Anne Bennett Books

Welcome to the Anne Bennett official website where you can find information about Anne and all of her books.

Hello there.

Welcome to my new website. Here you will find details of who I am and how I began a writing career that has now spanned over twenty years. During that time I have made many friends including the most important people, my loyal and fantastic fans. When I am doing any events I will have details posted on the News & Events page as well as contacting you on Facebook so as many as possible can come along. I love giving talks because I like meeting my readers and it is lovely to put a face to a name.

There will be a facility for you to ask questions but one question that pops up every so often is the one related to the Sullivan Series and for those of you not familiar with these books it was a series of four books written a few years ago and each one relates to a member or members of the same family. The books stand alone and can be read in any order, but because they are about the same family strands inter woven between the books, a reader may get more out of them if they are read in the order that they were written.

Sullivan Series in order:

Child on the Doorstep

OUT NOW

The second book in the Locket series, Angela McClusky is haunted by the young baby that she left on the steps of the workhouse. Born out of wedlock and the result of a traumatic assault, the child has grown up away from the loving arms of her mother and only has a locket to remind her of the family she never knew.

Angela, meanwhile, has carried the guilt of her actions with her for almost a decade, now widowed and alone, she is courted by a new suitor, Eddie, who seems to offer her the happiness she craves.
When Angela’s teenage daughter, Constance, discovers that Eddie is not all he seems to be, it drives a wedge between mother and daughter. But her secrets won’t stay hidden and now Angela must face up to her past…

Released 22nd February 2018

Anne's recent absence explained

and message to fans

Some of you may have noticed that Anne has been absent from her community of fans in the past 8 months, Anne is currently well and wishes to address her absence and extend her appreciation to her wonderful fans for their patience in this time.

In August 2017 Anne was walking her dog along the beach side near her home in North Wales when suddenly she felt nauseous and fell onto the near by grass, a fellow dog walker saw this and called for an ambulance. Anne had suffered her first stroke, her first memory after the stroke was saying to the doctor she thought it was over the top calling an ambulance for a headache, a few days later Anne suffered a second stroke while in hospital. This was far more serious as Anne had hit her head and damaged her brain, She had lost many motor functions including the inability to speak clearly.

Luckily the OT had opposed Anne’s transfer to a nursing home, she requested to visit the gym and with a ten minute ride on an exercise bike things started to improve, the next day she rode for twenty minutes, she was determined to get better! Anne told the OT that she was going to get better, encouraged he replied “are you? well I am going to help you get there” and so began a shared journey to recovery. Every day Anne worked hard at the gym, sometimes twice a day, there were bad days where she was really ill but she didn’t give up. The OT, doctor and nurses all didn’t think Anne would survive but with her determination and strategy she now has very little after effects and her memory is improving.

Unfortunately this was not the only sad event in Anne’s life at this hard time, in October Anne’s loving husband Denis who had been ill for some time passed away of a heart attack. Regretfully at the time both Denis and Anne were in separate hospitals and as much as she wanted to Anne was unable to visit due to risk of infection.

Anne is now resting at home in a more delicate condition than before these tragic events but stable, her children have been wonderful and instrumental in helping her, she is considering moving to sheltered housing with a resident warden and will have to re-home her beautiful dog, a 5 year old Welsh Border Collie.

Message from Anne:
“I continue to improve daily with loving support from family and good friends and enjoy life as Denis would expect me to.

Love and best wishes to you my lovely fans and I hope 2018 is a good year for all of us”

HarperCollins Celebrates the release of Anne's new Book

Thursday 16th February 2017

To Celebrate the release of Anne’s 20th book Forget-me-not-Child she was invited by her publisher's (HarperCollins) offices to celebrate the occasion in London. On Thursday a car arrived at Anne’s hotel at 11:20am where she was met by her agent Judith to whisk Anne and Husband Denis away to the celebration. Upon arriving 16 floors up overlooking the great city of London’s sky line and opposite the famous shard, Anne and Denis were greeted by the welcoming faces of the HarperCollins team. There was Champagne a plenty and some tasty nibbles too, knowing this wasn’t their last stop of the day they ate sparingly in anticipation of a luxurious afternoon meal in Anne’s honour still to come. After meeting so many wonderful people Anne felt blessed that so many wanted to talk to her.
Struggling a little from having caught the flu a day earlier Anne did not let this deter her from soaking in the atmosphere and appreciating the day. Denis commended Anne on her resolve saying they would have never know just how ill she was feeling but Anne was more than happy to be there enjoying the experience. After mingling with the lovely people at HarperCollins Kate (Anne’s Editor) and Anne both said a few words, Anne expressed her appreciation for everyone’s hard work and likened the team to her security blanket, saying “ though by necessity I write alone, I know you are always there ready to support me to discuss a problem I might have.” Anne went on to say that she knows a great many writers and few have such a good team behind them, she was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers which now graces her living room.

