Lisa Dyer's Blog - Posts Tagged "lisa-dyer"

Let me introduce you to another character from Since You've Been Gone.


What is the name of your character?

Abigail Markham is a Dover girl through and through. Born and raised in the Tower Hamlets, she still lives in a tiny terraced house within a stone’s throw of her childhood home.

What should we know about her?

Abigail is a fighter. She is also complex. She didn’t have the best start to her life and her prospects were patchy to say the least but she has a good heart and is a strong woman. She married young and bore her first child in her late teens. The marriage produced one more child before it fell apart. She works in the local hairdressers and life is tough but she has her friends and her sister and they keep her going even though money is short.

What is the main conflict? 

The main conflict for Abigail is reconciling herself with her past decisions. She has a secret and she has had to live with the consequences of the path she chose. Some would say she did it for the best of reasons and others might think that maybe she was crying out for attention but, the deed was done and she got on with it. There is a part of her that is angry, even though the decision was hers and hers alone, she feels let down. Only Abigail can reconcile herself to her decision and, although she doesn’t tacitly blame Hal, she feels anger towards him. Once she looks at herself and her own part in how her life turned out, she will be much more at peace.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Finding peace with her past. She is happy that Hal never came home because she doesn’t have to expose herself to having to tell the truth but she also suffers from an acute, unspoken sense of abandonment by him. It’s kind of given her a bit of a martyr complex – ‘look at me, look what I did without your help’. Once it all comes out, then she can move forward but she has to be prepared for it all to come out.

Is there a working title for this novel, and when can we expect the book to be published? 

Since You've Been Gone was published by Crooked Cat Publishing in December 2013 and is available exclusively through Amazon across all markets and Kindle Unlimited.

I’m immensely excited to finish my second full-length novel HIGH SPIRITS which will be released on Amazon on 6 January 2018.

High Spirits was born of two things – 26 years of working in museums and castles and a love of the old black and white Saturday afternoon movies featuring romance and ghosts.

Working in old buildings brings a real sense of the past to the fore and spending time in the rooms and halls, one cannot help but wonder what, if anything, has remained behind and what they would make of life as they see it all change and pass before them.

It would be lovely to sit down and chat with them, to ask them what they thought of it all. So, that’s what I’m doing today. I’d like to introduce you to my guests on this post: Alec Edwards, Jean Francis and Pol.

Lisa Dyer: Alec Edwards, sometime assistant curator of Partridge Hall in the sleepy town of Plimpton Market. I think it’s fair to say that you had been an enthusiastic collector of artefacts from being a young lad?

(Now, I’d just like to point out, that Alec does like to smoke his pipe, even though he can’t actually smoke any more, so if you hear ‘putt-putt’ noises, that’s what he does when he’s thinking hard!)

LD (cont’d): And, of course, you had the good fortune to be taken on at the museum in a sort of schoolboy/apprentice role.

AE: Ah, yes (sitting back in his chair and fishing in his pocket for his pipe and tobacco pouch).

Jean Francis: Really Alec, do you have to do that here?

AE: Oh, come on girl, nobody’s going to mind.

JF: Well, I mind! Always puffing on that infernal thing!

LD: You were saying, Alec.

AE: Yes, right, well, in those days the museum was run by a very kindly gentleman by the name of Frank Wilson. He encouraged me to bring what I found to the museum. When I got a bit older, he took me on in a sort of unofficial capacity as his assistant; just on a Saturday.

LD: I guess you got hooked?

AE: Did I? Jolly right I did. Then, of course, once I’d finished school. I got a place there full-time. Best years of my life.

LD: Now, Jean, if I may turn to you – you worked for Clipper, Clipper and Broughton as a secretary.

JF: That’s right.

LD: And how did you two meet?

(Jean looks at Alec and her face softens into a smile. Alec reaches out to her and she slips her delicate hand into his).

JF: I was working in the office, right up in the attics but it had a fine view over Partridge Park and, of course the Hall and there he was. Second window from the left, pacing and I remember thinking how grave he looked.

AE: Well, I had important things to think about.

JF: Like what?

AE: Like…well…l was a very busy man!

(Jean laughs and shakes her head)

JF: Anyway, there he was and, well, he didn’t even notice me but then, one day he looked up and looked right at me.

AE: That’s what she says, I don’t recall it myself.

JF: Oh of course you do, you old goat, you just don’t want to admit it was love at first sight.

AE: I have to admit, she was rather beautiful.

