Goodreads asked Angela Wren:

What mystery in your own life could be a plot for a book?

Angela Wren I'm not sure there are any mysteries in my own life that could make a good plot for a book. My life, thus far, although it has been very interesting, fulfilling and never dull, has always been quite ordinary. I can't think of a single thing that could be construed as mysterious... Unless you count that odd occassion when I was in London undertaking some family history research and a terribly tall guy insisted on opening all the doors for me as we progressed in silence from the tube platform to the street. I did thank him when we got to street level and then just went on my way only to find myself later, in the Docklands museum, wondering what it all meant!!

My ancestors, on the other hand, have plenty of things in their histories that would make a good plot. One was a potboy in a coffee-house in the Strand and on the 1841 census all I know about him is his name, age, that he lived at the coffee-house and that he was not born in the county. It's a brick wall I haven't been able to break down, but just think of the possible story that it could make if I could time-travel and meet him!

Then there's the mysterious death in another part of my family tree that I can't seem to resolve. Perhaps it was a murder, maybe fuelled by jealousy or avarice, or even better, an undetected murder masquerading as an accident!

And then, a little closer to us here in the 21st century, is the family story of one of my ancestors being somehow involved in the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. Perhaps he was, perhaps not and perhaps I will never know the truth. Never the less, one of the greatest things about being a writer is that you can invent or re-imagine a situation by simply asking yourself 'What if?'

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