The Clarice Cliff Vase by Linda Huber free from Hobeck Books.

The Clarice Cliff Vase – my thoughts

A terrific novella where Clarissa whose life was turned upside down a decade ago finds that the revenge she has been acting out ever since is no longer necessary and could well get her into very hot water.

Jessica is tired of her life at forty four, well practically forty five, her ‘perfect’ life married to a successful surgeon is no longer what she wants. They have grown apart and her surprise birthday bash, literally, is the final straw and not only for her!

Stephen owns an antique shop. His life has slowly been getting back together since losing his wife. He meets Jessica by chance and feels a connection. That was weeks ago and he’s not heard from her since. One day Clarissa walks through his antique shop door asking for advice.

This is a wonderful short story that weaves somewhat shocking, quirky and rather droll threads together for a cracking noir-ish read.

Author: Linda Huber grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, but went to work in Switzerland for a year aged twenty-two and she has lived there ever since. Her day jobs have included working as a physiotherapist in hospitals and schools for disabled children, teaching English in a medieval castle, and several extremely strenuous years as a full-time mum to two boys, a dog and a rapidly expanding number of guinea pigs, most of whom have now fortunately left home. After spending large chunks of the last few years moving house, she has now settled in a beautiful flat on the banks of Lake Constance in north-east Switzerland.

Her writing career began in the nineties, when she had over fifty short stories published in women’s magazines before finding the love of her writing life, psychological suspense fiction. Her first book was published in 2013 and followed by eight others, all standalone novels set in the UK. Linda says she finds her plot ideas in little incidents and moments in daily life – talking to a fellow wedding guest about adoptions, a Swiss documentary about fraudsters, a BBC TV programme about family trees. For Linda it is when you start to think, ‘what if…’ that is when the story really starts.

Linda loves hearing from readers so why not make contact or follow her on Facebook, Twitter or by commenting on her blog.

Hobeck Books

“We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this novella by the brilliant Linda Huber. To find out more about Linda and her work please visit her website.” Hobeck Books – the home of great stories.

This novella has been made available for free to subscribers of Hobeck Books. Linda joined Hobeck in October 2020.

There are many more short stories and novellas available for free. Echo Rock by Robert Daws | Old Dogs, Old Tricks by A B Morgan |The Silence of the Rabbit by Wendy Turbin | Never Mind the Baubles: An Anthology of Twisted Winter Tales by the Hobeck Team (including all the current Hobeck authors and Hobeck’s two publishes).

So visit the Hobeck Books website for details of their authors and their books, and if you would like to get in touch, they would love to hear from you.

Coming soon from Linda Huber

Hobeck Books “are delighted to be publishing the forthcoming psychological suspense novel Daria’s Daughter” by Linda Huber.

Set in Glasgow, the book features three mothers, all very ordinary yet extra-ordinary, who have one thing in common: the mysterious yet powerful bond of motherhood. One day their individual realities are explosively altered – the central question is, what will happen if and when their paths cross once more?

Linda has been writing since she was a child, getting inspiration from everyday events and conversation and always asking: What If? It’s a great question. Linda talks about her writing in a short interview here.

Free stories

This seems to be a rather widespread occurrence at the moment with authors and publishers offering a free short story or novella when readers, customers sign up for a newsletter or register on their site(s).

In this instance it’s Hobeck Books who are offering a number of free reads including this gem from Linda Huber. I don’t doubt that in offering these free stories they will gain paying customers for the authors other books.

Nevertheless, I think that this is a great thing to do. It’s a great way for readers to sample an authors work without commitment and having spent nothing. Readers can go on to buy other books by those authors they have enjoyed and forgo those not to their taste.

So it’s a win-win as they say, do you agree? Why not pop your thoughts in the comments box below?