As if Forget-me-not-child being Anne’s 20th book and going into the best sellers at number 18 wasn’t enough, Kate informed Anne that total sales had now reached over a million which although a pleasant surprise, Anne found staggering. Shortly after the celebrations they took a taxi to the Globe where they had lunch, much to Anne’s Delight she was told that this was where Shakespeare used to stay, which she found very apt. Boasting a beautiful view over the river Thames Anne characterised the food as “sumptuous”, accompanied with a nice glass of light red wine the fabulous day came to a close.
Anne’s final thoughts were how very well liked she had felt and appreciated by the people who really matter to her.

To read the first chapter of Anne’s new book for FREE simply Click here.

PRIZE DRAW

WINNERS ANNOUNCED

As there were so many entrants to the prize draw this year, Anne decided to give away two signed copies of her new book Forget-Me-Not-Child. The draw was held at the book’s launch on Friday 10th Fubruary amongst the Novelistas , Anne Burrow graciously drew the winners from a bag of entrant’s names, Signed copies will be winging their way to the winners listed bellow as soon as possible. Anne would like to thank each and everyone who took part and said “Commiserations to the many who entered and I am just so very sorry you couldn't all win.”

The release of Forget-Me-Not-Child marks a mile stone in Anne’s writing career as her 20th published book and to mark the occasion a wonderful cake was made for the release day, sporting candles in the shape of the number twenty.

Winners:

1) Heather Copping from Essex

2) Helen Baldwin from Derby

Click images bellow to enlarge.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all those who participated.

"10 Years since I began to walk"

25th August 2016

It is now 10 years since I began to walk again after spending the previous 16 years 1990-2006 in a wheelchair. So many things happened to me when I was diagnosed as being disabled. The first and most upsetting was that I was invalided out of teaching, a job I thoroughly enjoyed, but all those years ago access for the disabled in the workplace was not what it is today. But having to give up teaching was as bad for me as being told I would never walk again. I felt cast adrift, not at all sure what to do with myself.

I had been writing bits for years and like many I would say that when the kids were older, or when I retired and had more time I would write a book. Now unexpectedly I had all the time in the world and so I began to write in earnest. It was like an apprenticeship because first I researched and wrote the origin of nursery rhymes, then short stories as suggested by the Writers’ magazine and then books featuring children like the ones I had taught. We moved from the Midlands to North Wales in 1993 and the following year I entered a Valentine’s Day competition and won second prize which was a year’s subscription to the Romantic Novelists’ Society (RNA).

I never heard of this but joined because they run a critique service and if a member submits a manuscript each September it is criticised by readers. The reader for my second submission told me to lose 40,000 words and send it straight to Headline. I did and in 1996 I had my first book accepted by them. Four books down the line, I parted company with Headline and Harper Collins asked me to join their lists.
The rest is history really. I wrote 16 books for Harper Collins and they released the back list and my 20^th book overall will be released in January 2017 and called Forget-Me-Not-Child. My story really illustrates the maxim that when one door shuts another opens.

Read the first chapter FREE on the New book page CLICK HERE

Available at these major retailers

- ASDA

- TESCO

- Sainsbury’s

- WH Smith

- Morrisons

- Amazon

OUT NOW

Forget-Me-Not-Child

The 20th Book from the Sunday times best selling author Anne Bennett.

A story of struggle and hardship and one girl’s battle for survival from the best-selling author of If You Were the Only Girl and Another Man’s Child.

Angela McCluskey comes to Birmingham from Ireland with her family as a young girl to escape the terrible poverty in her homeland. But the dream of a better life is dashed as bad fortune dogs the family.

When Angela marries her childhood sweetheart, she has hopes of a brighter future, which are dashed when her husband is called up to fight in the Great War. Tragedy strikes and Angela is left to rear her frail daughter on her own, though the worst is yet to come when Angela suffers another terrible misfortune.

Pregnant and destitute and already with one mouth to feed that she can ill afford, there is nowhere left to turn. What destiny awaits Angela and her unborn child? Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, will Angela forever be punished for the choices that she makes?

Pack up Your Troubles Re- Released

OUT NOW

Some years ago under Anne's previous publisher, she wrote four books (A little learning, A strong hand to hold, love me tender and pack up your troubles) these books have often been highly requested by you the fans and unfortunately they have been out of print for a long time however Anne's current publisher Harper Collins have bought the rights to these books and have published "A strong hand to hold" and "Love me tender".

Now on March 24th 2016 it's the turn of "Pack up Your Troubles", armed with a new cover the book is finally being re-published for a new audience to enjoy, secure your copy and enjoy reading some of Anne's earlier work.