The text of ocassional newsletters August 7 2014: LUCY "Lucy is a painter. She has everything: fame, money and reputation. She also has Oscar. At least, he has always been there. One fine day, she will do something about that. It was, as she says, hardly a love affair, more a kind of marriage. Perhaps, even war-torn France is safe enough on the Oscar front. But Lucy is deceiving herself. Set before and after the second world war in London, Edinburgh, Saint-Valery-sur- Somme, Dundee and a remote village in war-time France, two painters struggle to come to terms with the casual brutality of war. A love story. Alan Kennedy´s fourth novel - a masterly account of love, loss and reconciliation."
The paperback version of Alan Kennedy's novel LUCY is now available from: Amazon UK - http://www.tinyurl.com/o623mhx Amazon US - http://www.tinyurl.com/of2drqv For a limited time the paperback version of LUCY is discounted on the Lulu website - http://tinyurl.com/lnsbew9 The book remains available as a Kindle download - http://tinyurl.com/ntrfe2s and can be borrowed by subscribers to Kindle Prime For more news, reviews and information check the Lasserrade Press website - http://www.lasserradepress.com
August 16 2015: It has been a long time since the last news from Lasserrade Press – for which apologies are due. Excuses? Other than the torpid temptations of a delicious French summer: First Excuse: Writing the promised sequel to “Lucy.” The book is not quite completed, but has reached that lovely “sliding-down-to-the-denouement” stage familiar to writers of fiction. It will, of course, miss the August 2015 publication deadline but who believed that anyway? It will be out later this year. Whether by Lasserrade Press or by some exciting other is a matter currently being decided in rather a time-consuming way. An astute reviewer (too astute) observed that a fugue was being written, so I am, I fear, outed. The book “Lucy” explains what happened to Poppy: how she got on when the years passed. You’ll have to read it to find out – in a nutshell, she had quite a grim time, partly her own fault. Obviously, you will also have to read it to find out whether she really did end up with her beloved Oscar after all those trials. But if that’s your purpose, do read carefully – I’m not as sure about that as you may be. You get a slanted look at both Lucy and Oscar in the new novel, “Alex” (yes, it’s a fugue). “Alex” overlaps in time, and is also set in wartime locations in Scotland, England and France. Its focus is the shadowy character, Ian, although focus is perhaps not quite the right word – he still has a way of slipping through your fingers. As a temptation, Chapter 1 is now posted on the Lasserrade Press website. The book makes perfect sense if you’ve never read any of the others … but why would you want to do that to a fugue? Second Excuse: Writing an expanded version of "Oscar & Lucy", including sources and notes. The book generated a lot of interest, with newspaper coverage, generous reviews and many letters and emails from relatives and others who knew him (or thought they knew him; or were bewildered to discover they didn’t know him at all). The book is not intended to be a biography – indeed, it is more of an autobiography. For psychologists on this distribution list it is a timely reminder that there were truly extraordinary characters in Dundee’s past. Third Excuse: Research for a new book. Once the tender parting kiss has been bestowed on “Alex,” next year will be devoted to a non-fiction book with a psychological theme.