Front Page Fridays Week-5
Welcome to Front Page Fridays Week-5. Every Friday I highlight a newly published book by showcasing the first page.
My Front Page Fridays Week-5 guest is Hilly Barmby and her new French-flavoured psychological thriller Never Forgive You.
Here’s the first page:
Prologue
How could you all have done that? You killed him. You stood and stared as he died and did nothing. We know who we are, and we know who you are. We will not forget, and we will never forgive you.
Chapter 1 – Hetty
Awkward
Uncle Archibald, or Archie, as he now preferred, had been waiting for them at the train station at Le Puy, drinking a black coffee and puffing on a cigarette. Having never met him before, Hetty noted he had dark circles and a sagging look about him, with shoulders bowed and head lowered. Maybe he always looked like that, but as his daughter Isabel was getting married this week, Hetty doubted it. This was the reason they were all travel weary and a bit cantankerous. A French wedding in the countryside. Archie tossed the still-glowing cigarette into the bushes and flipped the empty coffee cup into a waiting bin, already overflowing with rubbish. It bounced on the edge, wobbled and fell off. He didn’t bother to pick it up.
They walked over, dragging their suitcases behind them. It had been a long journey from Brighton to here in the Massif Central in France, and not just in time. Hetty sometimes wondered if her boyfriend, Davey, and his twin sisters, Ailsa and Jules, got on at all. So much unsaid weirdness in the air, covered by a patina of well-bred politeness. She couldn’t work out why and Davey was less than forthcoming.
Never Forgive You by Hilly Barmby. Published 26 March 2024 by Hobeck Books.
Purchase link: Never Forgive You: A gripping, page-turning suspense thriller eBook : Barmby, Hilly: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
About the Book
A glamorous French wedding
Arriving at the station with her boyfriend Davey MacGregor and his twin sisters, Ailsa and Juliette, Hetty, a thriller book addict, picks up on family tension. But that’s natural before a big wedding, isn’t it? Hetty feels out of her depth. The family are wealthy and well-educated, whereas she is a council house girl. Davey’s cousin Isabelle is to marry Jean-Jacques, a French right-wing politician, in the family chateau.
A fairy tale event
Ailsa is hesitant about coming back to France. Eight years ago, something happened that nearly destroyed the family. But that was dealt with, wasn’t it? Hetty has secrets of her own that she doesn’t want known. Ailsa is drawn back into the past. What, exactly, did happen? The expensive wedding is everything it should be, except when the groom is taken ill. The revellers carry on, but something is seriously wrong.
Then things start to unravel
The relationships between the family members fracture and secrets from the past start coming to the surface, with murderous results… Who is telling the truth? Who is out for revenge?A glamorous French wedding.A fairy tale event.Then things start to unravel as secrets from the past start coming to the surface, with murderous results… Who is telling the truth? Who is out for revenge?
About the Author
Hilly attended Rochester College of Art to experience an excellent Foundation Course, which led to a degree course in Graphic Design at Central School of Art and Design in London. Here, she led a colourful life, which she has woven into many of her stories.
After her degree course, she went on a woodworking course to make furniture. Combining her art and woodworking skills, she got a stall at Covent Garden Craft Market to sell hand-made chess and backgammon sets.
She moved to Brighton, a fabulous city but, after teaching Design Technology for fifteen years, she gave it all up to relocate to Órgiva in southern Spain. She has been here for the last seven years, living happily in an old farmhouse on an organic fruit farm in the mountains, with her partner and two rescue dogs.
Hilly is also part of Artists’ Network Alpujarra (ANA), a community of artists who have exhibited extensively in the region of the Alpujarra. She also makes ceramics, jewellery, and up-cycles anything not nailed down.Hilly writes under the pen name of Billie Hill for her YA work. Eazee Life is book one of a trilogy.
She has two adult psychological thrillers published with Bloodhound Books and two to be published with Hobeck Books.
Hilly’s Social Media Links
Twitter/X: @Hilly_Barmby
https://www.tiktok.com/@hillybarmby387
https://www.instagram.com/hillyollie
https://bsky.app/profile/hillybillie.bsky.social
Hilly Barmby Author Website: www.hillybarmbyauthor.com
Hilly Barmby (Pen name Billie Hill) @hillybillie.bsky.social
https://www.facebook.com/HillyOllieBarmby
To find out how Hilly became a published author, read her story at this link: Hilly Barmby’s Publication Journey - Rachel Sargeant
I hope you enjoyed Front Page Fridays Week-5. Come along next Friday for another.
And please take a look at books already featured on Front Page Fridays:
Blood Ribbons by Lin Le Versha – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-1/
Fatal Blow by Brian Price – https://www.rachelsargeant.co.uk/front-page-fridays-week-2/
Can I Trust You? by Rob Gittins – Front Page Fridays Week-3 – Rachel Sargeant
The Last Bird of Paradise by AJ Aberford – Front Page Fridays Week-4 – Rachel Sargeant