Before I started writing my first Radwinter book, which led to not exactly a sequel but the next part of the Radwinter story and eventually six more – I wrote several stand-alone books, and several unfinished novels too. How busy I was! However, that was pre-blog, pre- writing here, and before I set myself writing challenges. I seem to be in somewhat of a writing limbo at the moment, writing a not-to-be-published story of what happened to two characters from “The Stalking of Rosa Czekov”, just to keep my writing hand in, if that makes sense.
For some reason I started reading one of my unfinished novels, and now I’m quite gripped by it and have decided maybe I should actually finish it! It’s probably half to two-thirds finished, and although is set in my imaginary coastal area and on my imaginary Farholm Island. The main character is a man called Frederico Milan who is a teacher at a local further education college (as I was when I had a day job) Three years before the start of the book, Frederico’s wife disappeared, she left there house one evening, was seen getting into a car – and vanished. She has never been found and no-one knows where she went or whose car she got into. There was a police investigation, and Frederico was investigated by the police which was incredibly stressful on top of his anguish because of his missing wife. That was three years ago. Suddenly Frederico’s parents-in-law arrive at his flat – his mother-in-law has been diagnosed with a life threatening condition, and his father–in-law, Paul, convinced Frederico was responsible for his daughter’s disappearance threatens him. Reveal what you did to my daughter, tell me where her body is or I will go back to the police again!
I guess you can imagine where the story goes next! However, there are other story-lines, and other characters including Frederico’s best friend Erin, Father Apinski the priest at the local Catholic church, and a severely disabled man, Jerome who lives in a care-home. There are, of course, Frederico’s colleagues and the principal of the college where he works. The story starts on the mainland and then the action transfers to Farholm Island – and that is where all the main players of the story are – and now I have to work out what happens next! Can Frederico and Erin find out what happened to his wife? Does Father Apinski re-find his faith? Does Paul come to terms with his wife’s illness and the loss of his daughter? I don’t at present know the answers, but I feel as if I must go back to the story and finish it.
To add to aspects of the story I must consider and check on, the action all took place before the internet was more than in its infancy, so no cell phones, no messaging, no modern tech at all! If someone’s in difficulty, they just have to shout for help!!
My featured image is of Rathlin Island, an inspiration for my imaginary Farholm.
