Welcome to In the Margins for August 2026
Hi
And there we have it – the Great British Summer as is good as over for another year. It’s been a corker though, hasn’t it? Slow to start but then delivering all the mainstays of the season – warmth, sunshine and no rain. (I know this isn’t for everyone – I worry for the poor farmers for example, but it’s been just the kind of summer that I love.)
So, into Autumn we fall. I know that it’s many a decade since I left full-time education but I still think of September as the beginning of the year. I can’t help it! January is all well and good but this is the real start. All I need is a new pencil case and I’m off!
I’ll be starting Italian lessons in a couple of weeks. I’ve been threatening to do this for years but I finally thought ‘If not now then when?’ and signed up. I’m not sure I still have the mental capacity to absorb new stuff and I get a bit shy about speaking a foreign language where anyone might hear me but time will tell whether it’s a success. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Book News
It’s a bit quiet on the book news front this month. There have been lots of exciting spottings of foregin editions of my books in shops across Europe but for we English speakers not much is new.
The next Izzy Bromley book, The House Sitter, is up for pre-order. I don’t have a definite publication date yet but it ill be some time over the next few months and I’ll let you know as soon as I do. Here’s what it’s about.
When Lucy Marsh’s boyfriend steals everything she owns and leaves her with nowhere to live, a house-sitting job feels like the perfect fresh start she needs. There’s just one problem: Lucy is terrified of dogs — and she’s agreed to look after three of them.
Then she discovers Gerald, the owner’s elderly father-in-law, is also living in the house. Gruff, stubborn and impossible to ignore, he’s certainly not part of the arrangement Lucy signed up for.
As she’s drawn into village life — new friends, a pub quiz team, the spark of a new romance — Lucy begins to realise that losing everything may have opened the door to something better. But then she uncovers a shocking betrayal at the heart of the house.
It will be avaible in paperback, ebook and audiobook but it’s just the ebook that you can pre-order at this stage. Here’s the link just in case you’re interested. You can Order here.
It’s almost eight weeks since Late in the Day came out and it seems to have been well received judging by the reviews, which is lovely. I’m thinking about hosting a FaceBook Live Book Club kind of event where I will answer readers’ questions about the book and my writing in general so if you have read it and have any burning questions about it then email me and I’ll include the question in the event.
What am I writing?
As ever, I have lots of projects on the go at the same time. I am currently finishing We Were Three which will be published next October (2027). It’s the story of a trio of friends who share everything until one of them inexplicably disappears. I have very much enjoying discovering each woman and how their lives unfold.
I am also thinking about the next book. I have several ideas but I have not yet decided which I want to focus on. Keep an eye on social media as I may well ask for some help with that decision. The process of choosing what to write next is often fairly convoluted. I can get quite a long way down the path with something only to decide that it isn’t right. Then I have to go back to the drawing board and start again with a different idea. Sometimes I merge two ideas into one. Late in the Day is an example of that. It started with a story about misbehaving parents but then I also incorporated the commune storyline which I’d been thinking about for years.
Anyway, I have a while before I have to decide so I’ll keep pondering.
Where have I been?
One of the big highlights for me this month was a trip to Portsmouth to see Henry VIII’s flagship battleship The Mary Rose which sank in The Solent in 1545. It was raised from the sea bed in 1982 and I remember the news coverage at the time and have been fascinated by it ever since. Mind you, it’s taken me a very long time to get down there to see it for myself.
I found it slightly eerie. Only half the ship was preserved by the silt, the rest being washed away over the centuries and it’s now kept in a dim space to help preserve the timbers. As I looked at it and all the recovered sailors’ possessions I couldn’t help but think of the six hundred men who lost their lives when the ship went down. It has a haunted quality to it. It was absolutely fascinating though.
Here are some things I found interesting.
I was also on Île de Ré in France on holiday with my family. It’s an island off France’s Atlantic coast and it’s very pretty. We had a lovely time whizzing about on bikes, eating great food and generally having fun. One evening my husband decided that we should have our own little White Party which was very silly but also memorable. We also randomly allocated a colour by my daughter and tasked with taking photos of that colour. The end results give a lovely snapshot of the trip!
What have I read?
Lots of books read this month but here are four of my favourites.
Roman Mornings by Matson Taylor is an absolute gem of a book. Set in Rome in the 1970s it’s the story of Monty and Clemmie who meet when she loses control of her Vespa and crashes at his feet. The two form a delightful friendship and Clemmie and a cast of quirky characters, both Italian and English, give Monty a new purpose in life. It’s such a lovely book – gentle and life affirming, and it made me want to move to Rome immediately.
Next, Paradise City by Elizabeth Day who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. In this book, the lives of four very different characters, all living in London, collide in unexpected ways. It’s a state of the nation book that highlights the differences between the haves and the have nots in a way that is both satisfying and through-provoking and I found myself equally invested in each character’s story.
The Compound by Aisling Rawle is a cross between Love Island and Lord of the Flies. (I thought I was being really clever when I described it like that to a friend but then I discovered that that was also the tagline the publisher went for too!) Ten men and ten women are trapped in a compound in the middle of a desert for a reality TV show. They have to complete tasks to earn basic items and all have to pair off or they are sent home. I found the story compelling but also I kept imagining what I would do if I were there – always a good sign for a book, I think.
Finally, Milk Teeth by Jessica Andrews. A girl grows up in the north of England in a regimented and repressed household. Years later she is blossoming into a young woman when she meets a boy. Thus follows a tempestous relationship played out in London, Paris and Barcelona as she learns who she is and how she wants to interact with others. Neither character is given a name and I wondered for a while about the gender of the second one but rather than being confusing, I thought this mystery added to the beauty of the book.
And that’s your lot for this month. September is lining up to be as busy as ever, not least because I have a big birthday coming up, so make sure you look out for next month’s In the Margins to hear what I get up to to celebrate. And don’t forget to send me any questions you have about Late in the Day for the book club event.
So until then, happy reading.
Imogen.
