Welcome to In the Margins for June 2026

Hi,

I think I may be a puddle. 🥵

I’m not sure I’ve ever been as hot in England as I am today. No complaints but it is a little odd. This would be a hot day even on a European holiday and not at all what we expect at home!

Book News

Well, the big news is that my latest book, Late in the Day is coming out in just over a week. It’s a story about trust and was inspired by a film trailer I once saw about an elderly couple who sell everything they own to go travelling in a motorhome, much to the horror of their adult children.

I can’t remember if I ever saw the film but the idea of misbehaving parents stayed with me and eventually found its way out in the guise of Harriet Carmichael. Harriet wants to make a change and so leaves her husband to start a new life on her own. Her three adult children don’t understand – their mother’s life seems perfect to them. What could possibly be wrong with it? They are even less understanding when Harriet takes up with a man they consider to be entirely inappropriate.

What interested me was that feeling you get when your children think they know best. When do the tables turn from parent to child and who is right? I certainly remember thinking that I knew far more about the world than my own parents did. Of course it wasn’t true, and neither is it in my book. And indeed, Harriet has something in her past that means she’s unlikely to have the wool pulled over her eyes – something else her children don’t know about her.

I hope you’ll read it and enjoy Late in the Day. If you want to hear me reading part of the prologue you can do that here. It’s available to pre-order in ebook, paperback and audiobook so if you do preorder it will land with you as soon as it comes out. If you do read and enjoy it, please consider leaving a rating or a review on Amazon or GoodReads. It makes such a difference to the book’s success. (If you hate it then please can you keep that to yourself!)

What am I writing?

I’m still writing We were Three, my book about childhood friends Athena, Charlotte and Jane who have their worlds tipped upside when one of them does something entirely unexpected.

I’m about two thirds of my way through now but, as ever, I have no idea how it will end. We shall all have to wait and see!

I’ve also finished the copy edit of Between Us which will be the next Imogen Clark book out of the traps in February 2027 and this month I have also completed the proof read of The House Sitter, the latest Izzy Bromley book.

I am thinking about doing a special edition of The House Sitter in time for Christmas. This would be a hardback with foiled cover, a ribbon bookmark, end pages and sprayed edges for people to buy as a gift for others or even as a lovely thing to own yourself. It will also be available in all the usual formats but I’m thinking a beautiful hardbacked edition might be fun. Watch this space!

Where have I been?

June seems to have gone in a whirl. I was in London a couple of times and I managed to catch the Tracy Emin exhibition at Tate Modern. It was very moving and at times quite harrowing but I feel that I learned a lot by going.

While I was in London, I also attended a conference for indie authors. It is the biggest such conference in Europe and as well as attending some fascinating sessions it was nice to meet other authors, both famiiar and new and I have arranged to have lunch with a fellow writer that I met for the first time which I’m looking forward to. Connecting with like-minded souls continues to be a huge focus for me.

I also spoke at Telling Tales in Chorley. It was a great event with a packed venue and I can thoroughly recommend future evenings there if you’re in that neck of the woods.

I had a flying visit to Lincoln which continues to be one of my favourite cities. My book In a Single Moment is set there if you want to know more about the place.

And today I’m melting in Wells-next-the-Sea. I might even go for a swim when I’ve finshed this!

What have I read?

The Mercy Step by Marcia Hutchinson is about Mercy, a young and a precocious child growing up with Windrush generation parents in Bradford, close to where I live and where my mum was brought up. Mercy is smart and understands far more of what is going on around her than the adults give her credit for but at the same time is too young to deal with the emotional fall out. It’s funny and at times a raw and difficult read and I very much enjoyed it.

The Benefactors by Wendy Erskine is set in Belfast. Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh don’t really know each other but all have eighteen year old sons who are friends. When the young men are accused of raping a girl at a party the women come together to work out what to do next. All the women come at the rape from differing directions depending on their own histories and have a mixed understanding of what their sons are capable of. Despite the subject matter, it’s sharp and witty and made me think afterwards.

Villa Coco by Andres Sean Greer is a very different kind of book. A young American archivist is engaged to make a list of the various treasures of a Baroness living in Tuscany. Lisabetta, known as Coco, is 92 but has the energy of a teenager. She runs rings round the archivist with unreasonable but very funny demands. He is unwittingly part of a much bigger story which we only learn about at the end of the book. It is so silly but also joyful and Coco reminded me a lot of Aunt Agatha from Travels with my Aunt.

Finally, a contender for my favourite book of the year. All Ann Patchett novels are a delight and her latest, Whistler is no exception. Daphne’s husband notices an elderly man following them around The Met in New York and confronts the man. He turns out to be Daphne’s mother’s second husband, a man Daphne was very close to for a short period as a child and then never saw again. The impact on their lives of this accidental meeting is momentous and as ever the story unravels at a beautiful pace. It’s the kind of novel that makes me wonder why I even try to write books! 😉

And that’s it for this month. I have some exciting ideas for next month so make sure you never miss In the Margins and keep an eye on my social media accounts so you don’t miss out. Last month three readers won signed copies of Late in the Day by simply responding to a question – it was only going to be one winner but I couldn’t choose! – so it’s always worth keeping up with what’s going on.

And so until next month, keep reading.

Imogen