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Marilyn Jenkins

Marilyn Jenkins

About

Welsh woman writer, Marilyn Jenkins was born and raised in South Wales and is a member of the WelshAcademy. She studied at Aberystwyth, Cardiff and London universities. She has worked as a teacher, lecturer and adviser in English. 

For the past twenty years her short stories and poetry have been published in magazines and her first poetry collection: Close Distances was published in Spring 2007 by Cinnamon Press. She has returned to Wales and full time writing after living in England and for brief periods in Canada and Australia. Her first novel: The Legacy of Alice Waters was published in 2009. It is a 'whydunnit' - the tragic story of a woman poisoner, executed in 1947.

Commitment

Commitment

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Description

<p>It’s hard to be committed to anyone when you don’t know whom to trust.</p><p>Alexis Toles, a former FBI agent turned undercover CIA agent, is quickly finding that out in Nancy Ann Healy’s newest political thriller, <i>Commitment</i>.</p><p>Alex embeds in a secret organization of intelligence operatives known as The Collaborative. Its partners include operatives from the CIA, National Security Agency, FBI, US Department of Defense, and an entanglement of foreign intelligence agencies.</p><p>It’s about half a year after the death of President John Merrow, a friend and someone she respected. But she remains committed to overthrowing The Collaborative as she works with a onetime adversary who believes the organization’s involved in the president’s death.</p><p>Meanwhile Alex; her wife, Cassidy O’Brien; and Cassidy’s son try hard to live as a family but must first overcome personal struggles, including a nasty custody battle with Cassidy’s ex-husband, Congressman Christopher O’Brien. The family has their own share of secrets that, if unleashed, could affect their hopes for the future.</p><p>There’s no place to turn without discovering people who are not who they claim to be. That can’t stop Alex. She must remain committed to the cause, both at home and as she works against The Collaborative.</p>

Story Behind The Book

Early one morning, not long after the Second World War, a woman is taken out of her cell and hanged. How do I feel about that? The answer is: uncomfortable. The story of Ruth Ellis influenced my fictional story of Alice Waters. Like Edith Thompson, Ellis was convicted of immorality rather than weight of evidence. There were a number of extenuating circumstances where she was concerned. She also left a daughter, an innocent victim. Alice's crime is nastier than Ellis's. She poisoned her lover's wife and child. She left behind a little daughter and people who loved and suffered for her for decades. When, years later, her daughter and granddaughter go in search of the truth - will they discover a monster outside the understanding of humanity? Can she be understood and forgiven? Read the book and find out.

Media Links

Reviews

<p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#ff0000;font-size:10pt;">What Youwriteon reviewers had to say about 'The Legacy of Alice Waters':  </span></strong></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;">...this is superb - it's heart wrenching, emotional and very well written... </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;"></span></strong></p> <p></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;">a very talented writer to keep so many balls juggling with such ease, well done. ..S. Birch </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;"> </span></strong></p> <p></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;">a rich interweaving of plot lines. . . </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;"> </span></strong></p> <p></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;">I loved the idea of the journals, the explanation of why Alice did what she did…gradually revealed to the reader as it is to her daughter. . . <br /></span></strong><span style="font-family:'Book Antiqua';"><font size="3"><br />G. Gibbons by email:</font></span></p> <p></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Book Antiqua';"></span></p> <p><font size="3"></font> </p><span style="font-family:'Book Antiqua';"><font size="3">I so enjoyed your book, which was beautifully written.  It kept me riveted all Christmas Eve after I played Santa for my daughter and Christmas Day after cooking the roast.  I loved the suspense and the wonderful female characters – Dessie, Maddie, Emily, Harriet.   It was tragic on the one hand, but triumphant on the other – I loved that Maddie walked out on her deadbeat cheating husband (none of the married men seem to have understood the meaning of fidelity) and that the truth really did set her free in so many ways.</font></span> <p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;">find further reviews at:   </span></strong><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/work/8199343"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.librarything.com/work/8199343</span></a>;  </span></strong></p> <p></p> <p><strong><span style="font-family:Verdana;color:#000000;font-size:10pt;"><a href="http://www.librarything.com/profile_reviews.php?view=frankieshaw"><span style="color:#000000;">http://www.librarything.com/profile_reviews.php?view=frankieshaw</span></a>  </span></strong></p> <p></p> <p style="margin:0cm 0cm 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Book Antiqua';"></span></p> <p><font size="3"></font> </p>