It's the Virtual Paperback Launch Day for 'The Many Lives of Heloise Starchild' (4th March 2021)

 Launch days are exciting times for a writer. Today is a little different though. Bookshops are still closed. Airport and station book-stands are unnaturally quiet. We are all in a curious kind of limbo. Waiting for the summer. Meeting up on zoom calls. Catching up on boxsets. What a time to launch a book.  

So, Ladies and Gentlemen, with your permission, let me launch The Many Lives of Heloise Starchild virtually. Ta da! Here it is: (don't you agree it looks gorgeous?)

 Let me tell you about Heloise. I wanted to write a long story. Not a long book, but a tale that would span several centuries. A narrative that would push great historical events into perspective and might help us to make sense of the turmoil of the past few hundred years. Perhaps even of the past few years. But how do you do that without changing the lead character every few chapters? One day I had an idea. What if Heloise’s daughter was to inherit her memories? And what if her daughter, in turn, inherited those memories too? There could be a continuous story that would cross the generations. And so Heloise was born. Her story starts on a night when Halley’s comet lights up the sky in 1759. Her many lives will become a great adventure, where the backdrop is a whole swathe of recent history. It will be a search for family treasure. It will be a nail-biting escape from tyranny. Above all, it will become the warm, inspiring story of a strong woman with a good heart.

I am proud of The Many Lives of Heloise Starchild. It feels like the book I always wanted to write.  I should love for you to read it. And, in the absence of any book signings, or even of a launch party, I would be happy, instead, to join you and your book-club (if you have one) on a zoom call if you choose to read the novel. I will try to join any group that invites me. So please let me know.

And huge thanks to lots of people. To my brilliant editor Fede, to my amazing agent Stan, to my incredible wife Sue, and to all the extraordinary people at W&N Books and Orion. Thank you.

John Ironmonger. March 4^th 2021. Parkgate, Cheshire

Please check out my website to learn more about my books:  https://www.johnironmonger.com