EastEndGranny
Firstly, yes Granny activist, does Joan have a life? I hadn't really thought about that. I did wonder what she was going to do when Angela and family left to live in Aderlaide.
When I was about 3/4 of the way through perhaps slightly more there seemed to be a lot of unanswered questions and I didn't feel there were enough pages left to answer them all and I was anticipating a poor ending but was pleasantly surprised. It didn't fizzle out. Well done Monica. I ended up feeling a bit sorry for Lindy. Monica, did you consciously not let all the characters have a happy ending? On reflection going over to Ireland and starting to 'live' seemed a much better choice for her. Have you stayed out in the outback? I've read that every year there are fatal accidents when spiders fall out of the car sun visors. I thought that was really clever using that in your plot.
I finished them book a few days ago and am still missing it.
Thanks for all your questions, EastEndGranny. Joan does indeed have a full and busy life, but for the purposes of the plot, I only needed to show her interactions with the Gillespies, not with her own family. Women in the outback are among the most resilient and independent I have ever met, so I feel sure Joan would cope very well after Angela and her family move away. I suspect she will also make a number of visits to Adelaide to see them, and also continue to visit Victoria and Fred on Errigal.
Re the question of happy endings – I want my stories to feel as realistic as possible, and sadly, it’s not always possible for everyone to have a completely happy ending. What I try to do is give everyone a hopeful ending, so that the reader can close the book feeling that, even though all the characters have faced difficulties, they have emerged a little stronger and wiser – in most cases – and that they will forge on with their lives.
Re the outback setting – yes, I have visited it many times. I grew up just a few hours away from Hawker and the Flinders Ranges, so I know the whole area well. I have also seen more spiders and snakes than I would like to remember. The ‘spider falling out of the car sun visor’ happened to me once, to my horror, so that scene was easy (if unpleasant!) to write. Fortunately, I was able to pull over to the side of the road without incident, unlike poor Angela…