Question K

[Jonetta]

Why do you think the author was willing to kill off a major character like Jo? Are you upset about it?

[Phrynne]

Jo has never been a favourite of mine so I was not really upset. I actually liked the woman Cork was having an affair with in the first book. I can't remember her name but the author killed her off too!

[Jonetta]

Molly was her name.

I didn’t like Jo because of that affair but slowly came to like her and her new relationship with Cork. I was more saddened than upset. It really bothered me.

[Veronica]

I obviously bowed out of finishing this series group read because I had come across this spoiler and it left a bad taste in my mouth but I wanted to see what others thought of it.

Like you, Jonetta, I was saddened to learn Jo's fate because I had come to like her too and to appreciate the fact that both she and Cork had given their marriage a second chance and were making it work.

And on another level, Jo is now the second female character killed off - fridged (looks like poor Molly was The Disposable Woman) - for the main purpose of driving Cork's pain. Very disappointing.

[Jonetta]

Very well put, Veronica. It’s taken some of the luster off of my enthusiasm for the series. Can’t believe how much this depressed me.

I’m going to send a question to the author.

[Veronica]

If you get an answer, I'd be very interested to hear it.

[Jonetta]

I just sent it. I’ll post his response here as I told him I was asking on behalf of the participants here.

[Veronica]

Great, thanks!

[Jonetta]

Veronica, we discussed this more in Question M.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Jonetta]

Here’s his response:

“Dear Jonetta,

This is the question I'm sure to be asked at an event. And here is my response:

When I finished the first draft of the manuscript, Jo was still alive, because that's what I wanted. Then I read that first draft as a whole piece for the first time--as I always do, to make sure that the necessary elements are all there, that the arc of the story is good, that the beginning works and the ending works. The ending didn't work. It was the ending I wanted, but I could see that it wasn't the ending the story wanted. Every good storyteller understands that at some point a story takes on an energy of its own. If you're a good storyteller, you have to step back and let the story go where it wants to go. So I rewrote the ending as it now stands, knowing it would disappoint and sadden many readers, and not knowing at all where that would leave Cork and his children, or where that would leave me and the series.

Life sometimes delivers wounds that we wish we didn't have to feel, and the question in the end always is how do we heal. The journey toward healing that follows in the several books after Heaven's Keep is worth taking, I believe.

I hope that helps.

Blessings,
Kent”

[Veronica]

It almost makes me more sad to know that Jo lived in the first draft. That ending would've worked for me. Thanks for posting his answer, Jonetta.

[Lauren]

I haven't read the series and I don't really "buy" that answer from Krueger. Nevertheless, it was really good of him to reply and it is his story and his characters so he is entitled to kill them off if he wants to.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into the first book even though it has elements I like.

[Angela]

I was saddened with Jo dying in this one. It made it a tough read. I was a bit bummed that I felt it was highly likely given the book blurb. It hasn't put me off the series, but it's taken some of my enthusiasm away.

Interesting to read Kent's reply though. Given the story, it does seem like it would have been impossible for Jo to live, even if I wanted her to.