Issy Rides Again

Isabella M Smugge, internationally renowned influencer and the woman Gorgeous Home called, “Britain’s Most Relatable Mum Designer” was forty-one in June. However, in real terms, she was born in my dining room in April 2020 and since her beginnings as a two-dimensional joke character for a blog, she has grown, developed and spawned her own Smugge-i-verse (not a real word – pronounced to rhyme with “universe” for those of you not conversant with Marvel films.)

I wrote book one in the haze of the first lockdown, over the summer of 2020 and within four months, far too many words, liberally interjected with hashtags were winging their way to my sainted copy editor at Instant Apostle. Fiction writing was heady, exciting, addictive and I both revelled in my new status as the author of an actual novel and quivered with fear at the thought of real people reading it. 

As regular readers will know, I left Issy on a massive cliff-hanger at the end of book one and within eight months, book two was out, answering at least some of the questions contained in its predecessor.

I set up all kinds of questions for book three, the Continued Times of Isabella M Smugge. How would our heroine cope with having her difficult mother, the Honourable Caroline Neville, living at the Old Rectory all the time? Could she ever forgive her former friend and right hand woman Sofija? What about two-timing Mr Smugge (universally loathed by Smugge-ers)? 

One of the great things about creating a fictional world is that you can make up anyone you like. I loved writing trashy journo Lavinia Harcourt’s bitchy gossip columns (#suchfun) but took to heart a comment from a reviewer about the fact that it’s fairly unlikely that she would still be angry at Isabella thirty years after the plait-cutting incident. “Why is that?” I asked myself, and so a new character, Mummy’s contemporary Randy Rupert was born. In this book, we learn more about Lavinia and why she is such an angry, bitter person. 

I had a wonderful picture in my head of two successful women at the top of their game meeting at their old school and reverting to their childish dislike of each other. The scenes at the St Dymphna’s bicentenary celebrations were a joy to write. Having Mummy there ready to steam in and protect her daughter was also another little stitch in the redemptive tapestry that’s going on in this book. 

In book three, Issy becomes a reluctant member of the Sandwich Generation as she looks after her children and helps her mother recuperate from the stroke. 

“Issy Smugge never thought she would be the smoked trout and Japanese horseradish filling between two pieces of artisan sourdough, but so she is. #responsibilities #sotired #sandwichgeneration” 

Wrestling with a manipulative husband, enjoying the glittering prize of a ten page full colour spread in the Christmas edition of Gorgeous Home magazine and bunking off the Bloggers’ Awards, Issy has a lot to do in this book. There’s big news for both Johnnie and Mummy and our heroine struggles with friendship. 

I love making up products for Issy to endorse. This time round, she is selling chilled Flash Gnashes (teething rings) in the thousands to the delight of her money-grabbing agent Mimi Stanhope. Terrifying frenemy Liane Bloomfield has formed an unlikely friendship with Mummy, Issy’s finding out that her posh sister in law Amanda has a secret and she co-runs her first Christingle, complete with an outbreak of nits in the heavenly host, a punch-up between the innkeeper and a shepherd and some battlefield promotions. 

I hope you enjoy reading her as much I like writing her. Signed copies complete with merch can be ordered via my website (www.ruthleighwrites.co.uk) and from good bookshops, Eden, Waterstones and Amazon from 22^nd October. In Suffolk she can be bought at Woodbridge Books, The Halesworth Bookshop and Dial Lane Books in Ipswich.

Ruth is a novelist and freelance writer, the author of “The Diary of Isabella M Smugge”, “The Trials of Isabella M Smugge” and “The Continued Times of Isabella M Smugge. She writes for a number of businesses and charities and blogs at ruthleighwrites.co.uk. She has abnormally narrow sinuses and a morbid fear of raw tomatoes, but has decided not to let this get in the way of a meaningful life. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter at ruthleighwrites and at her website, www.ruthleighwrites.co.uk.