Klaxon: reaching new audiences...

New readers, book clubs, publishers, TV, charities, influencers...

Over 100 copies of Klaxon have been bought since it was published - 9 days before Christmas 2022 - and it has already generated great reviews. Please click here for the latest reviews.

Maybe YOU CAN HELP? These are some of the ideas on our wish list:

NEW READERS

If you have read and enjoyed the book, maybe you'd like to add your review to Amazon and even pass your copy to someone that you know, so that they can enjoy it too? Why?

Firstly, because many people think that it’s a great story and very entertaining.

And secondly, because we hope that Klaxon can add value to the conversation about coercive control and domestic abuse - encouraging people to think about how it affects them, their friends and family, and their community:

BOOK CLUBS

If you think that a book club you know would be interested and would like discounted copies, please get in touch!

PUBLISHERS

So far, Klaxon has been self-published and we are keen to find a good publishing company to help it to reach a wider audience.

Can you recommend a publisher who would be interested in Klaxon?

TV PRODUCERS

We have had excellent feedback about the characterisations in Klaxon. Could this story be portrayed to great dramatic effect and with success on the bigger screen? We think so!

If you know anyone responsible for producing programmes and films for TV, we would be very happy to send them a free copy and to discuss Klaxon with them.

CHARITIES

We will be building the resources section of this website and would like to use the publicity around the book to promote charities and sources of help for victims of domestic abuse.

Which charities and organisations do you think we should feature?

INFLUENCERS

We'd like to ask influential people (examples below) - especially those involved in tackling domestic abuse and in helping its victims – to review a free copy of Klaxon and, if they like it, to be quoted in the book’s promotion.

Do you know someone that you think would enjoy Klaxon and feel strongly enough about the issues that it raises to help us to bring the book to a wider audience? If so, we'd be very grateful if you could introduce us! Examples:

Literacy advocates and role models

JK ROWLING. British author, philanthropist, producer, and screenwriter. Rowling: established the Volant Charitable Trust in 2000, named after her mother to address social deprivation in at-risk women, children and youth; was appointed president of One Parent Families (now Gingerbread) in 2004; launched Beira's Place in December 2022 - a new women-only support service for victims of sexual violence, with free support and advocacy for women in Edinburgh.

Politicians and role models

JESS PHILLIPS, MP for Birmingham Yardley since 2015 and Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding since April 2020. Each year, at the annual debate on International Women’s Day in parliament, she reads out the list of names of women killed by their partner or ex-partner to highlight domestic abuse. Before becoming an MP, Jess Philips worked in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) sector, managing domestic abuse refuges in the West Midlands.

APSANA BEGUM, MP for Poplar and Limehouse since 2019 and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Domestic Violence and Abuse.

Campaigners and role models

DR CHARLOTTE PROUDMAN, described by the BBC as ‘the Feminist Barrister’, works on complex cases involving male violence against women; representing survivors of rape, domestic abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour. As a Cambridge academic and campaigner, she is a legal advisor to Our Streets Now and Plan UK, a campaign to criminalise public sexual harassment and Bloody Good Period, which seeks to make period products freely available in Britain. Charlotte is an advisor to the Vagina Museum and ila, a start-up working to end violence against women and girls.

KAREN INGALA SMITH is a British campaigner, writer and CEO of nia, a domestic and sexual violence charity working to end violence against women and girls, based in London, UK. Her book 'Defending Women's Spaces' is published by Polity Press in 2022. She is a co-creator of 'The Femicide Census' (with Women's Aid) - a database containing information on women killed by men in England and Wales since 2009. In her campaign, Counting Dead Women, she records and commemorates UK women killed by men.

PROF JANE MONCKTON SMITH is a criminologist specialising in domestic homicide. A former police officer, she is a professor of public protection at the University of Gloucestershire, and is recognised for her work on coercive control and stalking. In her new book, ‘In Control: Dangerous Relationships and How They End in Murder’, she lays out the eight stages of a domestic homicide timeline that challenges the ‘crime of passion’ argument utilised for decades as a way of explaining intimate partner murder.

RUTH DAVISON, CEO of Refuge - 'the largest domestic abuse organisation in the UK' which provides emergency temporary accommodation for those fleeing an abusive partner, legal help, help with money, protection for children, navigating government welfare benefits, community outreach support, independent advocacy and help with tech abuse.

FARAH NAZEER, chief executive of Women’s Aid - a group of British charities, with one federation for each of the countries of the United Kingdom all with the aim of ending domestic violence against women and children. The Women's Aid Federation of England coordinates over 370 local domestic violence organisations, providing over 500 refuges, outreach, advocacy and children's support services. Women's Aid runs a Freephone 24-Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline in partnership with Refuge.

DAVID CHALLEN. Domestic abuse campaigner who successfully campaigned to free his mother Sally Challen - after 9 years in prison up until 2019 - in a landmark appeal recognising the lifetime of coercive control by her husband. Coercive control became a criminal offence in England and Wales in 2015.

WHO WOULD YOU RECOMMEND?

Please do get in touch. We are really looking forward to hearing your ideas, thoughts, feedback and recommendations!

PHOTO by cottonbro studio courtesy of Pexels

KLAXON is a new novel and thriller about a woman seeking to escape an abusive and dangerous relationship. This Blog seeks to highlight issues around domestic violence and the sources of help for its victims. If you would like to find out more and to get involved with the blog or the promotion of Klaxon through book clubs and other means, please contact the Klaxon team.