Mine by Alison Knight

“What’s mine, I keep.”

London, 1968.

Lily’s dreams of a better life for her family are shattered when her teenage daughter refuses to give up her illegitimate child. It doesn’t help that Lily’s husband, Jack, takes their daughter’s side.

Taking refuge in her work at a law firm in the City, Lily’s growing feelings for her married boss soon provides a dangerous distraction.

Will Lily be able to resist temptation? Or will the decisions made by these ordinary people lead them down an extraordinary path that could destroy them all?

‘Mine’ – a powerful story of class, ambition and sexual politics.

Reader of pajnewman.com can read an exclusive extract from ‘Mine’ by Alison Knight here:

Alison Knight has indeed produced a powerful tale of class, ambition and forbidden love against the backdrop of 1960’s London.

The social mores of the day are played out against the backdrop of socially ambitious Lily becoming fragmented by her desire for advancement and dreams of bettering herself as her happy-go-lucky working class husband enjoys what he has.

This is marketed as a 1960s noir-ish novel but it is much more Eastenders via The Krays. This is not a glorified world of sharp suited gangsters and flash cars – it’s tins of peas, spuds needing peeled for tea and the quiet desperation of doomed love.

Decisions made – in lust, in hate, in ignorance – have consequences in this novel. And bad things can certainly befall those who don’t know their place in this society.

Few, if any, characters are happy. They are all locked in their own chambers of dissatisfaction and disgruntlement. 

The other way that it does not really fit the template of a crime novel is that it is not excessively plot driven. For the most part of 400 pages, these are small, domestic events. It’s the stresses of being late for Brownies or swimming lessons; the struggle to get to the office on time; or the relationship seeping away as the lust for excitement washes over the middle aged protagonists.

The fact that Knight writes in a crisp, engaging style which sucks the reader in and sweeps them towards the shocking and alarming denouement is a testament to her skill as a writer.

Overall, this is the sort of down to earth, realistic tale about the ripples caused by the decisions we take which live on generation to generation which will stay with the reader for a long time.

Purchase Links 

UK –  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08JQF4JQT

US – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JQF4JQT

Author Bio – 

Alison has been a legal executive, a registered childminder, a professional fund-raiser and a teacher. She has travelled the world – from spending a year as an exchange student in the US in the 1970s and trekking the Great Wall of China to celebrate her fortieth year and lots of other interesting places in between.

In her mid-forties Alison went to university part-time and gained a first-class degree in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University and an MA in the same subject from Oxford Brookes University, both while still working full-time. Her first book was published a year after she completed her master’s degree.

Mine is a domestic drama set in 1960s London based on real events in her family. She is the only person who can tell this particular story. Exploring themes of class, ambition and sexual politics, Mine shows how ordinary people can make choices that lead them into extraordinary situations.

Alison teaches creative and life-writing, runs workshops and retreats with Imagine Creative Writing Workshops(www.imaginecreativewriting.co.uk) as well as working as a freelance editor. She is a member of the Society of Authors and the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

She lives in Somerset, within sight of Glastonbury Tor.

Social Media Links – 

Websites: www.alisonroseknight.com  www.imaginecreativewriting.co.uk www.darkstroke.com/dark-stroke/alison-knight/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/alison.knight.942

Twitter: @Alison_Knight59