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I’m an author, journalist and gardener who has just had my first novel published – The Blue Hour.
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The Blue Hour

‘The Blue Hour’, set in Trevone Bay, Cornwall has an unlikely heroine. Eighty-nine-year-old Tilly Barwise is a brandy-swilling, style-loving, man-adoring, 40-a-day cigarette-smoker. Drafted in to care for her is heartbroken, inept Ava Westmorland, fleeing from the smoking ruins of her life. Locals place bets that Ava lasts less than a week – like the three carers before her.

Tilly is not a sweet, powder-puff pensioner. She lived a life of numerous affairs which helped her deal with the death of Jack Turner, her beloved American reconnaissance photographer in WW2. Seemingly, beyond the pale, it is Tilly’s robust opinions which lead to Ava’s realisation that convention is only fit for throwing out of the window.

‘The Blue Hour’ includes flashback chapters, letters and diary entries of the young Tilly and Jack as they experience the heady highs and lows of a global war in a small corner of England.

Why the Title?

The Blue Hour is that calm, twilight time, when sun dips just below the horizon, just before dawn and around dusk. It may only last 15 minutes. The Blue Hour is a space before the world wakes and sleeps. I love that feeling when the rush of day slows and night seeps in, when warm light rays bathe sea and land with heat and magic, slowly transforming contours into dark and eerie. It is also the twilight of Tilly’s life and the novel begins and ends with this unique light casting its spell.

Purchase your copy of The Blue Hour

Click on the button below to purchase your copy from Amazon.
Also available to purchase from independent book stores.

Buy your copy

On time, on point & engaging

No matter how ‘dull’ the subject, Melanie always managed to make her content really engaging, usually full of witt and humour too! She always fulfils the briefs provided – and on time.

Jody Smith

Creative Director, Zephyr

The Blue Hour is a stunningly good debut

Beautifully written, this honest, emotional and moving novel had me hooked from the opening pages. I could not stop reading until I had finished, and when I had finished, I missed the characters.

The Blue Hour is, at heart, a love story but it’s so much more than just that. It’s also about the constraints placed on women and the ways in which they’re expected to conform. It is energetic, heartfelt, funny, fresh and original – the literary equivalent of a strong gin and tonic on a warm summer’s evening: refreshing, invigorating and inspiring. I adored the two -very different – lead characters and enjoyed spending time with them in Cornwall, the places so well described that I felt as if I was there.

Melanie Greenwood is a hugely talented, intelligent and fresh voice in literature. I’m sure this book will fly – it’s what it deserves.

Louise Douglas

Novelist

Compelling and brilliant

M J Greenwood displays an impressive ability to pace and pattern her story. A hugely compelling read, pleasurably devoured that has the potential to translate to the big screen. Here’s hoping!

Helena Markovic Buck

A brilliant read

A wonderful page turn of a book. I couldn’t help but imagine this becoming a film! So refreshing to have such a strong, endearing and hilariously rude female protagonist. Will definitely pass on to friends.

Alana Rein

Magazine Production Editor

Beautiful story about many different kinds of love

M J Greenwood’s debut novel contains many elements of a traditional romance but it isn’t simply a love story. This is a story about love which is a very different thing. Another theme of this novel is that life is a serious of small and large revelations, each one enriching our understanding of past and present and opening up new possibilities for the future. Tilly lingered in the mind of this reader long after the book ended.

Jane Roberts

Creative Writing Reviewer

Evocative, sensitive novel about love, sex and ageing with a cantankerous 90 year old heroine

M J Greenwood is particularly good at writing about sex but also bodies. The novel is layered, evocative with a feel-good read that pulls you along without a hint of sentimentality. Highly recommended.

Grace Palmer

Novel Nights