Festivals are fun, full of joyous atmosphere and there’s often a lightness in the air. Festival Days celebrates that in 1951 and adds a twist of murder in what is book 3 of The Clapham Trilogy. I read it as a stand-alone and it holds up pretty well. Thanks to Hobeck books, check out the lively jazz-filled cover. my review and the blurb as you scroll down…
May, 1951 and everyone who knew the dark days of war and rationing, is in the mood for a lively, uplifting festival that will change the tide to that of one of hope. The atmosphere of anticipation for the present and future of something huge brewing is captured well. The something big turns out to be more that just the jovial atmosphere of festival days…
Detective Constable, Faye Smith is who readers meet because things turn rather sinister when a double murder that looks is more than a straight-forward killing when two bodies are discovered in old wartime shelters, and turn out to be more in gangland territory. She has her work cut out in not only solving the crime, but in a male dominated world, to prove herself as does her work colleague, Ellie Peveril.
Ellie Peveril, meanwhile also has her own domestic problems with her ex-fiance hanging around between the background and foreground of her life.
Julie Anderson mixes the light with the dark, the criminal underworld and domesticity in an intriguing way. It’s one that readers can be caught up in the characters lives and progresses the story at a great, fast pace. She changes the tempo, cranking it up, tightening events. the more you read, so what it becomes is a tense and gripping plot, at a time when everyone’s lives are changing one way or another.
This summer as all types of festivals loom large, this is the book to check out for your tbr pile and read to whet your appetite for them. It’s captivating for festival-goers and crime fiction fans alike.
Blurb
May 1951
Celebration is in the air with the Festival of Britain and for the first time in years the mood is one of hope rather than hurt.
For Detective Constable Faye Smith, London is not as safe as it seems. The criminal underworld is gaining strength, enjoying a lively existence below the surface. Then two bodies are found in the war-time shelters, a man and a woman. Who are they? What’s their story? Why were they murdered and how did they end up in the shelters?
Meanwhile, Ellie Peveril is busy with a celebration of a different kind. Ellie does all she can to support her friend but has her own worries, with ex-fiancé Patrick Haverstock looming in the shadows. Faye, keen to unravel the mystery of the double murder, finds herself tangled up in crimes that stretch far beyond a simple killing.
Faye and Ellie must face their toughest case yet as their lives change, irrevocably, for the future.
Interview with Melanie Crew and Ross Palmer on Album Some Other Stories, Behind the Music Scenes, Gigs, Radio and more…
Interview by Louise Cannon
Earlier in the week, I invited Melanie Crew and Ross Palmer to feature on my blog. Two normal down to earth people making big waves on the music scene with their new album Some Other Stories. They have been composing their own songs and singing them for a number of years together and on solo work. BBC Radio 6, BBC Essex, BBC Kent, local radio stations and community radio station all support this duo from London and their unique brand of folk music and occasional songs with a sea shanty vibe too. You can also find them across all streaming platforms. They also perform at various gigs in London and across the country when they aren’t doing their “day jobs”. You can find gig details for April and September within the interview.
Some Other Stories, available now. The album is highly relevant and mixes fun with thought-provoking, poignant lyrics that gently touch the heart and mind. The songs, coupled with their rather sweet, melodic voices makes the album easy to listen to in the car or when out walking. I have a link to their album near the end of the interview.
Please give a warm welcome to Melanie and Ross who have both answered questions below with fascinating answers so you can get to know who they are and take a little sneaky peek behind the music scene too.
Who or what inspired you to sing and play folk music and why does this particular genre of music attract you to perform it?
Ross: Speaking personally, the initial attraction when I was in my late teens was the guitar playing.
I started to listen to people like Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, and slightly more singer-songwriter-y types who came out of the 1960s folk scene in the UK, like Nick Drake and John Martyn. Hearing their virtuoso fingerpicking styles and alternate tunings absolutely knocked my socks off! You just didn’t hear that style of guitar playing in contemporary music at the time – not in pop or rock, anyway.
Once I started listening to them, I started hearing these songs that were part of the tradition of folk music, centuries-old ballads that have fantastic stories to tell and have been kept alive through the folk process and mostly sung unaccompanied.
2. Melanie and Ross, you write your own songs and compose your own music. What is your creative process?
Ross: We tend to write separately for the most part, then we bring our songs to each other to start playing, working out harmonies and extra instrumental parts. We do a lot of the recording at home, and it will usually start with a guitar and vocal performance by whoever wrote the song, which we’ll then add to with extra guitars or harmonies, and sometimes bass and drums.
If we need an instrument neither of us play, we dip into the network of people we know from the London folk and singer-songwriter circuits. We’re lucky enough to know some fabulous musicians like pianist Nick Frater, double bassist Adam Beattie and violinist Basia Bartz, all of whom are writers and singers and multi-instrumentalists themselves and bring a songwriter’s ear to their instrumental parts.
