Portobello Book Blog

I’m pleased to be helping author Joy Ellis promote her latest novel Guide Star. Joy grew up in Kent but moved to London when she won an apprenticeship with the prestigious Mayfair flower shop, Constance Spry Ltd. Many years later, having run her own florist shop in Weybridge, Ellis took part in a writer’s workshop in Greece and was encouraged by her tutor, Sue Townsend to begin writing seriously. She now lives in the Lincolnshire Fens with her partner Jacqueline and their Springer spaniels, Woody and Alfie.

Joy has written a number of crime thrillers but Guide Star takes her writing in a new direction  and is a stand alone novel about love, loss and overcoming adversity. It was published by Joffe Books on 23rd April in paperback and as an ebook. At the time of writing the Kindle version is available for only 99p. You can order a copy online here: Guide Star

About the book

Who do you turn to when life goes wrong?

Stella’s life has changed forever. Her only support is her amazing grandmother, Beth. But Beth also faces the biggest challenge of her life.

Stella North, a rising star in the police, has her life torn apart by a gunman’s bullets. All her life she has faced danger, but these injuries mean she must give up the job she loves.  Her grandmother Beth is her rock. And Beth is no ordinary woman. At seventy, she runs marathons and has an exciting past that Stella knows very little about.

Will Stella find the strength to overcome the challenges of her new life, and will her grandmother at last resolve the deep emotional turmoil of her past?

By UK #1 best-selling author, Joy Ellis, this is a gripping and emotional departure from her acclaimed crime fiction.

Now read on for a short taster of the book where we meet Stella in hospital 

‘Stella? Can you hear me?’ With a monumental effort, Stella North opened her eyes and a stream of figures swam in her vision. Smiling, shadowy strangers looking down upon her. She closed her eyes again, preferring the heady confusion of her dreams to this scary, odd-smelling room filled with people she didn’t know. The voice persisted. ‘Stella? Open your eyes for me.’ No. She would stay where she was, wrapped in that warm cocoon. It’s not nearly as safe as you think. Stella’s eyes snapped open. ‘Hello there. Welcome back. You are in the neurosurgical ward at the Pilgrim Hospital.’ Hospital? Why? she tried to ask, but the words wouldn’t come out. Her tongue lolled uselessly like a piece of damp chamois leather. Someone squeezed her hand. ‘I’m your surgeon, Dr Field-Latimer, Donald to you, and I’ll be looking after you.’ So the voice had a name. And a double-barrelled one! God, I must be really ill, she thought, he said he was a surgeon. ‘Do you remember what happened to you, Stella?’ Stella couldn’t think of anything to say.