The Barn of Buried Dreams by Chrissie Bradshaw

The Barn of Buried Dreams

Erin and Heather Douglas are struggling.
Their mother’s death has left a void in their family and everyday life has side-lined their dreams.

Erin has buried herself away in the family home and left her stage career. By hiding away, she is evading the pain of returning to London and the acting world where her ex-fiancé is enjoying success and a new relationship. When she meets charismatic Texan Jackson McGee, she wrestles with her feelings for him. Should she trust another man?

Heather is juggling babies, work, a rocky marriage and running on wine. An overheard conversation makes her ask, would Mark cheat on her?

Can the sisters help one another to face their fears, dust off and revive those dreams and find joy in life?


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Dreaming up stories.

Do you ever let yourself dream about your perfect life story? What does that life look like?
I pictured myself being married with a child, at the top of a successful career, money to travel, time to exercise, time with family and friends and time to write a novel or two all before I reached forty.
Like many, I’m a dreamer.

Then I grew up. You see, the obstacles of real life got in the way of the dreams.
There was too much to juggle and there just weren't enough hours in the day. I realised that I just couldn't do everything I wanted to -not all at once, anyway.

Do you find that, if ever you take on too much, you end up enjoying none of it?
My head can't be several places at once and my juggling becomes clumsy. I've experienced that a few times and I'm sure you have too, so let's be kinder to ourselves and remember it's a LIFE story. Some parts of it will take time.

That's not to say we should forget our long-held dreams. That almost happened to me until I got a very loud wake up call.

In my late twenties and thirties, I juggled my career with being a single parent and all ideas of finding my ideal man or travelling and writing had to be put on hold. My energy was used up with the school run, a challenging job, after school activities and then more work so even exercise was put on the back burner for a while.

The man that I loved enough to marry came along by surprise a few years later and, after years of being a singleton, having a partner was a wonderful change. My days were full and life sped along at an alarming rate. Holidays already? Another birthday? It can't be Christmas! You know the feeling.
I visited some amazing places with my husband, my daughter was independent and I still had time to catch up with exercise and writing in the years to come.

A challenge from my sister meant that I took up running. I wasn't good at it or anywhere near as speedy as I'd like to be but I enjoyed it and managed 5 K, then 10k and then a half marathon. While I was running, I'd sort out life's niggles or make up stories. I still didn't get round to writing them down. Competing in a half marathon, The Great North Run, gave me such a buzz. I ran with my sister to raise money for BLISS, a premature babies charity. I felt like life had treated me well and I almost had it all. I promised myself I'd even start writing that book one day soon.

If you're waiting , thinking something must come along to take the wind right out of my sails, you're right. I felt healthy and  happy but, although I was surprised when a mammogram highlighted that I had an aggressive breast cancer, I didn't ever think 'why me?'  Why not when it happens to 1 in 8 of us women?
I felt numb as I prepared for the treatments and prepared for the worst scenario.
Would my time be far shorter than I'd ever imagined?

As I went through a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and baldness, then daily sessions of radiotherapy, I began feeling much older than my years. I set about writing a bucket list. I'm good at writing lists but not so great at carrying them out. This was the most important list I'd written.

I thought about writing and the pleasure it gave me so that went on the list. I thought I would quite like to do a lot of things but nothing compared to writing. My real regret was  not ever getting down to writing those novels in my head so my bucket list was short. Write at least one novel!

As soon as my 'chemo fog' lifted, I got to work on an idea I had been playing around with for far too long. Had I been afraid I wasn't up to the task? I could write better than I could run and I'd managed a half marathon so what was there to fear?
I didn't care if my novel was published  or not as long as I finished it. That was my promise to myself.

Today, I have two novels published. After writing them, I realised they are both about women of today striving to make their dreams come true.  We are all extraordinary.
When obstacles our thrown in our path, we may need to change route but we should never bury our dreams.

‘A Jarful of Moondreams’ ‘What a fabulous debut novel. This novel has something for everyone. It has romance, drama, humor and sadness by the bucket load. I loved the characters and I especially loved the setting. More books should be set in the North of England…’ Lynda Stacey.

‘The Barn of Buried Dreams’ ‘I knew, as soon as I started talking to the characters, that I was hooked. A great story with twists and turns. It made me laugh and it definitely made me shed a tear or two…’ 

Poppy Oct 2018

Chrissie Bradshaw

Author Bio

Chrissie, 2016 winner of the Romantic Novelist's Elizabeth Goudge writing trophy, is a seasoned tea drinker and a tenacious trainer of her welsh terrier, Oscar. She has always loved match-making a book to a reader. Writing the kind of book she loves to read takes this a step further. When Chrissie is not writing or reading, you will find her walking Oscar on the beach, trying to avoid the gym and spending time with her family and friends.

Her new release, THE BARN OF BURIED DREAMS - when will they see daylight?, is a contemporary story about two sisters who are struggling after the death of their mother. It starts in Dunleith, the same Northumbrian setting as her debut novel ‘A Jarful of Moondreams’, and some characters cross both books.
Readers can enjoy either book as a stand alone.

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Chrissie enjoys tweeting to readers on @ChrissieBeee
Her instagram account is chrissie_bradshaw_author
Her blog is newhenontheblog.com
and she has a Chrissie Bradshaw author page on Facebook.
She would love to hear from readers. 

Tour hosted by @rararesources