Interview with a main character: MollySo, Molly, I’ve finally tracked you down for a chat. You’re a very difficult lady to get hold of, you know.Molly: True - it’s the kids, and the bistro ... and the garden’s a mess since Jake went ... and then there are the letters ... oh, forget I said that, please. I was just thinking aloud. What did you want to talk to me about?Well, I was going to start with the bistro and how you’re coping here on your own without Jake, but the letters sound much more intriguing?Molly: Vicious, dreadful lies. There’s no truth at all in what they say. Tom’s just a friend. No, no - let’s go with your first idea. The bistro is ticking over very nicely. I’ve got a manager in and she’s very good so I don’t need to be there - the children keep me busy and there’s my job, so I can’t be everywhere. The cooking was Jake’s big passion but I think his staff knew him well enough to be able to carry on in the same way. It’s not the same though, obviously.No, it must be very sad. Of course the children must be missing him badly?Molly: Yes, I guess so. They’ve been a bit tearful but he wasn’t around an awful lot, what with running the business and everything that involved.Have you plans of your own for the future?Molly: Oh no ... well ... I’ve been thinking I might try something else instead of working in schools. Some of the children I see really hate having music lessons. I got kicked again last week.Really? Is there no control in those places?Molly: It’s not that. The pupils are all ones with problems. They get angry I guess. But I’ve pretty much had enough of being sworn at. It’s time for a change.And along the same lines (I hope you don’t mind me asking this) do you ever see yourself meeting someone else? I know it’s early days.Molly: I don’t think Hattie and Theo and Max would like that, do you? Sam certainly wouldn’t. And the neighbours would talk. But when I talk to Tom, I do sometimes wish ... anyway, it’s much too soon. I’m going now - it was good to meet you, but I haven’t got anything else to say right now. Maybe we’ll meet again when my life is back on track. Whenever that might be ...
Extract:
What kind of man would brave the bitter cold to paint such fresh, clean
pictures day after day? Molly had stood in the shelter of the Ferrymead-on-Sea
lighthouse on that first morning, muffled to the eyeballs in scarves and a
woolly hat, but Tom’s short blond curls were unprotected by any sort of
headgear and he had nothing thicker than a battered leather jacket to protect
him from the icy east coast wind. Molly had wondered whether to offer him some
coffee from her flask, but had chickened out. He’d looked as if interruptions
would definitely not be welcome.
‘Mum,
look at that man you were just talking to – he’s very brave, isn’t he?’ said
Hattie as Tom, reaching the concrete of the promenade, picked up speed and
reclaimed the wheelchair that he’d left chained to a lamp post.
‘Hattie,
you’re so wet. And you’d better not let him hear you say stuff like that,
either,’ her sister replied, giving her a shove.
Hattie
righted herself and glared at Theo. ‘Why not?’
‘Duh,
it’s obvious. He’ll think you pity him ‘cos he can’t walk without sticks. Even
I know you should never do that.’
Hattie
stuck out her bottom lip and watched Tom bowl away out of sight. ‘He’s fast
though, isn’t he, Mum? He could do Paralympics or something,’ she said after a
moment.
‘He
really gets a move on,’ agreed Molly, trying to banish the unfamiliar ripples
of lust that were making her slightly breathless. ‘Come on, we said we’d go and
have an ice cream with your dad at the bistro. He’ll think we’ve abandoned
him.’
They
clambered over the last heap of stones and began to wander along the promenade
towards the small restaurant that Jake had opened when the family had migrated
to the coast last summer. Molly had been dubious about the move for lots of
reasons, but a clean break had been necessary after what had happened between
Molly and Jake. And by and large, it had been successful. Hattie and Theo had
soon made new friends, and Molly had landed a job teaching music around the
local schools, thanks to her aptitude both for playing a range of instruments
and for ignoring the fact that most of her pupils would rather be doing
something – anything – else.
‘Is
Daddy having dinner with us tonight? Only he promised he’d help me make a kite
for my homework. He said he’d do it yesterday, too,’ grumbled Max, kicking a
discarded drink can and making a nearby elderly lady jump.
Molly
apologised automatically to the lady and said that, no, Daddy would probably be
working again tonight. She fought a sudden urge to go after Tom and ask him if
he ever felt as if life was passing him by. He obviously wasn’t a man built for
self-pity. It was probably only people like herself, blessed with a lovely
family and a house by the sea, who indulged in such thoughts.
Sighing, Molly put thoughts of Tom firmly out of her mind and headed for
her husband. If she was going to have lustful thoughts, they ought to be about
Jake. But what was she supposed to do when the thought of sex with her husband
was about as enticing as a bag of cold chips?
Blurb:
Suddenly bereaved, Molly
White realises that she has never really known her feisty husband Jake when
random boxes begin to appear through the post, each one containing a
tantalising clue to the secrets of Jake and Molly’s past. Someone who knows
them both well, for reasons of their own, has planned a trail of discovery. The
clues seem to be designed to change Molly’s life completely, leading her around
Britain and then onwards to
rural France and deepest Bavaria.
Meanwhile, waiting in
the wings is Tom, a charismatic artist who runs a gallery in the same town.
Strong, independent and wheelchair-bound from the age of fifteen, he leads a
solitary life and has no idea how devastatingly attractive he is to women. When
Tom meets curvy, beautiful and funny Molly, he knows that she is his dream
woman, but she seems way out of his orbit until the boxes start to weave their
spell and the two of them are thrown right out of their comfort zones.
Little Boxes is a story
of love in a variety of guises - mother-love, unrequited passion, infatuation
and the shadow-love held in memories that refuse to go away.
Author
Bio:
Celia J Anderson spends most of her spare time
writing in as many different genres as possible, including children’s fiction.
In her other life, she’s Assistant Headteacher at a small Catholic primary
school in the Midlands and loves teaching literature (now comfortingly called
English again but still the best subject in the world.)
She tried a variety of random jobs before
discovering that the careers advisor at secondary school was right, including
running crèches, childminding, teaching children to ride bikes (having omitted
to mention she couldn’t do it herself) and a stint in mental health care. All
these were ideal preparation for the classroom and provided huge amounts of
copy for the books that were to come.
Celia enjoys cooking and eating in equal
measures, and thinks life without wine would be a sad thing indeed. She is
married, with two grown up daughters who have defected to the seaside. One day
she plans to scoop up husband and cats and join them there.
Links:
Giveaway:
hellooooooooooo x the book sounds great ,just got back into the life of reading so would love a chance to win
ReplyDeleteHi Celia. Congratulations on the new book release.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed reading the excerpt.
Love cathy