I look forward to hearing what you all think.

The blurb

Liverpool September 1948

Turmoil threatens when a Jewish girl falls in love with an Irish Catholic

When seventeen-year-old Talia Cohen discovers the guy she fancies is not only her best friend’s brother, but a twenty-two-year-old Irish Catholic, the magnetism is too strong to deter her, despite the havoc it will cause both families.

Pledged to a boy of her own faith, she stands up to her parents and fights for the right to choose her own husband, of any age and any religion. But can she also go up against a widowed mother who insists her only son weds a nice Irish girl?

With love on one side and family loyalty on the other, how much is Talia willing to risk for the man of her dreams?

Perfect for fans of heartfelt, rebellious post-war romance.

~~~

Gymslip Bride will be available very soon on Amazon Kindle. Watch this space.

The paperback version will follow shortly afterwards.

I’m pleased to welcome back talented author, Carmen Radtke, to Patricia’s Pen. Please join me in congratulating Carmen on the launch of Treachery & Talismans, perfect for fans of magical mysteries.

What’s the book about?

Inner peace. Outer harmony. Another murder…

Divorce? So over it.
Menopause? That too shall pass.
Magic? Under control, thanks to cat Cosmo’s relentless supervision.

That leaves Bex Merriweather (and her familiar) free to transform her inherited lending library into a community hub while keeping her witchy powers a secret. Well, her crazy coven knows, but that’s what best friends are for.
For once, life in Willowmere is as peaceful as she dreamed of. No murder, no mayhem, no secret sleuthing duties, right?
Wrong.

When a querulous wealthy woman is murdered in the retirement home, the evidence leads to a friend of Bex. And for once, detective Trey Stone actually wants her to investigate – and to prove him wrong.

But the hardest part of magic is knowing when to unleash her inner witch and when to nix the hex.

Perfect for fans of magical mysteries, small-town secrets, and heroines discovering that midlife might be the most powerful chapter of all.

BUY

Thank you to Linda Huber and Mary Schmidt for featuring reviews for my books in the Zara timeslip series.

The review on Linda Huber’s blog for The Girl in the Ticket Office Window shares a feature titled Two Reviews – Magical Realism with talented author Amanda James.

To read the reviews go HERE

I’d also recommend subscribing to Linda’s news letter.

Read the review for The Girl in the Attic Mirror on Mary Schmidt’s blog When Angels Fly.

Mary Schmidt provides a regular slot for author reviews so it’s definitely worth subscribing.

Hi everyone, today the launch feature is for me (Patricia M Osborne) as The Girl in the Attic Mirror (Book 2 of the Zara timeslip series) goes live on Amazon Kindle. If you prefer paperback, don’t worry as that will be published on 9th September 2026.

About the book

One woman. Two centuries. A past that refuses to stay buried.

Journalist Zara Wiseman, no stranger to time travel, is excited to be called into action when a headline from an old newspaper flickers an SOS.

But after stepping through a mirror to 1925, she’s stunned to find herself clad as a poor housemaid rather than the lady of the manor.

When life in the present creates havoc for Zara, she craves her life in the past as Rosie Winter. However, on slipping back in time, she soon discovers that the bygone age is equally turbulent.

And when her heart becomes entangled with two irresistible men, she has some crucial decisions to make.

How will she unravel the tangled knots that bind her?

Will she lose the love of her life?

Can her sanity survive?

~~~

Order Kindle Version

Thank you all for your continuous support. I can’t wait to hear what you all think of The Girl in the Attic Mirror – Book 2 of the Zara timeslip series.

Please join me in congratulating a dear friend, talented poet, and novelist, on the launch of Mood Swings. Poetry that suits your mood. Isn’t the cover gorgeous? And I just know that the poetry will be too.

About Mood Swings

Some days we feel unstoppable. Other days we barely recognise ourselves. 

Mood Swings is a collection of poems for anyone who has ridden the emotional rollercoaster of life. Exploring everything from love, anxiety, grief and anger to hope, healing and self-discovery. These poems speak to the moments we rarely say out loud. 

Honest, heartfelt and sometimes, painfully familiar, this collection embraces the messiness of being human and celebrates the strength it takes to keep moving forward.

Because every emotion has its season. 

Here’s a little taster!

Do check out this gorgeous debut poetry collection. You can buy your copy (Paperback and Kindle) from HERE

BUY

Find out more about Anita and her writing over on Piskie Dreams

Please welcome back a brilliant poet and artworker, Karen Pierce Gonzalez to Patricia’s Pen.

Birds of a Feather: two years later and still flying

Karen Pierce Gonzalez

When Honeyguide Literary Journal published my bird psalm collection as a feature in their gorgeous November 2024 Issue (#9), I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

The hybrid work of cherita and photographs is one of my sweetest creations; I so wanted it to take flight in a public way because the vision I held for it spoke to both the unsettling world of climate change atmospheric rivers here in California, and the innate tenacity of survival.

It all started after the first atmospheric deluge the winter of 2023. Tree branches, in some cases, unprotected young tree trunks were downed by vicious winds and rivers of rain. I had gone outside to assess the damage and do some clean up when I noticed a bird nest fragment on the ground at my feet. Ever so small (approx. 5 inches/12.7 cm) , it captured my attention, so I brought it inside.

In the following days I found more bits and pieces and knew I had to do something with them, but what?  A few months later, falling in love with the cherita poetry form (3 stanzas of six lines total) I started to pull the fragments together with poetry.

Once published, I converted the feature into an easy-access, free flipbook so this body of work could continue to reach others who had not read the journal.

Fast forward to 2025. Following the appearance of the work in Honeyguide as well as the flipbook, an amazing thing happened.

Friends from across the country and from my  neighborhood started to give me bird nests they had found. Fortunately, these nests, abandoned, had already done their job.

Now it was time to do mine. And I had no idea what I was going to do.

Inspired to use bird psalm as a spring board, I envisioned the series BirdSong, agrouping of three real bird nests I ‘nested’ into beds of musical score sheets which I painted, glittered, and otherwise colored before shredding.

Here is an top view of BirdSong: Quail on a pedestal

At the same time, I also began to make abstract, mixed media bird nests that included feathers I found in my area.

Here is BirdSong: Fowl (Chicken and Turkey feathers) mounted to canvas board, designed to ‘fly’ from the ceiling.

All three real bird nests and the three abstract ones are included in a very special summer art show.

As an invited feature artist, I will install these works in the upcoming Sanctuary show, which runs May 16-July 12 at the Cloverdale Arts Alliance Gallery in Northern California.

They will be placed inside a ‘garden fence’ I made of hand-painted Red Apple branches I trimmed off our tree last year.

And who knows? Perhaps gallery-goers will give them new homes in which to be enjoyed.

That is my hope for them.

Links

About Karen Pierce Gonzalez

About Sanctuary (details available May 7)

About the Flipbook