3. You have been featured on Radio 6. What was that like and what was the impact, especially since you not only write music, you also have rather ordinary jobs in the mix.
Melanie: A few songs from my solo EPs were played by Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music, and since then we have both played live on BBC Essex, and Ross has played live on BBC Kent as well. We’re really grateful for the support we’ve had from local radio, not just the BBC but many other local and community-run stations.
This year, for the first time, some of our songs were played on radio shows in the US which was really nice – we recorded a live performance for the Great American Folk Show, which was broadcast on National Public Radio. Shows like this help us reach more people. However, our everyday lives haven’t changed all that much: we both have full-time jobs, and this means we are a bit more limited in how much time we’re able to spend promoting our music.
4. How do you agree what to keep and what to discard?
Ross: If one of us has a song we think the other will like, we’ll try playing it together and if we feel like it works we’ll record it. There are occasions when we’ll finish a recording but decide it’s not quite right for the album or EP we’re making, in which case we’ll hold it back and see if it finds a home later.
5. You create images within the lyrics, especially in Take a Picture where there are reminisces of the past in scenery, the younger self and present feelings. What inspired and experiences did you draw on to write this song?
Melanie: This song, and another song called Look Back on Before which is also on the album, are both about looking back on past experiences, whilst also trying to ‘be present’ in the current moment and not letting life pass you by. Look Back on Before is a slightly more personal song – there is a line in it about having a ‘personal archive in a drawer’, which refers to a drawer I have at home full of all the diaries and notebooks I have kept over the years. Take a Picture has a similar theme of reminiscing but for this one I imagined a scenario where someone was thinking of a past relationship/friendship and happy times they spent with that person by the seaside. With lyrics, usually I have a very general concept or idea and then build something around that.
6. Making Lists, the title of a song, is something lots of people do. You turn it on its head, almost getting people to look at them and ask deep questions about finding advice and that human thing of validation, seeping into that sense of wellbeing. When you wrote this song, what impact did it have on you both and listeners who make all manner of lists?
Melanie: I love a good list! My phone is full of lists I have made (places I want to go, exhibitions I want to see, TV shows I want to watch, books I want to read). I also keep a list each year of all the things I’ve done. These lists help me keep track of things, and not forget stuff. As someone who likes to plan, rather than do things spontaneously, they are very helpful! The song Making Lists is about trying to plan ahead and bring some sense of order to everyday life, but not getting too hung-up on things, by overthinking decisions or seeking external validation all the time.
7. Close the Book is another philosophical book of when people are captured at their best, a guilty man taking the stand and when the book is closed on life and all is brushed aside. What influenced this song?
Ross: When I started that lyric, I had an image in my mind of a musician being filmed playing on stage in a TV studio, with a big clock on the studio wall. It made me think about how everything in a mediated world gets turned into a kind of performance for public consumption, even the act of being an artist. So the images in the lyrics all came out of that: being on stage or being photographed, while simultaneously feeling like a condemned man about to be executed and then forgotten.
I guess the song is about the futility of the images that we construct of ourselves for the consumption of others. Not just celebrities or influencers or performers, but basically all of us create a version of ourselves for the public that we want to be thought of as really being like.
8. Blindly Through the World and Our Captain Cried All Hands has a light sea shanty vibe in the music, a bit different from some of the other songs that have a folk music vibe. How did you find changing up the tempo and sound of the songs?
Ross: Our Captain particularly was a tricky one! The melody was “collected” by the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1909 and is also used for a couple of more famous pieces: a folk song called The Blacksmith and a hymn called To Be a Pilgrim (or He Who Would Valiant Be), which we sang all the time at my Catholic secondary school.
It’s in a slightly knotty time signature of 7/4, so there’s one beat fewer than you expect, which made playing the drums on it a challenge. What’s lovely about that song is how differently it’s been interpreted by the people who have sung it. Granny’s Attic recorded a beautifully slow and melancholy version of it a few years ago, just voice and concertina, while an American freak-folk group has a very droney, modal arrangement of the song for four voices.
9. Have you got any gigs coming up and what’s next for you both in your music career?
Melanie: Yes, we have a couple of shows in April – we’re playing at Redbridge Music Lounge on 10 April, and then we’re playing at a new songwriters’ event at the Ignition Brewery in Sydenham (southeast London) on 25 April. Later in the year we’re really looking forward to returning to St Edith folk club in Sevenoaks on 25 September.
In terms of what’s next, we are planning on re-recording some old songs to give them a bit of a fresh update – then hopefully releasing those, along with a couple of new songs, on an EP.
10. Where can people find you and listen across social media and streaming services?
On social media you can follow us on Instagram (@melaniecrewandrosspalmer). For general updates (e.g. on gigs) you can sign up to our mailing list on our website at https://melaniecrewandrossp almer.com
Jess Robinson is known for being on tv programmes such as Dead Ringers and The Last Leg.
