Almost Then

This paragraph was published a while back on the Paragraph Planet website. It is important to me because it captures the very moment two key characters from my second novel are born, on the page and in the story. It says so much about the people they are set to become in Almost Then.

Here I am… Twenty minutes after the birth of his sister Rathlin, Barra was thrust into his new world. When the forceps withdrew their grip on a neck thinner than the bark of a sprouting acorn Barra flopped lifelessly onto the bed, his mother pulling her legs towards her chin, pushing her back against the oak headboard engrained with voyages of other lives, her sticky hair clinging to its story like the branches of that big old tree.

So what’s the novel about? Well, here you go…

Almost Then follows the lives of twins Rathlin and Breacàn and explores their grief following the death of their parents when they were 12 years old. Despite their closeness, the twins have carved out lives in isolation of one other, having reacted differently to the same tragedy.  At the heart of the novel is the twins’ powerful bond, and the secrets and dangers surrounding their attempts to keep their beloved family home.

Set in Scotland and Ireland, this is a story embedded in the landscape, of a love and legacy destroyed by family inheritance and the enduring grief of parental loss.

Almost Then is published by Linen Press. I’m excited to share this story with you, readers.