Debut novel One Step Too Far tells the story of Emily Coleman, a young woman with a seemingly perfect life who one day just walks away from it all, leaving no trace and no explanation. Throughout the novel, the reader gets tantalizing little hints as to what made Emily completely give up her old life, but let me tell you, you will not be able to guess her secret until the final reveal. Originally published in the U.K., One Step Too Far's e-book edition hit #1 on Amazon.uk in April 2013, and all of us LibraryLoveFest gals have absolutely loved it. And so, we are very excited to welcome to our humble site author Tina Seskis with a special message for librarians!
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When I was nine or ten a new library was built in our village. I remember to this day the thrill of entering for the very first time this super-new, super-modern building that smelled of paint and new (bright blue) carpet, and best of all had lines and lines of Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew books, and, as I discovered as I got older, Agatha Christie books, which I would fight over with my mum! We used to go as a family every Thursday evening, and every week it felt like such a treat to get these books stamped to take home, all for me. At the time we didn't have many books in our house, and I am convinced that my love of reading was borne out of my love of that library.
When I had my own son I started taking him to our local library in North London pretty much as soon as he could walk. It is a very different experience, in that it is far from brand new, and there are banks of computers, and rows of DVD's, and the odd homeless person reading the papers to stay warm, and the children's section has play equipment and bright rugs and even a slide, but the principle has remained the same. I would let my son pick a huge load of books each week and we would take them home and it would feel like we'd won a competition, and we'd work our way through them every night before bed. And when we moved temporarily to Manly, in Sydney, Australia, the first thing we did was join the library, and it was where we spent many an hour when it was raining, which, surprisingly for Australia, was fairly often.
So for me now knowing that my own books are available for loan in libraries throughout the world makes me very proud, and incredibly grateful for the principle of libraries—and I hope that they will continue to be funded and supported, so that children can continue to find life-long inspiration and a love of reading, entirely for free. —Tina
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Thank you for stopping by, Tina! Make sure you grab an egalley today and check out One Step Too Far for yourself.
-Amanda