Jess Robinson has divas in her head just desperate to get out to sing the tracks of her life, which come from her love and admiration of Elton John. She’s a powerhouse as she belts out songs that pay homage to him, but in various “divas” voices from Billie Holliday to Kate Bush to Britney Spears to Amy Winehouse to Billie Eillish and more… There’s even an amusing duet involving “Katherine Jenkins” and “Mary Poppins”. As surreal as it sounds, this is a very well put together show, which shows a large range of her impressionist talents. There’s also a bit of funny satire smartly put in there too. When she sings a song straight, she actually has a very listenable singing voice. Whether its her own voice or impersonating someone else’s voice. she has a large vocal range, whether its a popstar or she’s hitting the highest notes of an opera singer.
If you want to see what many female divas sound like singing Elton John songs, then check out more info here for Your Song
Jess Robinson also mentioned she has a book coming out soon. Published by Harper Collins, this biography tells the story of a member of her family in war times and also weaves Jess’s life in here and now in modern day Britain.
The 1980’s are back with a bang with this upbeat feel-good musical that will have you joining in some dance moves synonymous of the era.
A burst of colour in the form of leotards and legwarmers and energised 1980’s music exploded onto the stage. Then we see a mother/daughter relationship have the age old argument of music tastes in a relatable generational tale, before time travelling again to the 80’s where older self meets younger self, told in an engaging journey of self-discovery.
The music chosen is wise and clever and sung by a high energy band, re-creating the favoured mix-tape songs, such as Footloose, Heaven Is A Place On Earth, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and more, which intelligently interweave throughout the story.
The songs chosen from the 80’s are still played a reasonable amount on the radio and easily found on streaming services, so many generations can enjoy this.
The actors/singers/dancers lift spirits and whisk their audience into a world of highly entertaining nostalgia with its vibrant, powerfully energetic, fun cast.
Shantify – where pop songs are “shantified” as you ride on the wave of coastal storytelling and music for an hour of glorious fun in Palais du Variete, a beautifully ornate Spiegel Tent at George Square Gardens. Check out my review below and how you can also get your seafaring hands on a ticket.
Shantify burst onto the scene with gusto and toe-tapping well-known songs sang as you’ve never heard them before, in their beautiful home of a Spiegel tent.
Through pop songs like 9 to 5, 500 Miles, Never Walk Alone, Texas Holdem and more, sang in the style of sea shanties, we see the fishermen contemplating life and negotiating storms on the sea.
The voices of the performers are rich in vocal talents and great range. The low notes are extremely low and they hit the high notes and everything in-between as they harmonise and sing together. Their timing and rhythm was perfect! The energising choreography and songs carry well into the auditorium and you can’t help but be swept away by what’s happening on the stage.
They have jobs in a cafe, on the boat, in a bank. They are also volunteers on the lifeboats. This is quite a touching scene and nicely done. It’s a lovely nod to all the lifeboat volunteers who rescue those in danger.
They have dreams and aspirations and perhaps a romance on the horizon.
Shantify is an uplifting, heartfelt, fully energised musical full of possibilities of changing how life goes for some and keeping traditions alive for others.
Shantify is a show you won’t want to miss off your Fringe schedule.
Interview By Lou with Julie Lake and Annie MacLeod of Forget Me Not
Welcome to Bookmarks and Stages to talk about your fascinating show, Forget Me Not, which you’re performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
If you’ve ever watched Orange Is The New Black, then Julie Lake would be a familiar name. Since then she’s been more a creator of work on-screen and in music. Annie MacLeod is and award-winning music and songwriter. Together, they talk about their show Forget Me Not, motherhood, being in their 40’s and re-inventing themselves and more… Here’s the synopsis of Forget Me Not. You can find the Edinburgh Fringe link to their show at the end of the interview.
Synopsis
Orange is the New Black’s Julie Lake and songwriter Annie Macleod join forces in Forget-Me-Not, a true story of motherhood, lost love and hauntings set to original music and heart-exploding harmonies. Two estranged childhood best friends reconnect in midlife – both mothers, stifled by traditional roles and longing for more creative freedom, adventure, sexual liberation and a deeper sense of self. Through storytelling and song, they rediscover the power of their bond, finding the healing and freedom they’ve been searching for all along. A moving, magical celebration of motherhood, creativity, resilience and the transformative power of female friendship.
Now, let’s check out he interesting answers they gave about their show and more…
Julie Lake: Who or what inspired you to act and how have you seen your career progress from being in the successful, Orange is the New Black?
