How shall we find the concord of this discord?
Theseus, Duke of Athens
A Midsummer Night’s Dream V.1
William Shakespeare
Today I’m going to tell you about Michael Murray’s novel, Leefdale, for which the above quote is the epigraph.
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Here we go….
As well as being the author of Magnificent Britain, Julia’s Room, and the best-selling detective novel, A Single to Filey, Michael Murray has been my other half for over forty years.
He was writing Leefdale and its companion novel, Magnificent Britain, for over twenty years. Yes, I did say twenty! Magnificent Britain was published as a Kindle ebook in 2012 and is also available as an Amazon print-on-demand paperback.
Leefdale was published in 2018 for Kindle and as a paperback. Both novels are in KindleUnlimited.
You don’t need a Kindle to read Kindle ebooks. You can get a free Kindle app from all the usual app stores on phones, iPads, etc.
Leefdale is a long novel.
303800 words.
That’s 1511 Kindle pages or 540 single spaced A4 pages.
This, I’m sure you’ll agree, is a substantial piece of work!
The residents of Leefdale are busily preparing for the 2001 Magnificent Britain Gardening Competition. Major Howard Roberts is obsessed with gaining the fifth consecutive gold medal for the village.
Unfortunately, the sale of The Old Rectory and its exemplary gardens threatens his hopes and those of many of Leefdale’s other enthusiastic gardeners.
Sleepy, picturesque Leefdale soon becomes a place of petty, bitter conflict which attracts the attention of a boorish political reporter and the national media who are, coincidentally, in pursuit of a much bigger story.
An estate agent with unconventional domestic arrangements; the taken-for-granted wife of a Tory politician; an emotionally traumatised drama therapist and an overworked and frustrated artist are just some of the diverse characters whose lives become entangled and dramatically changed following the sale of The Old Rectory.
Leefdale explores how both individuals and a community respond to change. Its themes touch upon concord and discord, inclusion and exclusion, the liberating power of Art and the complex nature of love.
You can read a free sample of Leefdale on the Amazon site. It’s a long free sample because, as I said, Leefdale is a long novel. Great for readers who like to get lost in a book for a good few hours. My iPad gives Leefdale 12 hours of reading time so an ideal novel for a lazy weekend or to take on holiday.
I hope you’ll have time to visit the Leefdale book-page and read some of the free sample. And if the novel appeals to you, download a copy. You might need to know that there is a little strong language in the novel but nothing that you won’t have heard before!
How shall we find the concord of this discord?
3 Sixty Five Blog 