A more adult read

I think this book might be one of the hardest I have ever written in some ways. It's about what happens after a marriage breaks down and how the main character, Sarah, has to forge a new life for herself.

As I alluded to in my last blog, some of it is written from personal experience and some from the experiences others have shared with me. I have to thank you all for being so brutally honest and baring your souls to me. What you have told me has made me laugh and sometimes cry, but each and every time, it has informed my characters of how they would act, what they would think and what they would say.

So to all of you once again, thanks.

Because of the adult content of this book I will be unable to post as many snippets as I usually would, so here is just a little bit to tide you over.

“Shall we go see the new house then?” she said.

Neither of the girls answered. Perhaps young as they were, they realised there was really no choice in the matter.

Her hands shook on the steering wheel but she manoeuvred the car with care. “Here we are.” Her voice was falsely cheerful.

The girls looked unenthusiastically up at the low-rise block of flats.

“You said there wasn’t a garden, but there is,” Kaitlin accused, pointing at the narrow expanse of grass between the building and the car park.

“That’s not a garden honey. That’s just a strip of grass and it’s for everyone to use.”

“Everyone?” Ellie said, sounding confused.

Sarah looked at the building again. Not as she naturally perceived it, as a group of connected flats, but as her daughters saw it, a huge imposing residence.

“That isn’t one big house. It’s lots of little houses called flats, all put together in one place.”

As ever, if you are in need of a good read, take a look at my dystopian sci-fi series, The Owners or for young adult romance/thriller, Split Decision. Ascension will be out early next year. And many more to follow.

Happy Reading! x

Author's note

I have just typed THE END, having finished the story Saving Grace.

As an author, every book I write matters to me, every story and every character resonates in some way, to a greater or lesser extent. But this particular story will also strike a chord with many of you, due to the fact that it is about a child's perception of her parent's failing marriage. 

Having been a step-child myself, I know how hard it can be. And also how wonderful. So I included a final word. Here it is :-

 

Author’s note.

 

This story is dedicated to my [step] father who raised me from the age of seven and treated me as if I were his own child.

 

Saving Grace was written for all you boys and girls who find that sometimes real life is hard and hurtful. It has been written with love and with hope. In many ways it has been written for the adults in your lives, as much as it has been for you.

 

The job of a step-parent is a tough one and has been vilified in many stories. But for every evil Queen in Snow-white, there are a hundred good men and women, doing a great job of parenting kids that aren’t their own. Likewise for every ‘wicked’ step-child who deliberately scuppers his/her parent’s new relationship, there are a thousand others who accept and value the new adult in their life.

 

I hope this book goes at least a little way towards helping children and adults find a sure footing in difficult times and situations.

 

Carmen Capuano.

Saving Grace will hopefully be available soon. Until then ...

Happy Reading!

Saving Grace

There's a soundtrack that's running through my head. It goes a little like this...

"Where do I begin
To tell the story of how great a love can be?
The true love story
That is true of you and me?...

Where do I start?"

Do you recognise it? It is the theme from the film Love Story. Perhaps the words are a little wrong but the sentiment isn't.

And yet the story I'm working on isn't a love story - it's the exact opposite in fact. It's a story about how one little girl is striving to cope with the breakdown of her parents' marriage. But the sentiment of that song is what is bursting forth from her heart and it has impaled me, as her creator, with its hurt.

Poor Grace is utterly, emotionally lost. I only hope she can find her way out of the wilderness and into the light...

New book on the horizon...

Hello again!

If you have heard any of my talks, you will know that I am compelled to write according to which characters shout the loudest to attract my attention. That's why I am now working on a new book entitled Saving Grace.

Grace is a young girl who is torn between her parents as the adults struggle to cope with their disintegrating marriage. The story is told from her perspective and is darkly comical. I think you are going to like her a lot.

Here is the very first page of Saving Grace. If you enjoy it please take a look at my other books.

N.B. Split Decision will be out in March.

The Boy Who Rescues Pigeons, The Plan and Ascension will follow shortly.

Chapter 1

 

 

The rain slashed at the window pane, thick tears of anger streaming down the glass before running off the window sill to puddle on the ground outside. Grace turned her face away from the crying window and closed her ears to its wet misery.

“Well maybe it isn’t YOUR fault but it isn’t MINE either you know!” The shrieking voice had a quiver at the end which tugged painfully at Grace’s heart.

A momentary silence followed, during which the continual cry of the rain seemed to become deafening. “No it’s never your fault, is it? That would just be ridiculous.”

Even heard through the closed toilet door she could hear his strident tones, full of sarcasm.  It was a funny word – sarcasm. She had learned it only last week during an English lesson. What had struck her at the time, was that she had always been able to recognise it in his voice, she simply hadn’t had a name for it. Now she did.

It was a shame to use such a pretty sounding word for such a vile meaning. Perhaps that particular tone of voice could have been called ‘I’m being nasty but pretending it’s funny’ instead, or inpif for short. His voice was hard and brittle, his sentences so sharp and cutting, she almost couldn’t remember the soft tones and rounded words of so long ago.

Grace stood rooted to the spot, hands outstretched in the bathroom sink. As if hypnotised, she watched the water swirling over her soapy fingers, washing away the suds and the dirt together, making no distinction between one or the other, rinsing her free of anything and everything.

Sometimes she wished she could do that with her whole life… just rinse it clean away. Gurgling, the water swirled away and down the drain, the sound so much like laughter it made her wince. It was a sound which lived only in her memory.

It seems that Antonio Banderas has split with his wife Melanie Griffith and so another Hollywood couple bites the dust! I can't even begin to image how strange life under that kind of spotlight must be, the constant rumours, the inquisitiveness of strangers over the intimate details of the split...and ultimately how much strength of character it must take to get right back up and go out in public once more.


Most of us when we face a break-up in a relationship, are able to do so in  relative anonymity. Our friends are told and our families but the shame of a failed relationship stops there. The cashier at the supermarket doesn't know, the waiter at the pub your girlfriends take you to for a consolation drink doesn't know and the teller at the bank most definitely doesn't know. But imagine for one second that they did. Imagine that everyone knew all of the sordid details - it's enough to make your skin crawl, isn't it?


That's why I found Judy Finnigan's comment in the Daily Express quite strange. Judy composed an article about how only two weeks after filing for divorce, Melanie Griffith had turned up at  an Italian film festival  with her estranged husband's name blanked out of the tattoo on her arm.


Ms Finnigan thought it strange that Griffith had only covered up the name [possibly with make-up] and had left the rest of the heart shape intact. Ms Finnigan went on to surmise that perhaps the stunt was no more than a hint that Griffith is prepared to accept her husband back in her life.


Well maybe, maybe not. My own take on it comes from a very different perspective. Maybe in blanking out his name Melanie hoped to show that there was a hole in her heart [figuratively speaking of course, I do not mean to imply that she needs cardiovascular surgery]; maybe she was even hoping to show that there was a vacancy there.


Perhaps she wanted to show that she was brave enough to just get on with things, that she still had a heart even if Antonio Banderas no longer resided in it, either figuratively or not.


Or maybe...just maybe...and I could be clutching at straws here....maybe she just liked her tattoo even if she no longer liked the man whose name used to reside at the centre of it!


Either way, give the lady a break! Breaking up is hard enough without everyone having an opinion.


Happy reading!