My mum loves “House of Shadows”. This may sound rather an obvious comment but believe me in our family it is not. None of us ever give unadulterated praise. If we don’t like something, or we don’t feel it works, we say so. My nearest and dearest are some of my most incisive critics, so when Mum told me on the phone this afternoon, that she couldn’t put the book down, that she was up reading until 1am this morning and that she loved the descriptions it made my day.
For a start her reaction was just what I want from my readers. “House of Shadows” is intended to grip the attention, to make you want to read on until you come to the final resolution. If I’ve managed to do this I am more than happy.
But there is another level to this. As children we crave our parent’s praise and for most of us this is something that never quite goes away. My book could be a best seller, be a Richard and Judy book club choice, make me loads of money, but if my mum hated it then there would always be part of me that felt I hadn’t made the grade.
