Kate Walker: Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother’s Day in the UK. I know it’s not the same date as it’s celebrated in America – I’ve never been quite sure why there is this difference – but in the UK we’ll be celebrating ‘Mothering Sunday’ on April 3rd. In the Roman religion the Hilaria festival was held in honour of the mother goddess Cybele and it took place during mid-March. As the Roman Empire and Europe converted to Christianity, this celebration became part of the liturgical calendar as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church".


During the sixteenth century, people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday. This was either a large local church, or more often the nearest Cathedral. Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering". In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mothers and other family members. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, since in other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours. This Mother’s Day is going to be sad as well as a celebration for us. I’ll be so happy to see my son and to celebrate with him, but sadly my dear Mother in Law died a couple of weeks ago and so, like my own mother, she will be missed today.

So even more than usual, I’ve thinking about Mothers and their influences on us, and because I’m a writer I’ve been thinking about the books that my mother brought into my life. I don’t know if I would ever have started writing romance if it hadn’t been for the fact that my mother had a great friend who used to write for Mills & Boon in the years I was growing up. Marguerite Lees was a writer of romance back in the 1960s and 70s and she was the first person I ever knew who wrote and was published for a living. My mother had a collection of her friend’s books and I used to sneak a read of them when she wasn’t looking. They weren’t very sexy or even racy, but she still didn’t think they were suitable for me when I was young!

It’s funny though - because she thought that reading the classics like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights was fine. And these books have such strong emotions, such powerful themes of love and passion that they are far more intense and high-voltage than anything I ever read in the early Mills & Boon romances I read. But perhaps the fact that I read these books meant that when I wanted to write then I wanted to create stories that contained such intense emotions and strong feelings as the books I’d grown up with. So perhaps that’s why I now write for the Presents line where this emotional intensity is part of the atmosphere of the stories.

It certainly is there in my newest release – The Proud Wife - which is out in Presents Extra on April 12th. In The Proud Wife, Marina and Pietro married in a rush, early in their relationship, because she was pregnant. They were still in that wildly passionate first stage of love, when you’re blind to everything else. And the baby just seemed like the icing on the cake. But when Marina miscarried, their relationship was tested cruelly. Grief does terrible things to people. Some couples can be drawn together by it, others are torn apart. And because Marina and Pietro didn’t know each other well enough to understand what each of them was going through, it opened up the cracks in their marriage and split them up.

When someone has once loved so very passionately, the loss of that love leaves a hole that is very hard to fill. Marina and Pietro believe that they would be better apart, that their marriage is dead. But when they have to come back together to discuss the divorce, they are forced to think again. I love to write about themes like this - reunion stories are some of my favourites to write. And luckily they seems to be very popular with the readers – and reviewers. Romantic Times has given The Proud Wife 4.5 stars and describes it as ‘an emotionally charged page-turner with plenty of tension and passion. ‘

Which brings me to my really good news – I’m thrilled to be able to announce that another reunion story – The Konstantos Marriage Demand has been awarded the Best Presents Extra (2010) title in the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards. It’s a real honour for me and one I know my mother would have been delighted by. Sadly she never saw my books published - though she knew that the first one had been accepted. My Mother in law read and enjoyed every one of the novels I gave her and she knew about this award when I still had to keep it a secret. I’m so glad I was able to let her know before the official announcement and I’m so sad that I won’t be able to share my books with her in the future.

What about you? Did you get any of your love of books from your mother – or mother in law? – Did she share her favourite authors with you? Or if you are a mother what books have you been able to pass on to your daughter - or your son? I’ve been able to share all sorts of reading with my son but the romances are the books I share with his lovely girlfriend.

I have a signed copy of the award winning Konstantos Marriage Demand to give away to one poster – I’ll get Sid the cat on the job of picking the winner

You can read more about The Proud Wife over on my web site and you can learn all about my news and get all the really up to date stuff on my blog.

And the winner is . . . .LENI!


Leni please email me kate AT kate-walker.com and I'll send your prize book on to you