JF: Was! Still am, thanks to you!

LD: Hmmm…that’s a good point. What do you recall about your death?

AE/JF: Nothing!

LD: Nothing at all?

JF: We were supposed to be going out that night – why do you think I’m dressed like this?

(for the record, Jean has on a rather fabulous blue satin and tulle dress with tiny flowers, white gloves, and a fake fur stole around her shoulders).

JF (cont’d): Anyway, he was still in those blasted stores of his looking for some kind of axe…

AE: Hand axe, actually!”

JF: Hmmm...anyway, he was showing no signs of moving and Jimmy Jones was singing that night and I so loved to dance…

AE: I’m not sure how many times I can say I’m sorry, my love.

LD: Pol, now, you have been haunting Partridge Hall for a very long time, what do you recall about them dying.

Pol: He’s got humbugs.

LD: Er…sorry?

P: Humbugs. Keeps them in his trouser pocket but he never shares them.

AE: You’re dead; you can’t eat humbugs!

JF: Give it a rest Alec, and give her a humbug!

(Alec fishes in his pocket and brings out a brown paper bag. Pol dips her hand in and pulls out a humbug)

AE: Happy now?

LD: Pol, you are from the time before the Romans, what we call the Iron Age.

P: (to Alec and Jean) Why’s she talking to me like I’m a child?

AE: Because you’re eleven!

P: I was eleven when they arrived. When was that?

AE: AD41.

P: What does AD mean?

AE: Anno Domini

P: What does Anno Domini mean?

LD: Look, can we get back to the question?

(All three stare at me as if I’m asking for the moon)

LD cont’d: Now, Pol you were with the clan that belonged around here.

P: My father was the clan leader. He was a very fierce warrior.

LD: And did you meet the Romans?

P: We slaughtered the Romans and bathed in their entrails.

JF: Pol!

AE: She’s being scandalous. Ignore her. Though, there was a local garrison here and her lot did slaughter them. In the woods by Roman Camp.

P: And bathed in their entrails.

AE: There was no entrail bathing.

P: Were you there?

(Alec lets out a big sigh and begins to prepare his pipe).

LD: So, Jean, how did you feel being trapped inside the museum.

JF: Furious! Absolutely furious! Never been in the place until I met him and now, here I am, doomed to roam the corridors forever.

AE: You’re not doomed, not be so dramatic.

JF: Well, what would you call it?

AE: Heaven!

(Jean wasn’t impressed with this idea. She turns her back on Alec and fluffs the skirts of her dress before resting her elbow on the back of the chair and placing her chin on her cupped hand).

LD: Let me ask, if you had the chance, if someone could ‘move you on’ would you take it?

Jean swivels back round and looks at Alec and Pol. For a moment something passes between them and then all three burst out laughing.

AE: Good Lord, where did you get such a daft idea?

JF: And leave our friends, Bethan, Sal, Billy and Patrick?

P: Get real!

JF: Pol, do stop using modern parlance, it’s so coarse!

LD: And you don’t mind that I’ve written a book about you?

JF: Heavens no! We loved sharing our death with you – who wouldn’t?

AE: She’s being sarcastic.

LD: I’m getting that. Well, too bad, the book is out on January 6th.

P: I’m I in it?

LD: Well, of course you are, and Bethan, Sal, Patrick and Billy and, they get to dance around the Beltane Fire.

P: Cool!

AE: What did you say it was called again?

LD: High SpiritsHere’s the cover.

AE: Very nice but I don’t look a bit like that!

JF: No, far too suave for Alec. You should have got someone in a brown suit.

P: Why aren’t I on the cover?

AE: Because you’re eleven.

(Oh, dear, they’re bickering again. So, I’m just going to leave them to it).

Here’s your chance to get to know the main characters in HIGH SPIRITS

So, what’s HIGH SPIRITSall about?

1944 – ALEC EDWARDS’ world was opened up when he fell in love with JEAN FRANCIS. From the quiet confines of his orderly museum where everything was catalogued, labelled and recorded, he had been propelled into the chaotic realms of romantic attachment. This was during the Second World War, a time of air raids, bombings and rationing. Then the ‘worst’ happened. Alec and Jean were in the museum after hours when the air raid sirens went. Alec, ever the vigilant curator, was loathed to leave his precious collections out of its case and vulnerable and insisted on finishing the job. Jean is less than impressed and a dispute ensued and just as she is in the middle of delivering a right royal ear bashing when the bomb lands…..

