Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2015 | Page 39

ISLAND LIFE MAGAZINE

Grandad inspires
'Longest Fight'

I

sland-born
author Emily
Bullock (right)
has just had her first
novel released. It is
titled ‘The Longest
Fight’ and was
inspired by her
boxing grandfather
who lived on the
Island but did most
of his boxing in London.
Published by Myriad, ‘The Longest
Fight’ is set in 1950s London in the
gritty world of amateur boxing. Jack
Munday has been fighting all his
life and his earliest memories are
shaped by the thrill of the boxing

ring. Since then he
has grown numb
and scarred by his
bullying father and
haunted by the
tragic fate of his first
love.
Now a grafting
boxing manager,
Jack is hungry for
change. So when
hope and ambition appear in the
form of Frank, a young fighter with
a winning prospect, and Georgie, a
new girl who can match him step
for step, he seizes his chance for a
better future, determined to win at
all costs.

Nightmare at Dream Cottage

H

arriet Kent used the experience
of renovating her family home on
the Island as the inspiration for
her latest fiction novel ‘Dream Cottage’,
which will be published on March 4, writes
Peter White.

The book is Island
based, with Harriet using
her local knowledge to
incorporate landmarks
and buildings - including
a nearby pub - but under
different names. She
said: “It’s about newlymarried Greta Berkley’s
dream to return to live
on the Island, her birthplace. During a
weekend visit to her parents’ house, Greta
and husband Max, discover ‘Greenacres’,
a remote, rundown cottage. They track
down its owner, who agrees to sell, but
when renovations of the cottage begin, a
lot of spooky things start to happen.
“Greta accidentally falls through a hole in
the kitchen floor, which she assumes to be
an old well. It harbours a passageway and
an underground room where Greta finds
an old wooden box. She also discovers that
‘Greenacres' has an unwelcome occupant
of the spiritual world. Suddenly the dream
starts turning into a nightmare!”
Harriet smiled: “It is based on renovating
our house near Calbourne - but

fortunately we don’t have
any ghosts. It’s not all
doom and gloom though;
there is quite a bit of
humour in it, and there is
a massive twist to the end
of the story - which I am
not going to reveal!”
Harriet began writing
many years ago, mainly
working on poems and articles for
magazines. She then wrote ‘On Gallows
Hill’ which was published in 2007,
followed by ‘A Stable Life’, and now
‘Dream Cottage’.
Harriet, was born in Calbourne and
attended Shalfleet Primary, West Wight
Middle and Carisbrooke High Schools.
She worked as an estate agent and in
customer services for Southern Water
before starting her own business, and
admits: “Writing is purely a hobby, which I
enjoy. I am already doing research for my
next book, an historic fiction novel called
‘Smuggler’s Hide’, and I am also planning
a follow-up to ‘A Stable Life’, so I am
keeping myself busy.”
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