#TuesdayBookBlog Inspirations behind the Reading Group by @DellaGalton #GuestPost #Romance

I first discovered my next guest between the pages of Writers’ Forum magazine many years ago, and her sound advice has helped shape my writing ever since. As well as teaching me so much about the skill of penning a novel, short story, or article, I have also thoroughly enjoyed reading her fiction work.

So, I was delighted when my stalking paid off, and she agreed to write a guest post about her latest release, the next instalment in her series the Reading Group. It is my pleasure to introduce author, Della Galton.

One of the Inspirations behind the Reading Group

I really enjoy writing about friendship. It’s a theme that runs through many of my books. In the Reading Group series the focus is on female friendship. I have some amazing female (and male) friends. Some of them have been in my life for over forty years and some are newer, but they are all very important to me. Although I don’t ever transport real people lock, stock and barrel into fiction I do use elements of them and I do write about the issues that affect them.

Serena, the Main Character of The Reading Group April is a lady who struggles because she doesn’t fit into her family – she has always felt that she is not quite good enough. I have one or two friends who feel like this – in fact it’s surprisingly common.

And of course if your family aren’t supportive it makes friendship massively important. So Serena needs her friends more than most.

The Reading Group is about a group of friends who meet to discuss a classic novel each month and discover that – spookily – one of their lives mirrors the plot.

In April they are reading Jane Eyre and Serena, who’s headmistress of Poppins Private School, is half hoping that reality will echo fiction, as it has before, and she will meet her own Mr Rochester.

This doesn’t stop her from being slightly alarmed when her secretary arranges an appointment with Mr Winchester, the father of a troubled pupil.

It would appear that Mr Winchester has an ex wife who is also rather troubled (or possibly completely deranged!). To add to the drama there is turbulence (as there usually is) in Serena’s own family too. Serena begins to wonder if being a romantic heroine is all it’s cracked up to be…