It’s 70 something years since the bomb fell and the museum is staging an anniversary exhibition. Part of the original bomb, which caused extensive damage to a wing of the museum is going on display, alongside objects relating to the life and work of Alec. BETHAN ANDREWS is at her wit's end. As the curator of the museum she is leading on the exhibition but there is one small problem – Alec’s life was dedicated to the curation and collection of objects and little is known in the museum about him personally. The museum’s board of trustees has insisted on the anniversary being recognized so in desperation she puts out a public plea for help via the local paper. PATRICK HARMAN, Alec’s great-great nephew, responds.

In the meantime, the local rag has pricked up its ears. Alerted by Bethan’s call for help, a reporter has unearthed a long forgotten tale of ghostly lights and apparitions in the museum; of dead curators seeking their lost treasure. This led to the wealthy but totally batty BASTIAN HEDGES, the producer of the global phenomenon The Ghost Doctor ©, to bribe the Trustees with a big fat cheque, in return for filming his Midsummer Special in the museum.

Patrick arrives with his grandfather, POP, a cantankerous old man, at the museum with memorabilia. Much to Bethan’s horror, she realizes that she and Patrick have crossed paths before as students, in particular at the Student Summer Ball, when Bethan threw her principles to the wind and had a drunken night of passion with Patrick. She is relieved when he appears not to recall her at all. However, she shouldn’t relax. He is just being a gentleman and not letting on! For him, rather than being a blur of alcohol and regret, he rather liked her but then the cold light of day dawn and Bethan was in denial. Now they are thrown back together.

What none of them could realise is…the ghost stories are true; the curator does haunt the museum. The day the bomb dropped, it did more than just damage the wing, it killed Alec and Jean and they’ve spent the past 70 years watching the world go by aided and abetted by a much older ghost, that of POL, an eleven-year-old girl from the Iron Age.

The stage is now set for some ghostly intervention and for love to conquer all.

In this post, we’re going to meet JEAN FRANCIS

What is the name of your character?

Meet Jean Francis Born, lived and died in Plimpton Market, a town set in the rolling South Downs.

When and where is the story set?

The story begins during the war with the prologue to set the scene as to how Alec and Jean met and fell in love before their untimely demise. It then moves onto the present day and picks up on the characters that work in the museum – Bethan, Patrick, Sal, Billy, and Seth. Unbeknown to them, their every move is being observed by three very mischievous ghosts.

What should we know about her?

Jean loves life. She’s only 21 and had a job as a secretary in the law firm of Clipper, Clipper and Boughton. She likes to go to the Roxy on a Saturday night and dance, although it’s not what it was before the war! She enjoys putting on a special dress and doing her hair for a night out. She’s from one of the prominent families in Plimpton Market, although they have been somewhat snubbed due to a scandal decades before.

She doesn’t take to dying very easily (well, who does?) and feels lost and out of place in the museum – which by her own admission, she’d never stepped foot in prior to her courtship with Alec.

What is the main conflict?

It’s taken Jean some time to adjust to eternity especially as Alec revels in being in his beloved museum 24/7. Her transition has been helped by the presence of Pol and gradually she began to view the museum as her home into which she welcomed visitors –even if those visitors couldn’t see her.

She often wonders about her relationship with Alec and whether she would have managed his proclivities if they’d lived. Sometimes, she wishes she could move on.

What are her personal relationships like and how do they shape her character?

Jean had been brought up in the knowledge that her family, although with a stain on their reputation due to the affair of an ancestor, were something in the town. Her parents were of independent means, although her father expected both her and her sister, Violet, to earn a living. She’d been given the job of secretary on the back of her father being a member of the local Freemasons lodge so she’d never really experienced hardship

Her relationship with Alec came as a surprise to her friends and was frowned upon by her family who hoped that one of the daughters would marry into one of the still socially respectable families and thus restore their own reputation by association.

Alec really wasn’t the type that one would image Jean being attached to but there you go – love is blind!

Seventy-something years have not dulled her love of Alec but revealing herself to Bethan opens her world up far more than if she had lived and given her something to hold onto.

How do I get a copy?

HIGH SPIRITS is now available to download from across the Amazon market to your Kindle or Kindle apps for £3.99 or in paperback for £9.99

Here’s your chance to get to know the main characters in HIGH SPIRITS

So, what’s HIGH SPIRITS all about?

