My Kindle Book Cover

   An odd thing happened when I first thought about the kind of cover I'd like for my book. I had taken its title,  A Place in the Choir, from the song, 'All God's Creatures Have a Place in The Choir' which I'd heard performed by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

   I imagined a telephone wire and birds sitting on this. But one bird was hovering -- looking for a place. But for the paperback copy a more Irish Countryside cover seemed appropriate. This picture encapsulated Ellie's carefree life until she made her decision to enter the convent.

   I had to find a new cover for the ebook. With the help of my friends *Carol and Susan we found the perfect answer -- my original birds on a wire -- a musical chord of sorts. In the picture a bird is hovering just as I saw it in my mind. Like this bird Ellie wants to belong.

Meaning for the word Choir:

Within the text of the novel Ellie asks questions about Choir Nuns and their one time superiority in the convent. There were Lay Sisters many years ago who took on the responsibility for household management within the cloister while those professionally trained worked in schools and hospitals. The choir also forms part of a church building or one can belong to a choir of persons who sing together.

A link to the ebook cover happens when Ellie tells us that:

         Winter became spring. Little buds were appearing on the bushes and the birds
         were busily building nests. Mammy was watching for the first swallows which
         came to nest in the eaves of the house and the barn. They wouldn't arrive for many
         weeks but she didn't want to miss them.

Swallows come here to Crete in the Summer. They have gone now and I wonder if some of them are
on their way to Ellie's childhood home in Monabeg.


*Carol's company is called VA Online.
  She can be reached at www.vaonline.co.uk




 

Hello again to those muse with Mawsiemaw

                                      
                                 I must apologise for a long absence but I've been much busier than I expected to be. I was working on the revision of my book A Place in the Choir. This occupied almost eighteen months -- not full time but it was there in my head when I wasn't actually working on it. This sort of project is rather like renovating an old house. One knocks a particular wall only to discover that the roof had partially collapsed. I sat for days studying fragments of my book wondering if I'd ever put it together again. I eventually did this and my work is now available on Amazon Kindle.

I know that many have read the original paperback edition of A Place in the Choir with the beautiful cover painted by the artist Balsam Wood. For the moment this is unavailable although it can still be viewed on the Amazon web site.(with reviews) There is a rather sad history attached to this edition of my book. The publisher was unable to continue providing copies for sale and the book went out of print. Perhaps in the future a discerning publisher will read the Kindle version and become duly smitten by my brilliance and want to publish a new edition!

The Kindle edition of my book features a completely revised chapter 10. This is a pivotal chapter in the story of Ellie Dardis and I always felt it was a little weak and didn't move the story forward. The story of Ellie has puzzled some readers who just wish she would stop dithering and take control of her life.

Ellie represents many young girls who grew up in Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s. She loved the family farm and her memories of the place become a source of inspiration and comfort. Her choice as a young woman to enter a convent raises many questions -- why did she do this and why does she continue to live such a restricted and contradictory life?

In later musings I'll tell you more about Ellie's dilemma and show how in certain instances her sense of humour saves her. I may even mention the sequel to A Place in the Choir and my very interesting new book which is set in Crete and which I plan to have on the shelves in about a year.