The House That Sat Down Trilogy #2
Inspired by a true story, The House That Sat Down Trilogy is a tale of triumph over tragedy. It is an astonishing account of sudden, first-world homelessness in the heart of the New Forest, and the unexpected consequences. Written entirely from a mother’s point of view, following the collapse of her family’s home, it is an uplifting and positive read in spite of the subject matter, with a thread of wry humour throughout. Follow this ordinary woman on an extraordinary journey of survival and self discovery as she reels from disaster, before picking herself up and coming back stronger and wiser than before.
Packed with humorous observations about what it is like to live in a tent in your garden with your husband and four children after a significant part of your house falls down out of the blue one day, this story takes you from the depths of despair right through to the satisfying heights of success against the odds, with lots of tea and cakes on the way.
Follow this crazy family as they cope with disaster in their own truly unique and rather mad way, and celebrate each small triumph along the way with them.
Restoration
Let us return to the crumbling cob cottage in the country, and our intrepid heroine and her hilarious family.
They are about to start rebuilding their home and their lives. Of course, nothing is going to go smoothly for them, is it?
In this sequel to ‘Accidental Damage – tales from the house that sat down’ we accompany our heroine on her journey as she bravely battles to restore everything that she loves; often against the odds and with a liberal sprinkling of humour, art and home-made cookies along the way.
One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
Extract
The whole second book is about rebuilding, both the house and the family’s confidence and resilience. I wanted to demonstrate how the small things in life can make a massive difference. In this case, it’s something as simple as a basic, functioning staircase, the arrival of which is greeted like a major technological breakthrough.
‘Remaining in the past….
As with many building projects, things can seem to take forever before one sees any progress and then, all of a sudden, everything starts to come together. This is the stage that we were now at with the rebuild of our beautiful cottage.
At long last the new staircase went in, the walls were plastered, and the space started to feel almost useable again, instead of some noisy old barn stuffed to the brim with busy builders. I took such great delight in walking up and down the brand-new, modern, safe set of stairs that I think poor old Dusty thought I had finally lost the plot. I was so pleased with it that I even went to get the Barbarians from the caravan to come and try it out too.
The Barbarians completely understood my fascination with the new stairs. We had spent so many years with the old rickety 350-year-old cottage staircase that it was a complete novelty to have a full set of even, steady treads complete with a handrail! Fancy that! Marvellous! All five of us spent a merry half-an-hour testing the new flight out, and then going into each of the newly rebuilt bedrooms and generally getting in the way of the bemused workforce. Then I took lots of photos of the four Barbarians on the stairs with Skelly and sent the images to Beloved Husband at work, to cheer him up.
Eventually, having been physically prevented from trying to get poor Skelly to slide down the new, unpainted bannister, Small changed the subject and nodded towards the sealed up back bedroom door, saying bluntly, “So when are you going to open that up then?” He was only trying to distract me. I knew he’d already made his mind up to try the banister sliding thing later on, when I wasn’t looking, but I had to agree that he had a point about the little bedroom.
The bulk of the really dusty work had been completed. The carpentry, the plastering and the electrics were almost finished bar a few minor details. We even had a front door! Amazing! A beautiful forest green one with a little glass window in it and sleek, black fittings. We were now able to actually secure our property after nearly fourteen months with a gaping hole in the wall direct to the outside world. Wonders would never cease. Such a small detail but so important to a family’s sense of security and one that signalled that yet another significant change was on its way.
It really wouldn’t be long before we could start to move back in.’
Thank you, Alice May and Rachel’s Random Resources
About the Author
I am a multi-tasking parent to four not-so-small children, and I am fortunate enough to be married to (probably) the most patient man on the planet. We live in, what used to be, a ramshackle old cottage in the country. Our house began to fall down out of the blue one day, which resulted in the whole family living in a tent in the back garden for quite some time, while we worked out how to rebuild our home.
A few years afterwards, I decided to write a book and, once I started, I found I couldn’t stop.
Inspired by true-life events ‘Accidental Damage – tales from the house that sat down’ wouldn’t leave me alone until it was written.
Within six months of self-publishing my novel, I was delighted to learn that it had won two ‘Chill with a Book Awards’. This was a massive honour and motivated me to continue writing. Accidental Damage became the first book in a trilogy.
The Omnibus edition of all three books in the House That Sat Down Trilogy is now available via Amazon in both paperback and kindle format.
Author Links
Website: www.AliceMay.weebly.com
Facebook www.facebook.com/AliceMayAuthor/
Twitter: @AliceMay_Author
Instagram: alicemay_author_artist
Book Links:
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/House-That-Sat-Down-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B07WJW5MYF
US – https://www.amazon.com/House-That-Sat-Down-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B07WJW5MYF
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