Trick of the Light

Trick of the Light is the second book in the series The Gnome Trilogy by Birmingham-born Jan McCarthy, whose gothic short story Red Branwen made her a finalist for the 2011 Asham Literary Award. The Gnome Trilogy puts the author squarely within the genre of magical realism. In the first of the series, The Great and the Small (pub. Xlibris 2014), the reader was introduced to a motley crew of human characters - some whom you would want as your friends and some you would stay well away from - and to their magical friends: live garden Gnomes who are seeking to re-establish a working relationship with good humans in order to save Planet Earth. Meet Archie Prescott - a humble man with a heart of gold - and his wife Ann-Marie; Lord Morty Bland and his niece Marjory; the fearsome warrior Yew Gnomes and the wise Blackthorn brothers: Norman, Nigel, Nick and Ned; the seductive, shark-toothed, moat-dwelling Nixie; the Syrian Mulberry Gnomes who long to escape to the mountains; and the mysterious butler, Aillig Greaves. Jan McCarthy (M.A. Hons Oxon) is the published author of both fact and fiction, including articles for the Birmingham Mail and a series on bipolar self-management appearing in Pendulum, the magazine of the charity Bipolar UK. She is an ex-English teacher with a background that includes stints in overseas development, retail, catering and industry. She is the co-ordinator of a Birmingham-based writing group called Fun With A Pen which is in the process of producing its own anthology of members' work, as well as a collection of short stories for therapeutic reading groups.