Beneath the Distant Star

Current edition 2018

Book Three – Jasmine’s Story

Author: Lisa Shambrook

Publisher: BHC Press – H20

Date of Publication: 11^th December 2018
(Previous edition October 2015)

Retail Price: £7.95 UK Paperback/$12.95 US Paperback
£6.07 UK eBook/$7.68 US eBook

ISBN: 978-1-947727-43-4 Paperback
978-1-948540-07-0 eBook

Cover Blurb:
Discover what you already have.

Jasmine knows her very existence reminds her mother of something her sister will never have—life. Craving love and acceptance,
Jasmine struggles to become her own person,
and her fragile relationship with her mother shatters.

Jasmine needs to survive the darkest of nights in this bittersweet tale of hope.

***

Beneath the Distant Star is the third book in the Surviving Hope novels. A trilogy of books that encompass the lives and families of three girls:

Three girls, three lives, three stories composed with the melody of hope.

Freya’s death sends ripples through many lives as Meg loses her best friend, and Jasmine, her sister. Lost dreams need to be found, hidden family secrets need to be unearthed, and grief must be embraced before ghosts can be laid to rest.

These beautifully composed tales of coming of age, mental health, and the struggles of finding yourself, begin with grief and culminate with hope. As grief is faced, hope becomes the only force to cling to and build upon. Freya, Meg, and Jasmine need to survive with hope.

***

Writing Beneath the Distant Star

First cover 2015

Beneath the Distant Star began on a train journey when I quickly jotted a passage on the back of a Galaxy chocolate bar wrapper… The wrapper then became lost amongst the hoards of loose paper notes belonging to authors! Fast forward to NaNoWriMo 2013 and I began planning my third novel. Ideas leaped around my head and I tried to formulate a plan then I recalled the scene on the chocolate wrapper, and everything came together…

Jasmine, Freya’s younger sister, was about to tell her tale.

I developed my NaNoWriMo blurb: What happens when you feel like you’re the ghost of your dead sister? A sister you no longer remember? What happens when you remind your mother that you have what your sister never will…life? and the story began to take shape.

Many had asked me if Freya’s specific story would continue, and Jasmine’s story is just that. How would a child grow up barely remembering the sister she’d lost as a toddler?

The family dynamic changed forever when Freya died and grief never let go of its hold. Jasmine’s story took on a life of its own as Freya’s little sister struggled to find her own identity. It was satisfying to allow her to explore her own grief and the journey she took to come to terms with it.

chapter_head Again, for Jasmine’s story I drew on experience and scenes that were familiar to me. My own mother and daughter experience, and bringing up my own headstrong daughters, gave me much to draw on and this story covers many issues teens may deal with, including grief, isolation, bullying, and being bullied.

My publishing partners Blue Harvest Creative brought my three Surviving Hope novels together with another beautiful cover, and I thoroughly enjoyed working with them and designing my covers together. My daughter, Caitlin, was the cover model for all three, and we had fun photoshoots!

Beneath the Distant Star was released on 16th October 2015.

In 2018 I was offered a publishing deal with BHC Press and became one of their Authors. I had recently released A Symphony of Dragons with them and we worked to rerelease the Surviving Hope novels. This meant new covers and to create a branding identity I was asked to paint covers in a similar vein to my Symphony dragon. This was a feat, but one I enjoyed and Beneath the Distant Star was released by BHC Press‘s H20 imprint on 11th December 2018 with a brand new cover.

Beneath the Distant Star is available in eBook and paperback from most online retailers, all links are found on my website and at BHC Press. You can also buy signed and discounted paperbacks from my own Etsy shop, Amaranth Alchemy, too.