Hello,
I hope you’re able to step outside and just breathe during these many glorious and tumultuous rainstorms. I’ve been finishing the recording of the audiobook, The Madness of Sara Mansfield and can’t wait to share it with you this Sunday 31st October, originally a day for honouring the dead. The traditionally anarchic May Day saw the launch of the e-book and it feels fitting to begin publishing my work aligned with more meaningful cycles.
The audiobook has grown in ways I couldn’t have envisaged, mainly because quite quickly the realisation hit that I wanted to allow the wild & fecund nature of the world to weave, slip, chirrup & caw its way into the reading as much as it has into the writing; and so these past three months have been spent hiking, swimming, scrambling & folding myself away into nooks of rock or forests away from sharp gusts of wind (not good for audio) & rain (not good for the reader).
I recorded in fifteen different locations across the Scottish Borderlands and Cymru and each section includes a small photogallery to help you better envisage the spaces in which these recordings took place. Of course, not recording in a sterile studio presents myriad challenges, especially where editing is concerned, but I made the creative decision to forego a little perfection in order to embrace a more organic, nature-filled approach.
Taking the book out into the landscape in this way felt quite wonderful, like I was giving something back to the earth who inspires every breath I take, and I hope that you enjoy coming on this audio-journey with me (as well as stepping into the narrative of the novel).
The book will be available ONLY from my web shop with the same sliding-scale prices as before (£1/£3/£6/£10). If you bought the book at £10 and would like the audiobook I’m very happy to send you a free copy – let me know via email/WhatsApp/Signal? No DMs please.
Finally, I’m sending a FREE audiobook download link to my mailing list on Sunday, so please consider joining us there as that’s how I’ll be communicating with those interested in my work in future.
Thank you so much for your generous sharing on this platform, it’s been a joy to spend time with you all,
Sophie
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