Welcome to Marina’s website
Welcome to my web page, where you can find out more about me and my books, photos of Ukraine, hints about writing, insomnia, nice walks in the Peak District, Japanese toilets, and more.
What’s New March 2020
I’m sorry to have been out of touch for so long, but this week, with the publication of The Good, The Bad and the Little Bit Stupid, it seems like a good time to start up again.
I have been away a lot which doesn’t help. I spent the first half of 2017 as Writer in Residence at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (see Blog). I also got a chance to travel a bit in Asia. I feel rather ashamed of how little I knew of this vast and vibrant region.
In 2018 I noticed the first symptoms of cerebellar ataxia, which has rather dominated my life since then. The main symptom is loss of balance and coordination, though my speech is also affected. Having a neuro-degenerative disease is scary and lonely, and socially unacceptable, so writing this feels like ‘coming out’ to the world.
I also found time in 2018 to finish off The Good , The Bad and the Little Bit Stupid most of which was written before my ataxia, and is not about ataxia at all, though I hope to come back to this disabling and mysterious condition in future writing.
So many friends of mine had fallen victim to financial fraud, I decided to write a novel about it. Then Brexit happened – and the missing element of the story fell into place. Families, marriages, relationships broke apart, and it seemed as though the whole country was breaking apart. They say you find a story where two apparently unrelated themes intersect, so this is a story where financial fraud and Brexit intersect.
I spent most of 2019 having blood tests and MRIs and having my home adapted, while also preparing the novel for publication. Let’s see what 2020 brings.
