Bestselling novelist Beth Morrey (Saving Missy, Lucky Day, Isabella's Not Dead) joins Eleanor Ray for a warm, wide-ranging conversation about writing, reading, and happiness — from tricking yourself into writing by shopping for suffragette jewellery on Etsy, to surviving the editor's red pen and the "stages of grief" that come with revision notes.

Beth shares her journey from maternity-leave manuscript to Sunday Times bestseller, what she learned about hooks and character arcs from her TV career, why she writes about friendship over romance, and a sneak peek at her upcoming novel The Comfort and Joy Book Club.

Writing the Heart into Spy Fiction – Ava Glass on Ray of Light

Bestselling novelist Ava Glass joins Eleanor Ray to discuss her latest novel The Hiding Season, a departure from her popular Emma Makepeace spy series. Ava shares the real-life inspiration behind the book — a friend working at an exclusive billionaire-owned ski resort in Montana — and why she wanted to tell the story of an ordinary person caught in the collision between normal life and the intelligence world.

They explore Ava's remarkable career path: from crime reporter in Texas to editor at Time Out London to working in counter-terrorism communications for the UK government, where she spent five years meeting spies and learning how that shadowy world really operates. Ava reveals how that experience shapes her fiction, why writing a fragile protagonist felt so different from writing a trained spy, and the challenge of finding emotion in a genre built on secrecy.

Plus: what it's like when actual spies show up at your book events, the lessons learned writing for young adults that still shape her thrillers today, and Ava's advice for aspiring novelists — all you need is a pen, paper, and faith.

Find Eleanor: 🌐 www.eleanorraybooks.com 📱 @eleanorraybooks

Ray of Light — a podcast about reading, writing, and happiness. Like and subscribe for more!

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This week on Ray of Light, I'm joined by author Flora Dunn, who writes warm, feel-good fiction set in the fictional English village of Tillingham. Her latest book, A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall, follows former supermodel Sahara Seaton-Smith as she rebuilds her life — with a rescued piglet named Muffin, a TV historian co-presenter, and a chance at the happy ending readers have been waiting for.

We talk about building a fictional world that feels real, why romance is spiritual solace rather than "flimflam," the role of faith and forgiveness in her stories, and the Audible deal that changed her writing life. Plus: self-publishing freedom, gardening happiness, writing advice for new novelists, and what's next from Tillingford Hall.

📖 Flora Dunn's latest book — A Gala Ball at Tillingford Hall — is out on October 15th.

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