1944 – ALEC EDWARDS’ world was opened up when he fell in love with JEAN FRANCIS. From the quiet confines of his orderly museum where everything was catalogued, labelled and recorded, he had been propelled into the chaotic realms of romantic attachment. This was during the Second World War, a time of air raids, bombings and rationing. Then the ‘worst’ happened. Alec and Jean were in the museum after hours when the air raid sirens went. Alec, ever the vigilant curator, was loathed to leave his precious collections out of its case and vulnerable and insisted on finishing the job. Jean is less than impressed and a dispute ensued and just as she is in the middle of delivering a right royal ear bashing when a bomb lands…..

It’s 70 something years since the bomb fell and the museum is staging an anniversary exhibition. Part of the original bomb, which caused extensive damage to a wing of the museum is going on display, wit'sgside objects relating to the life and work of Alec. BETHAN ANDREWS is at her wits end. As the curator of the museum she is leading on the exhibition but there is one small problem – Alec’s life was dedicated to the curation and collection of objects and little is known in the museum about him personally. The museum’s board of trustees has insisted on the anniversary being recognized so in desperation she puts out a public plea for help via the local paper. PATRICK HARMAN, Alec’s great-great nephew, responds.

In the meantime, the local rag has pricked up its ears. Alerted by Bethan’s call for help, a reporter has unearthed a long forgotten tale of ghostly lights and apparitions in the museum; of dead curators seeking their lost treasure. This led to the wealthy but totally batty BASTIAN HEDGES, the producer of the global phenomenon The Ghost Doctor ©, to bribe the Trustees with a big fat cheque, in return for filming his Midsummer Special in the museum.

Patrick arrives with his grandfather, POP, a cantankerous old man, at the museum with memorabilia. Much to Bethan’s horror, she realizes that she and Patrick have crossed paths before as students, in particular at the Student Summer Ball, when Bethan threw her principles to the wind and had a drunken night of passion with Patrick. She is relieved when he appears not to recall her at all. However, she shouldn’t relax. He is just being a gentleman and not letting on! For him, rather than being a blur of alcohol and regret, he rather liked her but then the cold light of day dawn and Bethan was in denial. Now they are thrown back together.

What none of them could realise is…the ghost stories are true; the curator does haunt the museum. The day the bomb dropped, it did more than just damage the wing, it killed Alec and Jean and they’ve spent the past 70 years watching the world go by aided and abetted by a much older ghost, that of POL, an eleven-year-old girl from the Iron Age.

The stage is now set for some ghostly intervention and for love to conquer all.

In this post, we’re going to meet BETHAN ANDREWS

What should we know about her?

Bethan was born and raised in a small village in the Cotswolds that formed part of an estate belonging to the Farringdon family. Her father owned his own business and Bethan had grown up in the company of Tom Farrington the heir to Lassister Hall and estate. It seemed to the wish of both families that these two would marry and carry on the family name, however, an indiscretion on the part of Bethan put paid to all of that.

Bethan came to Partridge Hall by way of a London museum, which fell to the funding cuts and so she was let go. Plimpton Market and a small museum were not what she had in mind when she started out in the heritage sector and we find her at odds with her role.

What is the main conflict?

In the beginning we find Bethan attempting to reconcile herself with her role in a small museum. She has come from a dynamic environment to find that she is most definitely second place to the will of the Trustees which she finds most frustrating.

What are her personal relationships like and how do they shape her character?

Bethan moved to Plimpton Market and found that her accommodation plans had fallen through. Sal, the museum designer, immediately steps in and offers her a room which Bethan is at pains to point out will only be a short-term arrangement. Five years later and they are still living together in Sal’s old house. This connection is pivotal to Bethan and is more of a mother/daughter relationship than landlady and lodger. Sal is Bethan’s voice of reason and fiercest defender.

Her relationships with her parents are genial and homely although she nearly caused a schism when her romantic attachment to Tom broke off. They play no part in the story but clearly, there are no domestic problems. Having experienced a comfortable upbringing without stress, Bethan has turned out to be a level-headed young woman.

Her relationship with Tom was borne more of familiarity than love and it didn’t take much to expose that truth. She has steered clear of romantic attachment but that is thrown into conflict with the arrival of Patrick – a face from the past.

How do I get a copy?

HIGH SPIRITS is now available to download from across the Amazon market to your Kindle or Kindle apps for £3.99 or in paperback for £9.99

Here’s your chance to get to know the main characters in HIGH SPIRITS

So, what’s HIGH SPIRITS all about?