I caught the acting bug at five—I wanted to be wild and expressive, but also connect with people in a way I couldn’t offstage. I was shy, secretive, and terrified of revealing too much. Writing used to scare me—I thought it might expose me as crazy or stupid. But since Orange is the New Black, I’ve shifted into creating my own work: pilots, screenplays, music—and now a live play. Turns out, sharing my inner world isn’t fatal. Just… occasionally awkward.
Annie MacLeod: You’re an award-winning music and songwriter. What or whom inspired you to take this career path?
I’ve loved music and theater since high school – Julie and I performed together as teenagers, and I always dreamed of being on Broadway or performing as a musician. But I took a different path, became a nurse practitioner, and poured myself into caregiving and motherhood. For years, I made music in the cracks of my life, stealing moments when I could. But once my kids were out of the baby phase, I had this wake-up call—like, what happened to my dreams? I knew I needed to reclaim them. Our play tells the story of that transformation.
Julie Lake: The play explores motherhood and the complex privilege and joy surrounding this. How would you describe the complications and what is it about this that makes it important to highlight?
When I became a mom, I slipped into a role that didn’t feel like me. I’d been a lifelong artist—filming a pilot at eight months pregnant that got into SXSW. But after my son was born (and then Covid hit), I disappeared into nonstop caregiving. I cried if I left him for an hour. I was secretly writing music, but had lost the courage to share it. I thought it was all over. Annie helped me find myself again. She saw me when I couldn’t. My song “Oldest Friend” says it best: “Be my witness when the fog becomes too thick, when I can’t see beyond these lines. Tell me something, that you see in these dry bones, when my worn heart has lost its shine.”
Annie MacLeod: How did you come up with lyrics and music to convey the complexities of motherhood, so the story really penetrates into you audiences? There’s a song in the show called TheSacrifice that poured out of me during a time I was reckoning with how my own mother’s pain shaped my experience of motherhood. My dad left when I was a baby, and my mom—who struggled with depression—sacrificed everything to raise me. But in the process, she gave up her own desires, her light. I grew up thinking I had to shine bright enough for the both of us. That sadness, that ghost of unfulfilled womanhood, made its way into how I mothered. Writing Sacrifice was the only way I could process it—through poetry and music. The song helped me turn something generational and heavy into something healing. “I am your lifeline, but I’m not drowning too. You say, I come from you. Oh, I come from you.” That’s what I want to offer my kids—and maybe the audience too.
Julie Lake: What is your acting process to convey the theme of grief of futures so the audience can feel something of what you feel and get the point across about this?
Honestly, I just hope I can get through the show without crying too much. I want the audience to really hear the story and feel their own feelings—not mine. So while I’m performing, I’m often trying to hold back. The truth is, there’s no way to fully explain in words or tears the depth or duration of what Annie and I went through. All we can do is tell the truth of what happened and trust the audience to connect it to their own experiences. And the songs do a lot of the emotional work for us, too – they’re really the emotional landscape of this show.
6 . Julie and Annie Re-invention is a big and fully loaded theme running through the musical. How complicated do you think it is to re-invent yourself in your 40’s, what are the positives and the challenges?
Both of us made big shifts in midlife—Annie left her career as a nurse practitioner to pursue music full-time, and Julie leaned into song-writing and performing her own music for the first time at 40. Doing this as mothers was especially hard. Our culture treats anything outside caretaking or earning money as selfish—but it’s not. Reclaiming your wholeness, your voice, your creativity, is one of the best gifts you can give your kids. It’s modelling. We want our children to see what it looks like to live in alignment, not abandon yourself. That’s not selfish—it’s brave, and it’s deeply loving.
Julie and Annie: What do you hope the audience will gain from watching your show?
We hope audiences—especially mothers—leave our show feeling seen, inspired, and reminded of their creative spark. Forget-Me-Not is a love letter to the parts of ourselves that get buried in caregiving, shame, and self-doubt. We want women to feel less alone in their struggles and more empowered to reclaim their voices and dreams.
We’re also launching workshops and women’s circles specifically for Artist Mothers—to keep this conversation going beyond the stage. It’s about building a community where creativity and motherhood can coexist.
Julie and Annie: What inspired you to take your musical to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and what are you excited most about?
Julie: I’d always wanted to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, but I thought that ship had sailed, that I was too old. But when we started to conceive of this show, it just came to me again, that we could apply at least? And then when we got in I flipped out, I’d have to leave my babies to do it, face so many fears, play my music for people for the first time, but I knew in my gut it was the right next step for us. And I know we would have never made this show without the looming deadline of the fringe. It was too hard, too much work, too emotionally taxing, I mean we did 30 drafts, composed 6 songs, staged the play in NYC with our magnificent director, Peter Cook (Never Sleep Alone). I’m so proud of this show that we’ve created, and whatever else happens at the Fringe is just gravy at this point.
Forget-Me-Not runs August 1–9 at Greenside @ George Street 11:40AM.
Bookmarks and Stages by Lou 