GHOSTED: What’s your new holiday romcom about?
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You only have to casually drop the fact you have a new book coming out into conversation, and everyone wants to know: what’s ‘GHOSTED’ about?
When I string together words enough to form a sentence, they hear how it’s about two people in their 60s. They meet on a gay cruise ship when they’re sure happiness (and possibly a healthy life) is over. And no, neither of them are gay. And they’re from New York. And there’s drugs, mental health issues, infidelity, and the struggles of coming out to parents. By the time I land the last little bomb, I see it in their faces. Eventually, someone will ask the obvious question? “And this is a comedy, right?”
What’s the story of Ghosted?
Silas French hasn’t spoken to his son since his wife died. Thirteen years of stonewalling is all down to an ill-thought remark. When Joey came out to him as gay, he told him to take care. He didn’t want him dying of AIDS. It was out before he could stop himself, and the camel’s back was well and truly broken. With a health scare now in the front of his mind, he needs to make this right. Except Joey lives in Florida and Florida costs money.
911 widow Ellen Gitelman loses her job right after learning late life lupus is the reason she’s felt like her bones are made of stones. Aged 16, she wrote a bucket list with her best friend Julia. She never did a thing about it. Why not now.
Silas lands a job as Santa on a cruise ship. Ellen sees tickets to swim with dolphins in Florida on a bulletin board. To cut a long story short, they end up on a gay cruise.
Lockdown writing
Writing a dark comedy with a strong heartbeat of seasoned romance was an absolute pleasure. Setting it in New York and onboard a luxury liner made it even better. I took so many virtual trips to the US and out to sea during lockdowns. I had my holiday through others. I hope I’ve managed to bring some of that to the story.
Where to buy the book
My new romantic comedy ‘Ghosted‘ is out on 31 October – though it’s nothing to do with ghosts and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. It’s a Christmas romance, set onboard a gay cruise. A romantic comedy to restore your faith in human nature. I’ll be talking more about it in the coming days. Sign up to my mailing list to win prizes, bookmarks, copies and score bonus content.
Preorder by clicking the image below