1944 – ALEC EDWARDS world was opened up when he fell in love with JEAN FRANCIS. From the quiet confines of his orderly museum where everything was catalogued, labelled and recorded, he had been propelled into the chaotic realms of romantic attachment. This was during the Second World War, a time of air raids, bombings and rationing. Then the ‘worst’ happened. Alec and Jean were in the museum after hours when the air raid sirens went. Alec, ever the vigilant curator, was loathed to leave his precious collections out of its case and vulnerable and insisted on finishing the job. Jean is less than impressed and a dispute ensued and just as she is in the middle of delivering a right royal ear bashing when a bomb lands…..

It’s 70 something years since the bomb fell and the museum is staging an anniversary exhibition. Part of the original bomb, which caused extensive damage to a wing of the museum is going on display, alongside objects relating to the life and work of Alec. BETHAN ANDREWS is at her wit's end. As the curator of the museum she is leading on the exhibition but there is one small problem – Alec’s life was dedicated to the curation and collection of objects and little is known in the museum about him personally. The museum’s board of trustees has insisted on the anniversary being recognized so in desperation she puts out a public plea for help via the local paper. PATRICK HARMAN, Alec’s great-great nephew, responds.

In the meantime, the local rag has pricked up its ears. Alerted by Bethan’s call for help, a reporter has unearthed a long forgotten tale of ghostly lights and apparitions in the museum; of dead curators seeking their lost treasure. This led to the wealthy but totally batty BASTIAN HEDGES, the producer of the global phenomenon The Ghost Doctor ©, to bribe the Trustees with a big fat cheque, in return for filming his Midsummer Special in the museum.

Patrick arrives with his grandfather, POP, a cantankerous old man, at the museum with memorabilia. Much to Bethan’s horror, she realizes that she and Patrick have crossed paths before as students, in particular at the Student Summer Ball, when Bethan threw her principles to the wind and had a drunken night of passion with Patrick. She is relieved when he appears not to recall her at all. However, she shouldn’t relax. He is just being a gentleman and not letting on! For him, rather than being a blur of alcohol and regret, he rather liked her but then the cold light of day dawn and Bethan was in denial. Now they are thrown back together.

What none of them could realise is…the ghost stories are true; the curator does haunt the museum. The day the bomb dropped, it did more than just damage the wing, it killed Alec and Jean and they’ve spent the past 70 years watching the world go by aided and abetted by a much older ghost, that of POL, an eleven-year-old girl from the Iron Age.

The stage is now set for some ghostly intervention and for love to conquer all.

In this post, we’re going to meet POL a child of the Iron Age.

What is the name of your character?

Meet Pol an eleven-year old girl and nearly two thousand year old ghost.

What should we know about her?

Pol was born to the leader of her clan and lived with her extended community just outside what became Plimpton Market in an area today known as Miller’s Field.

Her clan is part of a wider tribe under a tribal leader.

Pol saw the coming of the Roman army into her world and watched as peace broke down between her father and the local detachment of soldiers. This led to the murder of her clan and propelled her father and his warriors into a bloody ambush in which the detachments of soldiers were all executed.

Pol is a powerful spirit through age and because in life she had special abilities that marked her out for a place in the class known as Vates or seers. Sadly for her, she was used as a sacrifice to the gods in an attempt to thwart the Roman incursions.

She has greater abilities than either Jean or Alec and can manipulate and use everyday objects at will. Her favourite thing is playing games on Seth’s iPod, much to Seth’s chagrin as he can’t work out who is doing it.

What is the main conflict?

Pol has little in the way of conflicts to deal with because she has had a huge span of time to come to terms with her situation. She was on the land before the first house was built on the site and saw the rise and fall of many properties.

Pol enjoyed living in a family home and seeing the comings and goings of family life. When the last owner died and the house became a museum she felt at her lowest but the arrival of Jean and Alec put an end to her loneliness.

What are her personal relationships like and how do they shape her character?

Pol had a loving relationship with her parents even though her life was brief. With the coming of Jean and Alec, Pol has found herself a family again and they very much act as a family unit in that respect.

She often defers to Jean or Alec even though her wisdom exceeds theirs. Pol knows a dark secret about the museum and, unknown to either Alec or Jean, she is shielding them from it in order to protect them.

When the trio reveals themselves to Bethan, Pol finds herself quite comfortable with the curator and spends much time with her in the office.

How do I get a copy?

HIGH SPIRITS is now available to download from across the Amazon market to your Kindle or Kindle apps for £3.99 or in paperback for £9.99