The East Lancashire author of a well-loved semi-autobiographical novel returns to Lancashire in her latest sequel.
Meg J. Parry’s second book, Here I Go Again, is a fascinating sequel that follows the life of 49-year-old Laurel – a character which is based on the author’s life growing up in Blackburn and then moving south to work in London.
Meg, 60, grew up in Blackburn where her mother ran a dance school.
She became involved in amateur operatics and as a church organist before working in a Darwen bank for three years.
She moved to London in 1987 and from the mid-1990s, spent many years entertaining and doing musical therapy with Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, as well as presenting local history tours and managing a theatre on the south coast.
In her first book Roses of Lace, her life takes a turn and protagonist Laurel quits her job and returns to her home county Lancashire, with this new sequel again set in the Red Rose county, on the Fylde coast.
Speaking about her sequel, Meg said: “Laurel fosters her strong relationship with Adrian’s positive teenage daughter. Her elder brother, however, proves a tougher test.
“Being business angel to a young hairdresser soon means more than an investment in a salon refurbishment.
"And with her own part-time job and a transgender support group to run, life on the Fylde coast becomes hectic.”
Meg spent her holidays as a child in Lytham St Annes on the Fylde coast, which is one of the main influences of her work.
In 2007, she then moved to Malta to teach English as a foreign language as well as playing the organ in a local church.
Meg added: “Despite guidance from the ever-perceptive Stella, Laurel neglects or too easily gives up on the nurturing of her relationship.
“By turns moving and hilarious, Laurel’s story twists and scintillates. Among the cast of carefully drawn characters are a belligerent Marxist company director, an Italian beautician and the irrepressible Aunty Hilda.
“Always ready to assist others, Laurel's neglect of self-help could spell disaster.”
The author has written for the theatre, and has published books on theatre history and two novels.
Published in paperback and e-book format, Here I Go Again was released on July 28.
It can be bought online via Pegasus for £12.99.
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