

So now that my baby is out in the world – with a zero marketing budget beyond the initial press releases – I keep sticking my head above the parapet, wearing my red lipstick and big chunky glasses and generally shouting “I’m here!” as often as possible. I’ve managed to be interviewed by a glossy magazine and the local newspaper, even Radio Europe but nothing happens unless I stand behind it and push. I never want to be famous (well my books perhaps but not my face) and I’m old enough not to worry much about money except that we’ve never owned a house and renting can be insecure. 

I always told myself that I wrote for the sheer love of it not for the hope of success, but some of the super reviews have brought me so much joy and made me want to cry – when the reader “got” what I was trying to do, or used words like “brilliant”. It was all affirmation I didn’t know was needed after all those rejection letters had destroyed my confidence – and helped bolster the belief that my writing is good and the book a really enjoyable read. You start to doubt yourself when all those walls go up. Then most wonderful thing happened – a stranger came up to me at the coffee shop where I spend pretty much all my afternoons and have many friends. This lovely lady (I got up and hugged her) told me she’d loved the book; that she’d really identified with the characters and it made her sad, angry and laugh out loud at times. She also summed it up as “witty and wicked”. That made me feel both heard and seen – maybe I’ll have that on my tombstone?

The book is mystery/thriller and set on the north-west Lancashire coast of the UK where I live (near Blackpool but a bit posher). 

London socialite and political wife, Frankie, is framed by her husband and goes to prison for arson. Now she’s out on parole with few possessions beyond her clothes and a long way from the comforts she once took for granted.

From her bedsit in a northern seaside boarding house, Frankie tries to build a new and simpler life, filled with genuine friendships. However, her confidence and tranquillity are disrupted when anonymous messages start arriving urging her to ‘keep quiet’…

Unsure how to handle these threats, Frankie enlists the help of her new friend and fellow Sea View resident, Dot, who’s not the batty older lady she enjoys pretending to be. As a tangled web of lies and deceit begins to unravel, Frankie’s sheltered worldview is painfully exposed. She embarks on a journey not only to fight back against her own injustice but also to strive for positive change in the lives of others.

All my novels are set on the Lancashire coast – I wrote three more while trying to get an agent, where I live in a rural village with my long-suffering husband and cat. I choose to write about challenging life issues, but with a lighter touch, where coffee shops, cake, food, and people-watching feature heavily, just as they do in my own life.

The book has only been out a few weeks but already Amazon has gathered some thrilling reviews, all 5* except one.

“I’ve been always interested in discovering new authors and reading their debut novels for as long as I can remember. There’s a freshness to the whole experience and some extraordinary gems to discover. Along with a certain dare I say smugness that you discovered it before loads of other people! Rosie Radcliffe‘s book “Frankie & Dot” is one of these wonderful special gems. I’ve just finished it and I was totally charmed by the story, which was full of interesting, unexpected twists and turns with some laugh out loud times! Along with urging the main character Frankie to just cop on now, please! She was ably supported by Dot though, whose character developed teasingly along the way into something quite gorgeous altogether. Everyone one of us needs and often has a Dot in our lives at some point. But rarely this gorgeous or this funny too. So if you want a special read I can’t recommend this book enough.” Rona Doyle

I really liked this book. It had pace. I kept turning the pages to find out what happened next. The characters were well drawn, and it was full of deft touches, like the time Frankie tries to sell her diamond earrings to pay the rent. Andrea Rollins

I wasn’t sure about Frankie when I first started reading this, but I grew to love her more with each chapter. Dot is a delight, and this quirky pair make a great team.
I love the twists and turns in the plot, and it really becomes a page turner, in fact, I neglected Christmas dinner to finish it! Amazon customer”

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Category: On Writing