Mulling this over as I was sitting in a café at the weekend, enjoying a glass of mulled wine on a cold December day, I was encouraged to see that this month’s Diva magazine has a feature article on some very talented and sexy older lesbians including VG Lee and Diana Souhami. This diverse group of women in their sixties and seventies are still living life to the full and making plans for the future. And my plan is to emulate these ladies and carry on growing old disgracefully.

When I began writing ‘Starting Over’ I didn’t consciously set out to write about older women. However, one of the main characters, Ellie Winters, was struggling with the idea of reaching fifty.

As part of her midlife crisis, Ellie has a brief affair with a woman her own age, Dr Kathryn Moss, a professor of archaeology. They share many of the same interests. Ellie taught history at high school level and now makes a living as a potter. They seem to be a well-matched couple and at the beginning of the story it’s Kathryn who is interested in ‘starting over’ with their relationship. But things don’t always work out the way you think. And there are a few obstacles in the way of this reunion.

The main characters in my book are in their mid forties to fifties and as one reviewer put it – they jump in and out of bed “as if they were training for the Olympics.” A bit of an exaggeration, I thought, it’s not like there’s sex on every page. However, they do have their moments.

If you haven’t taken a chance on a new writer and added ‘Starting Over‘ to your holiday reading list, now’s the time to take the plunge and find out what’s happening with the ‘oldies’ at Starling Hill farm.

(Note: ‘Starting Over‘ has been nominated in two 2015 Golden Crown Awards categories: Debut Novel and Traditional Contemporary Romance)

(Available from Affinity, Amazon, Bella Books and Smashwords.)