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Victoria Connelly

Bestselling author

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Introvert Abroad paperback

Victoria Connelly Posted on 26th April 2025 by Victoria26th April 2025

Introvert Abroad is now available in paperback direct from the printers in both the UK and USA.

Introvert Abroad
Connelly, Victoria
Buy Now
Posted in Journal | Tagged Introvert Abroad, paperback

Victoria Connelly’s Favourite Reads of 2024

Victoria Connelly Posted on 3rd December 2024 by Victoria3rd December 2024

Here are my favourite reads of 2024:
The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy
Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Travelling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kidd and Ann Kidd Taylor

These next three are audio books but they are also available as ebook/paperback:
My Midsummer Morning by Alastair Humphreys (audio book read by the author)
A New World by Eckhart Tolle (audio book read by the author)
The Alchemist by Paul Coelho (audio book read by Jeremy Irons)

Posted in Journal

Recommendations – November 2024

Victoria Connelly Posted on 2nd November 2024 by Victoria2nd November 2024

I’ve been enjoying some fabulous novels recently:

Fiona Valpy’s The Sky Beneath Us

Victoria Hislop’s The Figurine

Maggie O’Farrell’s The Marriage Portrait

Each of these stories is deeply immersive, taking the reader on a journey through time and place. Highly recommended!


You might also enjoy these books of mine that are currently on offer for a limited time:

The House in the Clouds – UK only offer – 99p

The Way to the Sea – UK offer – £1.99 usually 3.99

The Way to The Sea – Rest of the World

Offers end 30 November 2024.

Posted in Journal

A Literary Tour!

Victoria Connelly Posted on 4th September 2024 by Victoria4th September 2024



Last week, we visited St Mary’s Church in Radnage, hidden in a secluded Buckinghamshire valley. It was used as the main setting in the 1987 film adaptation of J L Carr’s novella, A Month in the Country, starring Colin Firth and Kenneth Branagh. It’s one of my favourite films and it was a true delight to find this gem of a place.

Set in 1920, A Month in the Country is about Tom Birkin who arrives at the church at Oxgodby to uncover a medieval wall painting. He meets archaeologist, Charles Moon, who is working and camping in the field adjacent to the church. And so begins a beautiful summer of tentative friendships and healing for these two wounded souls who have – physically at least – survived the horrors of the First World War.

Carr describes his story as ‘a rural idyll’ and the action takes place in Yorkshire, and scenes from the film were shot there, but it’s this hidden valley in the home counties where most of the filming took place.

We quickly discovered that the box tomb where Birkin and Moon sit together must have been created for the film as it doesn’t exist in the churchyard. And, of course, there is no doom painting or tomb of Letitia. But the beautifully simple font where Kathy Ellerbeck places her gramophone is there, as is the pulpit from where Patrick Malahide preaches.

A footpath skirts the bottom of Moon’s field with lovely views back to the church and out across the valley beyond. The fields were laced with footpaths and it was a shame we didn’t have longer to explore. But there were other churches to see. To quote J L Carr, we were in the role of ‘church-crawler’ that day.

Still, there was one final delight in Radnage. Roy found the gate and view used for the final shot in the film and I took a moment there – ‘letting summer soak into me’ just as Birkin had.

It was then on to the village of Ewelme in neighbouring Oxfordshire where we met Jill Saint. Jill is the daughter of Dora Saint who wrote as ‘Miss Read’, and we’ve kept in touch ever since I gave a reading at Dora Saint’s memorial service. I’m a huge admirer of Miss Read’s work, especially the Fairacre series, and the countryside around Ewelme isn’t too far from the downland country Dora Saint wrote about in her beautifully observed novels.

It was lovely to spend some time with Jill at this picturesque church. It houses the fabulous tomb of Alice Chaucer – the granddaughter of the famous fourteenth-century writer. The churchyard is also the resting place of another of my favourite authors – Jerome K Jerome – who wrote the delightful Three Men in a Boat.

We found a shady bench in the churchyard and chatted as red kites and ravens flew low in the sky above us.

Jill kindly gave me a copy of the play Village School which was adapted by Ron Perry from Miss Read’s first published novel. I had the pleasure of seeing Ron’s play Miss Read Remembered with Jill a few years ago – in the church on the ‘real’ Thrush Green – Wood Green near Witney, Oxfordshire. You can read my post about it here: Miss Read’s Thrush Green.

As Roy and I said goodbye to Jill and left Ewelme, we drove by the great watercress beds at the edge of the village. Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire really do have some pretty villages, fabulous churches and stunning valleys to explore. All you have to do is find them!

