Finding postitives in lockdown: at long last, Steyning mum publishes not one book but two

People learned how to bake their own bread and cut hair – with varying degrees of success. Others set up businesses, restarted old hobbies and found new ones, and finally fixed those wobbly shelves.

And had it not been for lockdown, one woman may never have become a published novelist.

Holly Greenland started writing her debut novel four years ago, while on maternity leave following the birth of her daughter, Olive.

Her book, Murder on Maternity, is a part-whodunnit, part-new-mum-memoir tale of new motherhood and female friendship – and serial killers.

Holly, from Steyning, had long harboured plans to write, with her interest in detective fiction piqued as she studied for her master’s in creative and critical writing at the University of Sussex, in 2004.

But work – at the BBC, then Parliament, now as a freelance copywriter and communications consultant – and family commitments, not least with son Gus, now seven, left little time to pursue it.

But after Olive was born, in 2016, things changed.

“On maternity leave I finally had some time,” said Holly, 38. And so she began writing in earnest. “I would be in the coffee shop rocking Olive with one hand and writing at the same time,” she said.

Murder on Maternity’s lead character, Emily Elliot, is juggling the excitement, exhaustion and loneliness that can come from being a first-time parent.

Holly said: “It was me reflecting on my first maternity leave with Gus.

“The main character is a new mother and having to deal with all the changes and challenges that come with it.”

At her local baby group, Emily meets Tabetha Tate, a police detective also on maternity leave. The two click and when Tabetha receives an anonymous letter from ‘Mr Naughty’, warning of a murder, she enlists Emily’s help.

Holly said: “The basis was ‘what if The ABC Murders had actually been The NCT Murders?’.”

Real life again led to delays and while Holly revisited the book over the years, it was only during lockdown that she set about getting it published.

In fact, Murder on Maternity is not the only book Holly has had published during lockdown – she also co-wrote Scaredy Cat with her son.

She said: “Gus had this great idea for a story for kids along the lines of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps. There isn’t really anything like it from the UK. He had this idea about Egypt and archaeology. He had the story and I wrote it. That was a little project when I was home-schooling him. So they’re both out there, now.”

Both books are available from Amazon and from The Steyning Bookshop, and fans of Murder on Maternity will be relieved to know the follow-up should not take as long as the first. Holly said: “I’m writing the second one in the series.

“The first was based around a ‘local village mystery’. This one is based on a locked-room mystery in a stately home.

“I think there will probably be three in total.

“I think you can find some positives in lockdown.

“It was hard home-schooling, and all that.

“But it made me re-evaluate everything – actually, you can get it done, there is enough time in the day.”

For more information, visit www.hollygreenland.com

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