Between London and the South of France: E. Shaw Brown's Debut Novel 'Helena' Set for Release
𝗔 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗜𝘁𝘀 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳
The main character of the novel is Helena Griggs, a twice-widowed woman with three grown children, a sharp tongue, and a quiet past she keeps close to her chest. She is not entirely what she first appears to be, and the book earns that revelation slowly. Jack, considerably younger than Helena, is the other half of a pairing that raises eyebrows from the people around them before it even has a chance to breathe.
The story begins in a sweltering London summer and eventually moves to a neglected villa in the South of France, where the two of them deal with each other, with family members who have opinions, and with a working arrangement that neither of them has fully defined out loud. The village and its people add their own layer to the story. Local characters wander in and out of the couple's life in Provence, each one bringing a distinctly French sensibility to proceedings, and more than a few of them sharp enough to keep Jack and Helena on their toes. As one character in the novel puts it, "I've raised three children who had more depth in their smallest finger than you." That kind of quiet confidence is woven through Helena from the first chapter to the last.
𝗛𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗴𝗲 𝗚𝗮𝗽 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲
What makes the novel distinctive, according to the author, is the way it sits with the discomfort of an age-gap relationship rather than brushing past it. The reactions of family members, the assumptions of people on the periphery, and the private insecurities of both characters all get their space on the page. The story does not ask readers to suspend their reservations. It asks them to watch what happens when two people choose each other anyway.
Helena herself is a woman shaped by hardship and self-reliance, someone who learned early that no one was going to look out for her except herself. Jack, for his part, enters the story with a kind of brash confidence that the novel quietly takes apart and puts back together in a different shape. Their dynamic is not straightforward, and that is precisely the point.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿
E. Shaw Brown spent over twenty-five years writing for sports publications, beginning with what was meant to be a two-week column fill-in that quietly extended into a career. Along the way came awards, recognition, and a consistent presence in the sports writing space. But as the author has shared, somewhere beneath all of that was the feeling that a novel was waiting.
"I thought it was about time to at least attempt to write a novel before I got too old," the author noted. A close friend observed that the shift amounted to trading the excitement of the stadium for the perhaps even greater excitement found behind closed doors. The author left open the question of whether that framing was entirely wrong.
E. Shaw Brown lives on the South Coast of England, where on a clear day, a glimpse of the French coast can be caught across the water, though the heart of this story unfolds much further south, in Provence.
𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
"Helena: A Woman of Mischief" is written for adult readers. The characters are designed to resonate across different ages and genders, and the story does not demand a single kind of reader. It is a novel that moves at its own pace and rewards patience.
Further details on publication date and availability will be announced shortly.
Bracken Joseph
British Book Publishers
20 3930 1313
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