A Month in the Country

ebook, paperback, audiobook

The Village School

A play by Ron Perry

Posted in Journal | Tagged A Month in the Country, Alice Chaucer, Colin Firth, Dora Saint, Ewelme, Fairacre, Jerome K Jerome, JL Carr, Kenneth Branagh, Miss Read, Radnage, Thrush Green

My Miss Read Adventure in Crete!

Victoria Connelly Posted on 9th November 2023 by Victoria10th November 2023

After fifteen years of not travelling abroad and not even having a valid passport, I suddenly got the travel bug and, this year, I’ve been fortunate to see three new cities (Amsterdam, Bruges and Ghent) and three beautiful Mediterranean islands (Sicily, Crete and Santorini). It’s been quite an adventure!

My trip to Crete was especially memorable because it was my first ever solo trip abroad, but I didn’t feel like I was alone because I had two very good companions with me: Miss Read and Amy. Some of you might already know that I’m a huge Dora Saint (Miss Read) fan and her Fairacre series is particularly dear to me. I’ve enjoyed many Miss Read-inspired days with the writer’s daughter, Jill, and you can read about our visits on the following pages:

Rousham

Thrush Green

Minster Lovell

And Chieveley and Peasemore

But Crete was definitely the furthest a Miss Read novel had ever taken me!

When our beloved teacher and her best friend visit the island, they stay at Agios Nikolaus on the east coast. With its views across Mirabello Bay to the mountains, and a pretty lake at its centre, it really is, as Miss Read says, an ‘enchanting town’.

From their base there, they hire a car and visit the Archaeological Museum in Crete’s capital, Heraklion. Amy, who has been there before says, ‘I must spend more time looking at the jewellery which is simply lovely.’

Miss Read adores the museum. ‘It was a wonderful building, with the exhibits well arranged, and everything bathed in that pellucid light which blesses the Greek islands.’ She particularly enjoys the frescoes and the two friends spend a couple of hours at the museum ‘dazed and awed by so much magnificence.’ I was there for about the same time and feel that I really didn’t do it justice at all – there were so many treasures!

After lunch in town, they drive the short distance to the Minoan palace of Knossos where Miss Read falls in love with the dolphin frescoes in the Queen’s room. Unfortunately, this was closed when I visited, but I had seen the originals in the museum.

But it’s the spirit of the place and of the Minoan people that really leaves its impression on Miss Read, making her wonder if climate affects character. ‘The secret, I decided, was simply the sun. Given that, given warmth and light, one was more than half-way to happiness.’ And I have to agree with that. Miss Read and Amy visited in August. I was there in mid-October and it was still warm and sunny. It really does make a difference to how you feel, and one line from Farther Afield that I remembered with a smile on my own return home was when Miss Read says, ‘One could almost feel the tan fading. We were in England again.’

If you would like to read Farther Afield you can find it here:

Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com

Posted in Journal | Tagged Crete, Dora Saint, Greek Islands, Miss Read, Miss Read Farther Afield, Solo Travel

Victoria Connelly Posted on 31st October 2023 by Victoria31st October 2023

It’s now well and truly spooky season here in the UK. The clocks have gone back, the nights are drawing in and it’s the perfect time to curl up with a ghost story. Did you know I have three ghostly books published now? And, in case you’ve missed them in the past, they’re all in a special price promo at the mo. 99p each in the UK and 99c each in the USA, so do check them out if you need something to curl up with on these long dark nights. But hurry, this offer is for a limited time only.

Here are links to all the offers – all 99p/99c for a limited time:

Christmas with the Book Lovers – UK

Christmas with the Book Lovers – US

Three Graces – UK

Three Graces – US

The Wrong Ghost – UK

The Wrong Ghost – US

Offers end 5 November 2023

Posted in Journal

The Garden at Old Thatch

Victoria Connelly Posted on 20th March 2023 by Victoria20th March 2023

I’m very pleased to say that The Garden at Old Thatch is published today. It is available in ebook and paperback via the links below or your local bookshop.

Buy the ebook -UK

Buy the paperback – UK

Buy the ebook – worldwide

Buy the paperback – worldwide

Posted in Journal | Tagged Chickens, Garden, Gardening, Hens, Old Thatch, The Garden at Old Thatch

The Wrong Ghost!

Victoria Connelly Posted on 2nd November 2022 by Victoria2nd November 2022

As the nights draw in and the temperature plummets, it’s the perfect time to cosy up with a good book, and I’m delighted to have a new Christmas novella out. The Wrong Ghost is a fun, festive tale set deep in the heart of the snowy Suffolk countryside. It was enormous fun to research and write and there’s plenty of history and mystery! I do hope you enjoy it.

