I never thought I would
ever do this. History was not my best subject at school. I had no interest in
it at all. However, I was very interested in writing sagas set in the 19th
and 20th centuries and this took me into researching the times and
places where my characters lived. At first, it was hard – still is at times. I
inevitably end up with a fat file of research notes bigger than the finished
novel.
Fascination, however, soon
took over. I am now hooked on historic research and often get ideas and
inspiration from real life events that happened in the past.
Take Voices of the Morning, set in the thirties in north-east England
[my home counties] at the time of the Jarrow Crusades and the miners’ strikes. Coming
from a long line of mining folk there was an added incentive to write about my
kind of people, but with a story of high-level suspense woven in and around
actual historic fact.
For me, the story is the
most important thing, with characters that draw the reader in, make them turn
the pages, holding their breath and getting involved with protagonists that
aren’t particularly glamorous – just ordinary souls that get caught up in
dangerous, frightening situations, such as murder and rape and anything else I
can dredge up from my imagination – sometimes autobiographic details that give
the story a touch of reality.
The ‘blurb’ is always the
most difficult thing to write, because how can you squeeze into a few words the
true essence of the whole novel. But here it is for Voices of the Morning:
The
last thing Patrick Flynn wants is another mouth to feed, so he does his best to
ensure that Billy does not survive. But survive he does, with the help of a
warm-hearted prostitute and Laura Caldwell, the daughter of a wealthy local
family. Patrick deserts his family and Billy struggles to eke out a meagre
living, all the while looking after his alcoholic mother. As he matures, so
does his obsession with Laura. One day, he dreams, he will win her heart, but
Laura has other ideas, and it is with Bridget, the prostitute’s daughter that
Billy joins the Jarrow crusaders marching to London to demonstrate against
unemployment. Neither of them, however, is prepared for the reappearance of the
evil Patrick Flynn…
This is not the only 5-star
review Voices of the Morning received, but what author could ask for better?
***** Loved it! WOW! Talk
about being on the edge of your seat. This book was amazing. I had no idea what
was coming next. [by BOOKLOVER64]
And getting a write-up in the local press was a great bonus
too. [1]
In the book, the hero,
because of his short stature, got the nick-name of Billy Big Boots because the
hand-me-down boots from his brothers were far too big for him. One lady, who
had bought the book as a birthday present for her husband, was a teddy-bear
maker and she made a teddy-bear and sent it to me. He wears a medallion around
his neck with his name on it. [2] How nice is that! I love my furry Billy Big
Boots and no child will ever get it – not because I’m mean, but because this
lady uses lead shot to fill the bears with [husband was a game-keeper and the
lead shot was spare!]
