New Year is a time for reflection and new resolutions. To try to live your life better, more responsibly, more selflessly. But first there's that party to go to....
In TORN, the New Year party is when all the plans and good intentions of my heroine, go awry.
Jess didn't really want to go to the party and has been persuaded against her better judgement. After all, she is a mother now; she needs to put her child first, to make his life safe and secure.
And yet it’s a long time since she's had any fun.
The event is a turning point. Her good intentions are subverted. Her conscience is thrown into turmoil. And her life will never be the same again.
What on earth has she done.....?
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Christmas
Everyone loves Christmas don’t they? I certainly do. It’s a serious event in our house. We are not religious, but I love the Christmas story, as well as all the traditions ̶ sparkle, snow, carols, fairy-lights and gifts piled beside the decorated trees ̶ which have grown up around the celebration of Christmas. We enjoy it as the mid-winter pagan festival it once was in these islands.
The perpetuation of tradition happens on a smaller scale, within families. I am well aware that the things I insist upon ̶ the foil wrapped nugget of coal, alongside the nuts, chocolate money and Satsuma, in the toe of the stocking ̶ is not necessarily what anyone else does, it is simply a repetition of what happened in my family when I was a child. So there is a lot of sentiment wrapped-up in the attempt to recreate the Christmases of your own childhood ̶ a need to sink back into that remembered warmth, excitement and security.
My book, TORN, starts just before Christmas. Jessica has escaped London with her young son, and is making a fresh start in the country. Here she believes life will be simple, straightforward and peaceful. As she leaves a pub on her first evening out, she breaths in the chill air with a sense of relief and optimism.
I could have made the opening chapter of TORN a warm and cosy evocation of this time of year. But I write unconventional, unpredictable, unsentimental stories. So, what do you think happens?
The perpetuation of tradition happens on a smaller scale, within families. I am well aware that the things I insist upon ̶ the foil wrapped nugget of coal, alongside the nuts, chocolate money and Satsuma, in the toe of the stocking ̶ is not necessarily what anyone else does, it is simply a repetition of what happened in my family when I was a child. So there is a lot of sentiment wrapped-up in the attempt to recreate the Christmases of your own childhood ̶ a need to sink back into that remembered warmth, excitement and security.
My book, TORN, starts just before Christmas. Jessica has escaped London with her young son, and is making a fresh start in the country. Here she believes life will be simple, straightforward and peaceful. As she leaves a pub on her first evening out, she breaths in the chill air with a sense of relief and optimism.
I could have made the opening chapter of TORN a warm and cosy evocation of this time of year. But I write unconventional, unpredictable, unsentimental stories. So, what do you think happens?
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