Bugle trainee Suzan bags book deal
SUZAN Holder, wife of Black Country rock legend Noddy Holder, has published the first of two novels with Harper Collins – some 40 years since she began her career as a teenager on work experience with the Black Country Bugle.
Suzan said: “I was aged about 14 or 15 years old – it was around 1980 – when I walked into the Halesowen offices of the Bugle and asked if I could work there for free as part of my determined campaign to become a news journalist.
“It was only a short walk from my school, the Earls High and, although they were a bit amazed a young girl wanted to work for nothing, they said yes and I spent the next couple of years going there to make coffee, answer the phone, do filing and eventually write a few articles. I think I even got a by-line once or twice – as Susan Price, as I was then.
“Harry Taylor was the editor and I remember Derek Beasley and Carol Cook.
“I did my A-levels at Halesowen College then went to do my NCTJ journalism course. I then got a job at the Halesowen News and then the Redditch Advertiser and I was on my way.
“I met Noddy when I was working at Central Television in 1989 when he was a guest on the late-night talk show Central Weekend Live and then moved to Granada TV where I eventually became exec producer on ITV’S Loose Women.”
Suzan’s book, Shake It Up, Beverley, tells the story of a Beatles mad single mum in her fifties who gets herself into all sorts of trouble when she tries internet dating. Lonely Bev in Liverpool wants to find someone to hold her hand but ends up crying ‘Help!’ when she finds herself making headline news instead.
Suzan signed a two-book deal with One More Chapter, an imprint of Harper Collins, in January 2021. Her debut novel is based on her original play, which was due to tour UK theatres before the pandemic wrecked those plans.
Suzan said; “When I realised we couldn’t move forward with the stage version I threw myself into writing a book. Writing comedy certainly cheered me up during lockdown and now I hope Bev’s story will entertain readers too.”
The book was released digitally in January and is due out as an audio book in March and in paperback in April, both available to pre-order now. Suzan’s second book Rock ’n’ Rose, set at Graceland the Memphis home of Elvis Presley, is due out later this year.