SHEFFIELD AUTHORS
- Stories "Made in Sheffield"
J C O'Neill
Jane was joint winner of the Sheffield Off The Shelf literary festival Novel Slam Competition 2023. She writes under the pen names J. C. O’Neill and also as J. C. Richmond.
All books can be bought through Jane's website.
For some women, the greatest act of resistance is survival.
Legend tells that every five hundred years, west of the Pennine Mountains, the Beloved is born – a woman chosen to bring balance to the secret world that exists alongside our own. The Beloved has now come again; but this time she has been born on the wrong side of the mountains. Her fate is not to bring peace, but storm – and blood.
Lonely, exhausted and carrying a dark secret, Dr Charlie Hart can’t remember her past – but it refuses to forget her. Chance brings Charlie to Rowans Holt, an ancient house owned by brilliant recluse Sally Marshall, where she finds unexpected friendship – and safety. But when the manipulative Marcus Rosendale threatens to destroy everything, Charlie’s secret awakens – and she learns the heart-rending cost true magic demands.
Woven with Northern mythology, complex female characters and the power of female friendship, A Blood Red Heart is the first book in the Blood Red Trilogy: a modern Gothic fantasy of magical tribes and two extraordinary families – divided by the Pennine Mountains and a thousand years of feuding. Perfect for readers of Deborah Harkness's All Souls Trilogy and Sara Water's Gothic fiction, A Blood Red Heart intricately builds a rich world of ancient Magic and modern conflicts; a landscape redolent with atmosphere, psychological depth and Northern England's dark and blood-soaked history.
Two families, one feud, a thousand years of blood. Doctor Charlie Hart knows that something was placed inside her head when she was eleven years old; and she will die if she tries to discover what it is. She does not want to remember her past – but it won’t forget her. Charlie leaves the safety of her beloved home, Rowans Holt, and attends the birthday party of the aristocratic but isolated Laura Beaulouf, only to find more ghosts of the dead refusing to release the living. When the cunning Marcus Rosendale tries to engineer both the downfall of the Beaulouf family and the success of his sinister experiments, Charlie soon finds herself fighting for her life as well as the fate of her soul. Meanwhile, Mac has a plan to save the Beaulouf fortunes – even if this involves breaking the heart of the woman he truly loves.
A Blood Red Mind is book two of The Blood Red Trilogy; a work of modern Gothic lushness and intricate world-building that delves deeper into the crimson-soaked mythology and ruthless ancient rivalries of England’s North. Perfect for those who like their fantasy filled with complex female characters and women who save themselves; A Blood Red Mind blends Witchcraft with the warmth of found family and slow-burn romance with fast-moving suspense. Reminiscent of Deborah Harkness’s All Souls series and suitable for fans of Sarah Waters’ gothic fiction, the goddesses of this world have feet of clay – and hearts of darkness. The Blood Red Trilogy: welcome to the real price of magic and the true cost of love.
Sometimes it is not the nature of the sacrifice that matters; but the purity of the heart that makes it.
Charlie Hart comes into her birthright of blood – and the long-predicted storm begins. Can Mac break the curse of a thousand years by completing the Beaulouf penance? And will anyone stop Marcus Rosendale in his relentless pursuit of money, power and death?
A Blood Red Soul brings the Blood Red Trilogy to its heart-rending conclusion as two rival magical tribes and two warring families cross the Pennine Mountains for their final reckoning.
For some women, the greatest act of resistance is survival. For others… it is all-out war.
Pride and Prejudice meets The Scarlet Pimpernel…
To tell the truth, the Lady Emmeline series was originally intended as a single, stand-alone parody of the Regency Romantic genre.
The character, Lady Emmeline Cumberland, and her one true love, Lord Augustus Fountberry, were characters mentioned in my Blood Red Trilogy of books, and I thought it would be funny to write a book within a book, so if anyone did go looking for The Curse of The Pirate (Emmeline’s first adventure as read by Dr. Charlie Hart) it would actually exist. However, as so often happens when writing, characters emerge from the page and develop passionate lives and depths all of their own. One book led to another, and I fell in love with Emmeline, and then every single person in the stories – heroes and villains alike.
I plan to revisit these books soon for a good edit and then turn them into audiobooks; I am nothing if not a sucker for punishment.