A dark tale of matricide and the macabre

Posted on July 4, 2016

The Confession of Stella Moon – a dark, alternative novel about a profoundly disturbed and disturbing young woman – is out on 7 July 2016.

Author Shelley Day will be celebrating the launch of the book with events at Princes Street Waterstones, Edinburgh (7 July), and Blackett Street Waterstones, Newcastle (13 July).

Even though Shelley could be just kicking back and enjoying her retirement, she loves writing scary stories about shocking crimes – The Confession of Stella Moon is about a young woman who killed her mother and features strange goings-on at a decaying, deserted boarding house.

Shelley said: “I’ve led a fascinating life and I think it inspires my writing. I was booted out of grammar school for being too rebellious, and after that worked in a veterinary post-mortem room.

“I then trained as a criminal and family lawyer, before becoming an academic specialising in psychology and family studies. It all feeds into my stories.”

And her writing has certainly garnered some attention: AL Kennedy describes The Confession of Stella Moon as “a timely and intelligent book. This work has passion, insight and a real understanding of both risk and mercy, Shelley Day delicately explores the tangled layers of family grief and guilt and what it is to be a daughter.”

Shelley has been writing fiction since 2007, and her short stories have appeared in anthologies, online and in newspapers and magazines, including New Writing Scotland. The Confession of Stella Moon, her first novel, won the Andrea Badenoch Prize and was shortlisted for the Charles Pick Fellowship when it was still a work in progress.