Sorry It's Been So Long!

Dear Friend,

I’m sorry it’s been so long since I was last in touch. I can hardly believe it’s over seven years since I quit drinking and started writing my anonymous blog - Mummy was a Secret Drinker. My life has totally transformed since those dark days, and I am so grateful to all of you for your support and general amazingness.

I’ve spent the past two years much like everyone else - mainlining cake, doing the Joe Wicks workout (twice), binge watching Bridgerton and wondering what on earth a sourdough starter was.

In those days of social distancing, when we ate at tables on pavements in sub-zero temperatures, and when meeting a friend in the park was a renegade act, I started to really miss crowds. I even thought back nostalgically to my commuting days when hundreds of us would squash into train and tube carriages, noses in each other’s armpits.

I remembered how I used to see the same people over and over again on those commutes. I used to give them nicknames and imagine what their lives were like away from our shared journeys. But we never spoke - obviously. Because Londoners never do - that would be weird. Then, during the pandemic, I started wondering what would have happened if I’d been brave enough to break the first rule of commuting and had got to know my fellow passengers…

…and that thought became my second novel - The People on Platform 5 or, if you’re in the USA/Canada, Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting. It’s a feel good story about an eclectic group of people who take the train line from Hampton Court to Waterloo every day. They never speak until one of them chokes on a grape and nearly dies. This starts a chain reaction, which forces them all to challenge their assumptions and prejudices and, ultimately, changes their lives.

The book launches on May 26th (UK) and June 7th (USA/Canada). You can read more about it and pre-order here:

If you pre-order, the book will land on your doorstep on, or even before, the launch date. Also, pre-orders really, really help authors, as they influence the book’s chart position and how much stock the bookshops buy in. Which is my very awkward way of saying I’d be hugely grateful if you’d hit that order button! Thank you, thank you.

I’m travelling around the country over the next few weeks doing events, and I’d love to meet you! I’m always happy to sign books, hear your stories and dispense hugs. I’m doing some virtual US events too, for those of you too far away to hug in person. You can find details of upcoming events here:

My new addiction, and love/hate relationship, is with social media, and you can find me here:

You can also contact me privately at clare@clarepooley.com. I do always reply to emails, but my mailbox gets a bit crazy, so it does sometimes take me a really, really long time.

I hope you’ve all got through these difficult times okay, and that the road ahead will get easier!

Sending love to you all,

Clare Pooley (formerly known as SoberMummy)