New Book by Leah Mercer and New Art by Jenny Dolfen

ew book and new art!


Leah Mercer has a new book out on 1 November – but you can get it earlier if you sign up for the Amazon First Reads newsletter!

(As far as I can tell this isn't one of those weird things where they trick you into paying for something you don't want every month (remember how mail order book clubs and cassette clubs used to do that unless you mailed back the NO form?), but simply a mailing list announcement of new releases for a discounted price.)

The Puzzle of You by Leah Mercer

She’s woken up in a life she doesn’t recognise – with a daughter she doesn’t remember.

When Charlotte McKay wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there, all she wants is to go back to the perfect London flat she shares with her husband, and the impressive career she’s worked so hard to build. But something’s not right. Her husband David is at her bedside – but so is a three-year-old girl, and she’s calling Charlotte ‘Mummy’...

Charlotte’s first instinct is panic. When – why – did she have a child? What about her promotion, her independence, her romantic weekends with David? She loved being that woman: how can she have turned into the stay-at-home mother she swore she’d never be?

Back at home, she dives into her unfamiliar world, hoping to piece together the mystery of her transformation. But faced with so much that feels foreign and unnatural, will she ever be happy in a life she can’t remember having – or wanting to have?

I love the intensity of this book!

I was up most of the night with a baby who can't settle because he has a cold, but even if I hadn't been, I would have been up devouring this story.

The layers of emotions ring so true, and I love the path Charlotte tries to weave between her old self, her new self, and her sense of self; caught between career and parenthood and one half of a marriage. I've recently had an opportunity come up at work, and considering the back and forth of all the pros and cons has made me think of many of the same issues that Charlotte is confronting. At the same time, both Charlotte and David are very fairly portrayed – there's no black and white here.

Highly recommended!


I still haven't put together a blog post about the wonderful Tolkien 2019 conference that I attended in August, but need to mention a new artist I discovered because of it: Jenny Dolfen.

I'm now a Jenny Dolfen patron!

Jenny Dolfen is making art

I mention it now, because she's in the midst of Inktober, sketching something new every day, and she's recently done a sketch of Melian the Maia!

Melian by Jenny Dolfen

To save you from scrolling down, here's the wee quote at the bottom of this blog that explains the blog title I chose so long ago (12 years!): "Melian – a Maia, who left Valinor and came to Middle-earth; afterwards the Queen of King Thingol in Doriath, about which she set a girdle of enchantment, the Girdle of Melian; mother of Luthien, and foremother of Elrond and Elros." Elrond is the father of Arwen.

The print was for sale on Etsy – and has already sold! I'll have to jump at the next sketch.


As for ROW80, I've switched gears a bit, and am working on a bit more advanced plotting for Kimberley and Simon's story, ahead of NaNoWriMo. Banners and badges will be going up on the blog soon!

Is there an artist you love to support?