Elsewhen Press, an indie publisher specialising in speculative fiction, is delighted to publish Tomorrow Was Beautiful Once, the debut novel of Norwich author Amy Orrell. Grand-daughter of the late Peter Phillips, acclaimed author of classic science fiction short stories in the 1940s and 50s, Amy’s writing talent first manifested at school. Although encouraged by her English teacher and her grandfather, it took the recent pandemic to spur her to finally write the novel. Now, although her grandfather will not see the publication of the story, that same teacher will be at the book’s launch party in Norwich.

The idea for Tomorrow Was Beautiful Once first came to Amy during a ‘free choice’ English lesson at Blyth Jex High School, now Sewell Park Academy, in Norwich, over thirty years ago. Her teacher attached a Post-it note praising her ‘reader-grabbing style’, and urging her to ‘work on this’. “I knew,” Amy says, “that I had a great concept, but I never believed that I could write an entire novel.” She at once took it to her grandfather for his critique – after all, he was an author and former journalist, with a lifetime’s experience of wordsmithery, while she was a fourteen-year-old child. Phillips had written much-lauded short stories post-war, published in magazines such as Astounding and some that have been reprinted many times, including in anthologies by Brian Aldiss, Robert Silverberg and Isaac Asimov. His story Dreams Are Sacred – widely acknowledged as one of the earliest stories about dream hacking – was adapted by the BBC in 1969 as part of its Out of the Unknown series, under the new title, Get Off My Cloud. But by the 1970s he had sunk into long-term writer’s block and was perpetually frustrated that words no longer flowed. On reading Amy’s hand-scrawled pages, as well as her teacher’s note, Phillips declared “The idea has legs!” Delighted, Amy suggested that perhaps he should be the one to write it. He considered it, but his writer’s block prevailed.

Amy filed the idea away, not returning to it for nearly three decades. She worked in education and then as an artist for many years, pouring her love of storytelling into painting and the creation of illustrated children’s books. When moving house, she came across her original pages still with the teacher’s Post-it note attached. “I thought about Granda’s frustration at not having achieved more,” Amy recalls, “and didn’t want that to be my story. I knew I had to write my novel, and through writing it, I hoped that Granda’ – no longer with us – would be proud. Though many of his ideas had never made the leap from mind to paper, he had given me the inspiration to make that leap myself.” When the pandemic hit, she decided it was time to discover what she was capable of.

Amy says that her novel – a time travel thriller, featuring climate change, dodgy governments, romance and adventure in a near future that feels almost too close for comfort – is very different to the work of her grandfather. That said, she thinks that he might see a little of himself in the character of Dr Noah Kingsley – a brilliant physicist and the inventor of time technology. “I like to imagine the pair of them, sat atop Noah’s boat, discussing science, the wildlife around them, and perhaps playing an old Blues song on the harmonica.”

Writing a novel is the most challenging creative venture Amy has undertaken, but she’s now hooked, with a second novel in the pipeline, set in a future, flooded version of the Fenlands.

Climate change was a theme addressed by several authors speaking at last year’s inaugural Norwich Book Festival, and one that recurs across the multiple genres that Amy works in. “Writers living and working in Norfolk can’t help but think about the environment,” says Amy. “Our landscape is constantly evolving, and coastal erosion and flooding are problems that we will face again and again. Despite my novel’s story, clearly we can’t rely on time travel as a solution. But writers can offer constructive ideas and new outlooks which can lead to positive change for the future. I really do believe in the message of this story, that our future can be made beautiful again.”

Peter Buck, Editorial Director at Elsewhen Press, says, “When Amy submitted Tomorrow Was Beautiful Once the title immediately caught our attention. We read it and knew it was a story we would love to publish. I’m sure her grandfather would have been proud.”

Tomorrow Was Beautiful Once is now available in eBook and Paperback formats through all good bookshops.