Marie is framed: Spoiler alert!

 


SPOILER ALERT!

IF YOU HAVE READ MY NOVEL "THE BELL THAT NEVER RANG" AND DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT MARIE, DO NOT READ THIS BLOG!

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, YOU SHOULD PROBABLY ORDER A COPY FROM AMAZON NOW, BEFORE READING THE BELOW!

IF YOU DECIDE TO READ ON YOU MAY WELL END UP KNOWING TOO MUCH!

But in defence of this post, many people have asked about the character Marie! 
Is she real? Did Jim really fall in love with her? Did theYoungs ever farm at Barry's Bay?  

I can now real that Marie is a totally fictitious character. I knew I wanted a love interest to hold the second part of the book together but I had no idea who she was or where she came from. Just after the first lockdown lifted in New Zealand (June 2020) I escaped to Christchurch and was pleased to find the art gallery was open. I had spent many hours wandering its floors before, it was like a comforting visit to an old friend.

It was there that I came across the painting 'Study (Woman in a Wide Black Hat) c.1913 by Raymond McIntyre. In an instant I decided that this was Marie! The date was exactly right and I think I had a name in mind by then. The character, her slightly rebellious, independent streak grew out of the attitude I saw in her eyes! The story of Marie and her initial encounters with Jim were written over the following week.

As for the dairy farm at Barry's Bay, there was a strong dairying presence in that area. There still is. The cheese factory still exists and produces excellent cheese that is "world famous in New Zealand". (https://www.barrysbaycheese.co.nz) Much of the geography of that area is still as I describe but the school has long since closed and coastal erosion is steadily changing the Onawe peninsula into an island. There would have been a dairy farm near where I describe but Alisdair Young and his family history is totally fictitious. The story about Captain Thomas is true and his bench remains on the Akaroa waterfront to this day.

So Marie must fade back into your imagination! Treat her kindly.

I have a print of the painting which I have recently framed 
(I also have a semi-commercial framing business:
She is hanging on the wall of my Welsh study at the moment and I swear the she is smirking at me!


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