Ten things about Martha Ross (Win a signed copy!)

I started this blog as a place to offer advice to parents. The internet is full of judgement and I wanted to create a space to let mothers and fathers know they were doing OK. My motivation was mainly sparing my friends from my unsolicited opinions but also, with over a decade working with families, I knew I had learned a lot. Over the past few years, I’ve ended a marriage, thrown myself into the dating world and learned a lot about love. I have many, many thoughts on love. So many thoughts that I wrote a book about it.

My novel, The Reinvention of Martha Ross, was published by Transworld last month and charts the messy weeks after Martha ends her marriage. Martha decides to look for love and creates a ten-point list of the qualities she wants in her ideal man, so I thought I’d share ten reasons why you might want to read her story.

1. Martha’s list was inspired by my own. Encouraged by my friend and love guru Nina, I put my romance goals on paper before I re-entered the dark waters of the dating pool. A little of my list made its way on to Martha’s but exactly what, I’ll never tell.

2. The story is set in Brighton, a beautiful place to fall in love. Also, a great place to get drunk and make a show of yourself – there’s a lot of that in there too.

3. Martha’s life becomes pretty chaotic and many of the scenes were inspired by true events. One of Martha’s mishaps is borrowed directly from my life and it was as awkward as it reads.

  4. My journey as an author began when I applied for Penguin Random House's WriteNow scheme, a process designed to promote the writing of underrepresented writers. The project created an online fracas when Lionel Shriver implied that diversity could lead to a decrease in quality – I’ll let you be the judge.

5. Martha is a mother but motherhood isn’t as dreamy as she thought it would be. It was scary to write about some of the truths of parenting.

6. The book is dedicated to my ex-husband who was super supportive about the fact that I was writing a novel about a divorce. That being said he has no plans to read it.

 7. The first item on Martha’s list is red hair and blue eyes. After finishing the novel, I met my current boyfriend, a man with red hair and blue eyes. He says he's not concerned about my life imitating art but he’s very keen to know the subject of my next novel.

8. The first version of the book didn’t include the final chapter and it’s totally cool if you want to stop there.

9.  Bestselling author Jane Fallon described the book as one of the best and funniest debuts she’s read in a long time and Sara Lawrence for the Daily Mail described it as beautifully written and emotionally intelligent.

10. The true love story is the one Martha has with her friends. Martha may be focused on finding a man but the story is a celebration of sisterhood.

If you’ve got this far and you think you might like to read Martha’s story, this is your opportunity to win a signed copy; it’s also my opportunity to spout more of my thoughts on love. To enter, leave a question about love or relationships in the comments. Two winners will be chosen in two weeks. Your question can be about breaking up or making up, dating or divorce; make it personal or philosophical – there are no rules when it comes to love.

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