The narrative explores two generations of a family and how a chance occurrence during the life of the main protagonist sets in motion events which are inexorably linked to her future happiness and that of her family.
The story is narrated from the perspective of Ellen 50 years old and a mother of three children, Anna, Carrie and Sadie.
Ellen had lived a difficult life with her own parents having been abandoned at the age of 4. Her mother Evelyn a Nursing sister who had suffered abuse at the hands of her father Edward a former postman now a wealthy self made man who had made his fortune from property restoration. He finally left Evelyn for another partner and refused to see the child. The shame and humiliation in the 1960’s that this event caused led to Evelyn suffering a complete mental breakdown. She was eventually sectioned at the age of 36, just 4 years after Ellen's birth. Spending her formative years in a home for abandoned children seems to have set up the future pathway for Ellen as from this point, she seems never to be able to have a healthy or fulfilling relationship with anyone.
After a number of failed attempts to discover real love with a variety of men throughout the early years of her adulthood, Ellen finds something she identifies as love with James. Her relationship with her husband is not fulfilling due to her inability to truly commit and although he loves her and enjoys the love of his children, he is driven away by her coldness both to him, and her bitterness and cruelty to their children.He fights for the custody of the children, but this is awarded to Ellen who is adept from many years of practice, in lying to the judge.
Ellen is unable to sustain any proper relationship with her children and her frustration with her own inability to connect leads to years of mental abuse of all three children. One such occasion has tragic consequences resulting in the attempted suicide of her youngest child Carrie at the age of 16.
This leads to a further unravelling of the loyalty the children have shown their mother. Is there a way back for Ellen and her daughters?
Bloody hell! This seems without a ray of light. Congratulations for being so uncompromising - there's no reason you should seek to soften the blows, after all. And you also seem to emphasize the vulnerability of the characters, which will mean that it will make it even more forceful when the blows come. It might be interesting to think about building some structures into it. For example, you could take each chapter as a day in her life, chosen many years apart. Or you could have her remembering while looking at old home movies. You could organize the book in two halves, the first building up to one of the tragic events, the second leading away from it. You might also want to work on some light and shade, making Patricia a character that we really like as well as making her commit horrible acts. If she was also a horse-lover, for example (just off the top of my head) she could be shown pouring all her love and energy into her horses. Or you could make her very witty and funny which would also act as a good contrast.
ReplyDelete..I'd had a bad day Gary! Seriously though thanks for the comments. I am looking at the character of Patricia as having a number of traits which make her likeable. Mainly through the strange love hate relationships with her daughters. She's definitely not all bad:-)
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely hard hitting. Guess you could choose a bleak this is how life really can be approach. I think it would be better with some sort of non-sugary glimpses of redemption, uplift or deeper understanding of cause and effect. You could be kinder to Patricia and show her softer sides.. or lead us to a realisation that her take on life has been so damaged by her past it has made her an easy victim that gets the blame for everything.
ReplyDeleteThis is a synopsis for a bleak story. The plot is powerful and could lead to a fascinating exploration of many modern family dilemmas. But as for the Chilean miners locked away in the darkness of their dungeon for the first seventeen days, there has to be the hope of rescue however unexpected.
ReplyDeleteI have changed the characters somewhat and reduced the complete tragedy a little. I was finding it difficult to glean any positives, now I feel I have something to work on and the youngest daughter will play a bigger role in this novel than in the first draft. I have found the character building part of this course very useful
ReplyDelete