I’ve published quite a few novels now, the first seven were all stand-alones, the following seven are the Radwinter series – which obviously follow on sequentially. However, even the Radwinter seven (at some point eight) could be read out of sync if readers were aware and didn’t mind!! With almost every one of my first seven, people would ask me what happened to the characters after the end of the book – and some asked if I was going to write a sequel. The answer to that has always been ‘no sequel’, but…
I will try not to give any spoilers, but be aware, if you haven’t read my books some of my comments below might reveal something – not the unexpected ending or anything like that, but something about the characters’ journey. The first of my novels is set on my imaginary offshore island, Farholm – which is the title of the book. It begins with two of the main characters on the ferry heading over there. Deke, a recently bereaved woman, and Michael a man with a particular reason to visit Farholm, find they have both been booked into a cottage on Farholm – so right from the beginning I can imagine readers thinking something might happen between them. The story, however is not about romance – Deke wants to come to terms with the death of her husband, Michael has his own demons to face. On the day they arrive a young woman goes missing and the islanders fear that something awful may have happened to her, just as it did to another girl of a similar age the previous year. By the end of the book, after attempted murder, another death, kidnap, old mysteries resolved, Deke and Michael leave the island and go their separate ways. Loads of people who very kindly read my books, wanted to know whether there would be a sequel, would Michael and Deke meet again etc – and to be quite honest, I was surprised, and said no, no there wouldn’t be another story about them, no there wouldn’t be a sequel, no.
However, in my head the story did continue, Deke and Michael carried on their lives with the various difficulties they had to face, Deke with bereavement, Michael with a difficult and sad family situation. Will I ever write the next chapters in their story? No, but I might use aspects of it in something completely different.
My next book, ‘Flipside’, starts with a love at first sight romance, between Jas and David. Jas has moved from the south to Oldham for various reasons, including to be nearer her brother Kiran whose wife has been murdered. It soon becomes apparent that this tragic murder can be linked to a previous one, and then another horrifying and brutal death of another woman. It seems that Jas’s new home is not as safe as she imagined and she herself might also be in danger. I hope when, after many and various incidents, all is resolved the identity of the killer and the reasons behind it, may be be a satisfying surprise to the reader. Did I plan for a sequel, did I begin to plan the next instalment in David and Jas’s lives? No – but it did give me an idea for another story although the characters and the story-line were very different. I did think about David and Jas (and Deke and Michael) and think how their lives would have been changed by the shocking traumas and terrible events they had experienced.
What effect would a horrific event have on the relationship between a couple? It might bring them closer together, they might comfort each other in the awful experience they had endured, but supposing it didn’t? Supposing one blamed the other for something they believed led to the situation which had altered their lives fundamentally and forever. This idea rumbled around, and somehow became attached to another idea I had – about someone being blamed for something horrifying and tragic, but which impacted on their life almost more than anyone else. ‘Loving Judah’ begins in Yorkshire, with a couple sitting alone by candlelight in the ruin of the house they are trying to renovate after the funeral of the husband’s son. Peter irrationally blames his wife, Aislin, for the death of Judah on a gap-year trip to India. As the days pass the situation becomes almost intolerable for her, living with her bereavement and with the suppressed anger and resentment of Peter. Then she comes to the aid of a man who has been mugged, and although he’s much older than Judah, she sees him as a stranger who is alone and in trouble. Hundreds of pages later, after Peter has gone to India, abandoning Aislin and the house, after many incidents, some very dangerous, a trip to Cornwall, kidnap and attempted murder, Aislin – to a certain degree, comes to terms with her new life. I wrote the novel quite a few years ago, but Aislin is continuing the renovations, without Peter – but she does so not in pages of writing, but in my head – in my imagination!
For some reason the new set-up with WordPress doesn’t allow (or I can’t figure it out) to necessarily post what one wants to post. The links below all show the old covers of my books but the links do work!
Lois Elsden 