Welcome to another Weekend Read. My featured book this week is The Child We Lost by Sheila Norton. So grab yourself a cuppa, get cosy and let’s get chatting to Sheila. 🙂
Blurb:
What would you do if the child you lost, came back? If his twin, your five year old daughter, is convinced that she sees him, alive and well, every Friday afternoon? Perhaps it’s simply another stage of her grieving? But then . .. you see him too.
Buying link: The Child We Lost: Amazon
Welcome to my blog, Sheila. Thanks for dropping by to talk to us today. I understand that you’re celebrating a huge milestone this week.
Hello again, Karen – it’s great to be back on your blog again, thanks so much! And yes I am. It’s the publication of my thirtieth novel. Of course, I’m still hoping, and planning, to publish more, but at my age, it’s wise to celebrate every milestone as if it were our last – just in case it actually is!
As every author knows, there are some books we feel especially excited about, and this particular book – The Child We Lost, published on 25 February by Boldwood Books – is one of those. It wasn’t an easy book to write; I couldn’t say that any of the family dramas I’ve been writing for Boldwood have been easy, because in all of them, the emotions are high. The idea for this story gripped me from the start; my question to myself, on plotting it, was What would a mother do if the child they’d lost eighteen months earlier, suddenly seemed to have come back? If his twin sister is convinced that she’s seen him, alive and well, walking past her school one Friday?
Disbelief is the obvious first reaction. A presumption that the twin, Ruby – who’s still only five – is simply going through another stage of her grieving. But then, when the sightings of this child continue every single Friday, wouldn’t the mother (and the grandmother, whose voice I’ve included) begin to hope that somehow this could be true? Wouldn’t she want to see this boy that her daughter’s been seeing, for herself? And if he really does look exactly like her lost son – wouldn’t she want to work out how that could be possible? How her son could not even be dead? Or how there’s another, identical, child still alive?
These questions fascinated me and I loved exploring the different ways the mother (in particular) tries to find out the truth, at the same time as dealing with the persistent demands from little Ruby, to invite the boy she believes to be her twin brotherback to her house. Inevitably, the story is full of emotion – there are parts where I shed a few tears myself even while writing it – but it’s not all about the sadness of the situation, it’s rather about the developing story of the Friday afternoon boy, and of the family.
Sometimes when we finish writing a particular book, we’re more excited about it than usual. I’d love everyone to read this book – that goes without saying! – but it’s one that I particularly hope you all enjoy – as much as I enjoyed writing it. Happy thirtieth book birthday to me!
It sounds a fascinating read. Happy thirtieth book birthday! Congratulations on reaching such a fantastic milestone. 🎉🎉
About Sheila
Author bio:
Sheila Norton lives near Chelmsford in Essex. She is the author of 30 novels, covering several different sub-genres of contemporary fiction. She is now being published by Boldwood Books, writing emotionally-charged family dramas. Her first novel was published in 2003, and before this, she had over 100 short stories published in women’s magazines. She worked for most of her life as a medical secretary, until retiring early to concentrate on her writing.
Contact links
Website: http://www.sheilanorton.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SheilaNortonAuthor
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sheilaann.norton
Karen King 