Sarah Lay
The family saga aspect of The Winter Passing had been floating around my head for a while - a few years at least - but the real story came together very suddenly. It was set off by noticing a centaury flower in a wildflower guide I was flicking through one night. Once I had that character in my head, a lot of the rest seemed to flow quite easily.
But there's lots in there which has been stored away over a lifetime and used to build the world the characters inhabit, and the way they speak to each other is representative of my experience of female friendship.
I'm also fascinated by memory, perception and reality - how memories change or degrade over time, how they are always based only on your own viewpoint and so are subjective, and how even a shared experience is unique to each person. These ideas fed in to be the underlying themes of the book.
But there's lots in there which has been stored away over a lifetime and used to build the world the characters inhabit, and the way they speak to each other is representative of my experience of female friendship.
I'm also fascinated by memory, perception and reality - how memories change or degrade over time, how they are always based only on your own viewpoint and so are subjective, and how even a shared experience is unique to each person. These ideas fed in to be the underlying themes of the book.
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