Photography and Article by Matt Bigwood
Wotton author Beccy Pert is getting ready for the launch of her debut novel, Still Water, on June 23rd.
“I won a writing competition in 2018 where you had to send the first three chapters of a novel in progress it was being run by Cheltenham Literature Festival the prize was to have your book published by Borough Press, youd get an agent, and an advance of £10,000 which was great!†said Beccy.
“I heard six months later that Id won, and they wanted the completed manuscript by that August, which is great, but Id just found out I was pregnant, so I had a baby due at the same time as the manuscript! It took a bit longer than wed hoped because with a new-born around we kept missing the deadlines, but its finally published.â€
The story, described as ‘women’s literary fiction is set on the Shetland Islands, where Beccys parents lived in the late 1970s when her dad was in the RAF. It features a woman who lives a quiet life on the island but the body of her mother, who went missing 20 years previously, is discovered in a flooded quarry in Devon. Beccy describes it as a ‘dual narrative with her mothers diaries and also the woman in the present dealing with the after effects.
Does Beccy have any more books in the pipeline? “Im trying to work on one at the moment but Ive just found out Im expecting again books and babies seem to come at the same time!â€