The Wrong Ghost – Amazon.co.uk
The Wrong Ghost – your local Amazon
Posted in Journal | Tagged Christmas

Miss Read at Rousham

Victoria Connelly Posted on 27th May 2022 by Victoria28th May 2022

There are few things I enjoy more than a visit to a garden, and few books I love more than those by the writer Dora Saint who wrote as Miss Read. So the opportunity to marry these two passions was just too hard to resist.

Rousham House

Published in 1993, Farewell to Fairacre was the penultimate book in the beloved Fairacre series. Miss Read is invited to an evening concert at Rousham House by John Jenkins. Alas, it is dusk when they arrive and the garden is in darkness, but the two of them promise to return in the summer. ‘It’s one of my favourite places,’ John tells Miss Read.

Set deep in the Oxfordshire countryside, Rousham House was built in the early seventeeth-century and remodelled in the eighteenth by William Kent. But it’s the garden by Kent that is the real draw, created in the first phase of English landscape design. My husband and I visited with Dora’s daughter, Jill, on a warm, sunny day in May and the countryside looked resplendent with cow parsley and buttercups dancing in the fields and hedgerows.

Jill Saint and Victoria Connelly at Rousham

And what a delight the garden was with its dovecote, fruit trees, kitchen garden, statues, temples and riverside walk. Jill and I chatted about the Farewell to Fairacre, wondering if the J S Goodall illustration in chapter eight was of the steps at the front of the house. I asked Jill if Rousham helped to place Fairacre as a village, but Jill confirmed that Dora was never precise in her location. Fairacre was ‘a downland village’, blending characteristics of many which Dora knew and a good amount from her imagination too.

We never find out if Miss Read and John Jenkins returned to Rousham to see the gardens in the summer, but I really hope they did because it’s such a magical place. Thank you, Miss Read, for inspiring a wonderful day out!

If you’re also a Miss Read fan, do join my Facebook group ‘I want to Live in Fairacre’. We’re a very friendly bunch and would love to see you there.

I Want to Live in Fairacre
Posted in Journal | Tagged Dora Saint, Fairacre, Farewell to Fairacre, Jill Saint, Miss Read, Oxfordshire, Rousham Garden, Rousham House, Victoria Connelly, William Kent

Finding Old Thatch – out now!

Victoria Connelly Posted on 1st March 2022 by Victoria1st March 2022

I’m very excited to be launching Finding old Thatch today. It’s the next instalment of my rural memoirs, following on from the Mulberry Cottage series.

Click here to buy or read more…

Posted in Journal

Christmas Books 2021

Victoria Connelly Posted on 7th December 2021 by Victoria7th December 2021

There’s nothing quite like a cosying up with a Christmas story during the long winter nights, is there? Here’s my collection of Christmas novellas. Just click/tap any cover to find out more them.

Christmas at the Cove – Love is the greatest gift of all…

Book cover - Christmas at the Cove by Victoria Connelly

Christmas at the Castle – Family is the greatest blessing…

Book cover - Christmas at the Castle by Victoria Connelly

Christmas at the Cottage – Falling in love is the greatest miracle…

Book cover - Christmas at the Cottage by Victoria Connelly

The Christmas Collection – Three heart-warming novellas about love, family and friendship. A compilation volume containing Christmas at the Cove, Christmas at the Castle and Christmas at the Cottage, available in ebook and paperback.

Book cover - The Christmas Collection by Victoria Connelly

The Christmas Rose – Journey back to Suffolk for the long-awaited sequel to The Rose Girls. Will an unexpected visitor threaten the home the Hamilton sisters have worked so hard to build?

Book cover - The Christmas Rose by Victoria Connelly

Christmas with the Book Lovers – Join the Nightingale family for some festive fun and a few spooky tales by the fire, and find out if a book can really be haunted!

Book Cover - Christmas with the Book Lovers by Victoria Connelly
Read more…

Christmas with Mr Darcy – Spend Christmas with the Austen Addicts at Purley Hall where there’s fun, games and a little bit of mystery!

Book cover - Christmas with Mr Darcy  by Victoria Connelly
Posted in Journal | Tagged Christmas books

Success Stories

Victoria Connelly Posted on 21st September 2021 by Victoria21st September 2021

Last month, I was visited by the lovely Marie Wiik who interviewed me for her exciting new Youtube channel ‘Success Stories’. If you’re a fan of ‘The Chateau Diaries’ on Youtube, you’ll have seen Marie and her beautiful flower studio. She is such an inspiration and her Instagram photos are heavenly. We had lunch here at Old Thatch and then had a walk around the garden, enjoying the flowers together.

Watch on Youtube. Opens in new tab.
Tap or click to watch on Youtube. Opens in new window.
Admiring the veg and cut flower beds on a windy afternoon at Old Thatch
Posted in Journal

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