GWEN MADOC, Bestselling Novelist

The hardback edition of my current novel KEEPING SECRETS is due for release in July 2008 in the UK (probably in the Fall for US). It is already offered for purchase on Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Here is a short blurb about the story:

Swansea 1931.
Teenagers Gillian Finch and Dorothy Prosser are firm friends as well as cousins. For four years they have kept their friendship secret in the face of the bitter feud which has broken out between their respective families over the last will and testament of the family matriarch, Rose Prosser.

Siblings, Henry Prosser and Vera Finch are at loggerheads with each other over the share-out of Rose's estate, and the ownership of the family business; with Vera convinced that Henry has cheated her.

But the friendly association of the girls is not the only secret in the families of the Prossers and the Finches. When Gillian and Dorothy fall head over heels for the same man, Ronnie Knox, Henry's young business partner a fierce clash ensues as to which girl will get him, and their friendship is broken irrevocably.

The repercussions of this quarrel lead to other secrets being exposed. Everyone, it seems, has something to hide - from forbidden friendships to robbery with violence and a secret illegitimate child.

There is conflict and heartache aplenty.

As soon as the book jacket of KEEPING SECRETS has been designed I will post an image.

Meanwhile, I am busy still, working out the plot of my next book.

More news soon

Well, having finished the writing of my novel KEEPING SECRETS I decided I would relax a little with some painting. As I told you last time I bought some acrylic paints and I have been daubling away like mad.
I am a Gemini and once I get a 'craze' for something I go at it 'bull at a gate'.

But I have always enjoyed painting. No talent - like I said but plenty of enjoyment. I have been following the Alwyn Crawshaw series on TV and trying to grasp the principles of painting.

I have completed a few paintings and will (cheekily) post some images of my efforts quite soon. I'm not proud! Painting is just for fun after all.

While I am daubing away with my paint brushed my mind is busy constructing the plot my next book. So no time is really wasted.

More chat soon.

Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
The only joy in 16-year-old Ruth's life in early-twentieth-century Wales is her love for David, the baker's son. But when David asks for permission to marry Ruth, her strict and pious father informs him that Ruth is promised to Edwin Allerton, their sanctimonious minister. Distraught, David joins the armed forces, and after he dies in the Great War, Ruth honors her parent's request and marries Edwin. Although it's a loveless union, Ruth is a good wife and, consequently, is horrified when she is accused of adultery and the parentage of her loved son is questioned. Melodrama abounds as Ruth is spurned by her family and the entire village. In this gentle, if emotionally powerful, tale, Madoc creates a memorable heroine and paints a vivid picture of small-town Welsh life, especially the misuse of the church's enormous power. Patty Engelmann

Book Description
An enthralling saga from a popular Welsh author - Swansea, 1915. When Ruths fiercely religious father forbids her to marry her sweetheart David, and forces her instead to marry the dour and self-righteous village pastor, David joins the army to escape his heartbreak. When he returns, he finds Ruth has borne a son and the tightly-knit community begins to gossip, firing frightening jealousy in her husband. Ruth must do whatever it takes to protect her baby.

REVIEW From Booklist
Lucy Chandler knows that there will be changes now that her father has died, but she never could have imagined what actually happens to her middle-class family in Edwardian England. It turns out that her father was never legally married to her mother, enabling his first wife to take possession of their belongings, leaving her family homeless and penniless. The elder daughter, Lucy takes charge of her mother and her feckless teenage sister Eva. While she and her mother find menial employment, Eva schemes for a better life. Unfamiliar with financial matters, Lucy's mother borrows money from Stan, a ruthless loan shark. When she quickly falls in arrears, he threatens the family. Stan covets Lucy, and Eva covets the life Stan can provide for her, causing a rift in the family that threatens their very survival. Madoc gives readers an engrossing story that sheds light on the perilous lives endured by Edwardian women in a sexist society that also shuns families of limited means. Engelmann, Patty

Book Description
An enthralling saga from this popular author - Following their fathers death, Lucy and her younger sister are devastated when a woman arrives on their doorstep claiming to be Josephs legitimate wife and therefore the sole beneficiary of his will. Evicted and desperate, their mother borrows money, and when she falls behind with the repayments the loan shark offers them a way to clear their debts, but the price is far higher than they are willing to pay . . .

Lynnys and Evie are young innocent girls whose mothers lead disreputable lives. Menaced by an evil man can the girls escape the the consequences of their mothers' debased lives?

Beth discovers she is illegitimate and that the man she thought of as her uncle is her real father. Left penniless she turns to him for help but he casts her off and cruelly denies her as his daughter.

Swansea 1853

Bronwen thinks only of saving her father from serious injury or even death in the illegal bare-fist boxing ring.
But Bronwen is in even greater peril for if the unscrupulpous pair who are promoting the fight find out who she really is they will not hesitate to kill her.

Swansea 1899
At eighteen, Kate Vaughan has it all -
she is beautiful, rich and in love
with the eligible Mansel Jenkins.
But her tyrannical stepfather
Luther Templar is about to
change her life forever.
Luther poisons Mansel's mind
against Kate with a terrible
lie and he breaks their engagement
leaving her devastated.
To further his schemes to steal
her fortune Luther forces Kate
into marriage to his nephew Simon.
Trapped with a husband she does
not love and menaced by Luther,
Kate is desperate to regain the
lost love of her adored Mansel.
But Mansel, in despair, has gone
off to fight the Boers and may
lose his life on the field of
battle.

Book Description

It is Swansea in 1926, and life for Stella Evans is difficult. The town has turned against her through malicious and scandalous lies spread about her reputation. She is struggling to bring up her son Danny alone, ever since her husband Eddie ran off with her brother's wife. When Stella loses her job, she cannot imagine how she will support her small household. And then her husband returns, bringing with him a secret for Stella that will change her life and bring her untold misery.

Book Description

Set in the 1920s in the Welsh valleys, this novel has a strong-willed heroine who is a survivor, despite the horror, traumas, and obstacles she has to overcome.

Jenni must escape her dreadful past but when she thinks she had finally found happiness the past catches up with her.