Book signing to be held in The Portsmouth Music Experience for new music-themed novel

Delphy Rose is the debut novel by Tina MacNaughton, a member of the Portsmouth Writers Hub.

She said: ‘I have long wanted to write a novel with a 1980s local music background.

‘The Portsmouth Music Experience is a fantastic venue. I have spent hours there – so much fabulous memorabilia and so many stories, and all put together by dedicated and passionate volunteers with a real enthusiasm for music and photography. Delphy Rose tells the story of a young singer-songwriter who gigged with local fictional alternative band The Thistles, in the fictional seaside town of Cowlington. The novel swings between Delphy’s gigging, younger days and her mature years, as she comes to terms with a painful past.’

The book’s blurb says: ‘Meet Delphy Rose: thirty-eight, a SEN teacher, and happily single. After a chance encounter with Ben, she is transported back to more carefree times when both were in a local post-punk band, The Thistles. They can’t help but fall in love, but things are complicated: Ben is married and has changed. Delphy is fragile and has a secret...’

Tina will be selling early signed copies of Delphy Rose at £11.99 each – please bring cash – by the Mod scooter inside the exhibition, on Tuesday, May 23 from midday to 2pm.

Entry to the exhibition inside Portsmouth Guildhall is free, and donations are always welcome if possible.

You can also order copies of Delphy Rose from Pigeon Books on Albert Road, Southsea online at troubador.co.uk/bookshop or direct from the author at writerhymespoetry.com