Wonderful interview with Anne Williams today on her lovely blog, Being Anne. It’s mainly about my newest book, Finding Jess, the last of my Drumbeats trilogy, out now. But it also mentions my other books too, and there are buy-links if you fancy trying one. Finding Jess is a stand-alone, in that I try to provide the context, so you don’t have to read all three. However, it is better, really, if you follow Jess through her traumas from the first of the series, Drumbeats and then on to the follow-up, Walking in the Rain, before Finding Jess.
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Anne’s blog is great – I love it. She does lots of research into her interviewees beforehand and her questions are so interesting, and tailor-made to the subject. Apart from asking me about my writing day and routines, she wanted to know what I liked and hated about being an author. Read it and find out!
If you’ve forgotten the three books in the trilogy: let’s start with Drumbeats …
It’s 1965 and 18 year old Jess escapes her stifling English background for a gap year in Ghana, West Africa. But it’s a time of political turbulence across the region. Fighting to keep her young love who waits back in England, she’s thrown into the physical dangers of civil war, tragedy, and the emotional conflict of a disturbing new relationship. And why do the drumbeats haunt her dreams?
This is a rite of passage story which takes the reader hand in hand with Jess on her journey towards growing into the adult world.
Jess happily marries the love of her life She wants to feel safe, secure and loved. But gradually it becomes clear that her beloved husband is not the man she thought him to be. She survived civil war and injury in Africa, but can she now survive the biggest challenge of her life?
A captivating story about a woman’s resilience, courage and second chances.
It’s 1990 and single mother, Jess, has struggled to get her life back on track after the betrayal of her beloved husband and of her best friend. On the brink of losing everything, including her family, and still haunted by her past and the Ghanaian drumbeats that pervade her life, she feels that she can no longer trust anyone.
Then she is mysteriously sent a newspaper clipping of a temporary job back in Ghana. Could this be her lifeline? Can Jess turn back time and find herself again? And what, exactly, will she find?
Finding Jess is a passionate study of love and betrayal – and of one woman’s bid to reclaim her self-belief and trust after suffering great misfortune. It is a feel-good story of a woman’s strength and spirit rising above adversity.
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