The author, his writing and more
I have just completed the draft of Bursting with Life! taking the overall word total of my sixteen written novels (see the complete list) to more than two million. Who would have thought I’d write so much when I began my first novel, The Reaches, fourteen years ago in 2007.… Read more
Alan McCluskey lives in a quaint Swiss village known for its wine and waterwheels. After making my way up from the lakeside along a winding path by a noisy stream dotted with tiny waterwheels, I met him in what used to be a girls’ finishing school.… Read more
In my novel freely inspired by Vincent Van Gogh – Bursting with Life! – what could be more natural than to weave paintings into the tissue of the story. In the extract below, the painting is from Van Gogh himself. The colourful photo above is a part of the cover of the novel and was painted by Henri, my two-year-old grandson.… Read more
For all it’s painful consequences, Covid 19 has revealed startling things about society. One is our relationship to experts and how their discourse is used in stories people tell. It raises questions about the misuse of opinions given as facts. This untethering from ‘reality’ could have dire consequences.… Read more
Trust or the absence of it can make or break someone when young especially if sexuality is involved. In this letter, Kate talks to a friend about trust, abuse and gender identity. These letters were written in August 1960 between the end of In Search of Lost Girls and the beginning of We Girls.… Read more
When you meet someone in the street in a French-speaking country, it is polite to address the person by saying “Bonjour Monsieur” or “Bonjour Madame”. This entails two things. Firstly, you need to identify whether it is a man or a woman.… Read more
Local Voices, the sequel to Stories People Tell, is now available in print and electronic format. For sample chapters, links to buy a copy and more information about the novel, click here.
I set aside a novel I was writing in April 2018 called People of the Forest and began Local Voices under the provisional title The Sisterhood of Witches.… Read more
My latest novel, The Cloud Catcher has just been published. For sample chapters, links to buy a copy (paperback or ebook) and more information about the novel, click here.
The Cloud Catcher was begun early September 2020 in parallel with Bursting With Life, of which I had already written nearly 60,000 words.… Read more
Imagine talking to a girl from another world where life is very different from ours. Many of the most basic aspects we take for granted are challenged. Take school, for example. How do you explain school to someone who’s never heard of such a place?… Read more
Fran’s father was a monster. He would regularly beat her and abuse her with the tacit complicity of her mother. What 18-year-old Fran didn’t know was that she was adopted. Nobody knew her real parents were a cloud and a handmaiden from a temple dedicated to clouds on another world.… Read more