The Nursery - Guest Post by Asia Mackay

KILLING EVE MEETS MICK HERRON IN THIS GRIPPING AND WITTY PAGE-TURNER ABOUT HAVING IT ALL, KEEPING IT ALL AND SURVIVING IT ALL.

Lex Tyler is trying to have it all, but being a working mother is so much more difficult when you're a secret agent for an underground branch of the security services.

Platform Eight have been tasked with tracking down and eliminating the traitor in MI6 who has been selling information to the highest bidder through a headhunting website for the criminal underworld that connects intelligence operatives with all manner of bad people with a simple right swipe.

Deals get made. Secrets get sold. Missions fail. Agents die.

It's down to Lex and her team to identify and eliminate the traitor before they assassinate China's Minister of Commerce and ruin relations between the UK and China forever. But when your husband doesn't know exactly what your job entails and the future of the intelligence services rests on your shoulders, can one working mother save the day?

This is one mission that Lex cannot afford to fail.

Title: The Nursery

Author: Asia Mackay

Published By: Zaffre

Publication Date: 5th September 2019

Link:     Amazon

We are delighted to welcome Asia to Sincerely Book Angels blog.

Asia Mackay Guest post on Giving comedy more praise in women’s writing. 

Why are ‘Dad jokes’ a thing and ‘Mum jokes’ aren’t? I can make jokes just as lame as the next Dad. Is this because women aren’t considered funny? Or that we’re considered so funny our jokes aren’t lame and therefore can’t be mocked? Yes that’s it. We’re so hilarious they are just normal jokes. Just like how ‘Mum dancing’ isn’t a thing as it’s just normal cool dancing whereas the men are the embarrassing ones flailing around on the dance floor.

Women can often find their wit undermined. A lot of hilarious books written by women can get written off as a ‘guilty pleasure’. First of all, we shouldn’t ever be made to feel guilty about a book, film or TV show that gives joy. Have you seen the state of the world right now? It should be called ‘absolutely necessary pleasure’. And what people should be focusing on is bravo to that writer for actually giving you pleasure - rather than feeling the need to excuse liking it.

Women’s comedy writing is also often under-appreciated for how it can broach serious topics. Marian Keyes’ last book The Break covered issues from marital fidelity to abortion in Ireland. Yet she still made us laugh. My own books (Killing It, The Nursery) feature a protagonist who is just returning from maternity leave to her job as a trained assassin. Following her attempts to complete her latest mission of international importance with rushing home for bath-time might provide some amusing moments – but they also draw attention to sexism in the workplace and the difficulties of being a working mother. Finding the funny in any given situation can help you cope with it. Motherhood can be isolating yet books like The Unmumsy Mum and Gill Sims’ Why Mummy Drinks bring everyone into the club of we’re all just muddling through, let’s at least have a bloody laugh as we do it. Caitlin Moran in her ‘How to be’ books tells us about feminism and many other big topics all whilst making us cackle at her wit.

Being able to laugh at serious issues isn’t making light of them, it can help draw attention to them in a little more palatable and easy-to-digest manner. And women writers are more likely to draw attention to subjects that matter to women.

The comedian, actress, author, general force-of-nature that is Helen Lederer set up the Comedy Women in Print Prize (which I was thrilled to be first runner-up for) in response to ‘looking around for a female comedy literary prize to win and discovering there weren’t any’. A prize specifically for funny women is a huge step in recognising women’s comedy writing. Prizes are a big deal – they help validate your writing, they bring attention to it and they make fierce Chinese aunties finally think that you have a real job…

Taking women’s comedy writing seriously is important - the more praise it gets the more it encourages new writers and shines a light on seasoned ones. It’s all the more reason to never feel guilty about enjoying it. Laugh away and tell everyone else to try it. 

Thanks so much for joining us Asia and good luck with the book.

Sincerely

Book Angel x

About the Author

Asia does not enjoy talking about herself in the third person but she understands it's expected for author bios. Asia studied Anthropology at Durham University, and despite people fearmongering that a random degree would mean she'd never get a job, she managed to start a career in television. But had to move to China to do it. She presented and produced lifestyle programmes in Shanghai, went out a lot and failed to improve her Mandarin. Returning to London she worked for (name drop) Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as Project Manager on their round the world motorbike documentaries - her fleeting appearances on screen wearing headbands and earnestly discussing visas continue to be a source of great enjoyment for her friends. Asia started writing 'Killing It' on maternity leave and undertook a Faber Academy course to help her finish it.

'Killing It' was the Runner Up in Richard and Judy's Search for a Bestseller competition and Runner Up/ Exceptionally Recognised for the Comedy Women In Print prize. Her second book 'The Nursery' is out September 2019. Asia lives in London with her husband, four young children and two dogs - she never succeeds in calling any of them by the right name. She is always very very tired.

Asia is rubbish on Twitter and Instagram as mostly lurks and rarely posts but please do follow her to help get her follower count to double figures

Twitter: abmackster Instagram: asia.mackay 

Follow the rest of the tour here...