I’m on the blog tour today for Seas Of Snow by Kerensa Jennings. This is a book I have heard a lot about and I can’t wait to read it.
Seas Of Snow was published in paperback on the 5th April 2018. You can purchase a copy here.
I have a character spotlight on Uncle Joe to share with you, but first here is a little bit about the book.
Book Blurb:
In 1950s England, six-year-old Gracie Scott lives with her Mam and next door to her best friend Billy; she has never known her Da. When her Uncle Joe moves in, his physical abuse of Gracie’s mother starts almost immediately. But when his attentions wander to Gracie, an even more sinister pattern of behavior begins.
As Gracie grows older she finds solace and liberation in books, poetry, and her enduring friendship with Billy, with whom she escapes into the poetic fantasy worlds they create. But will fantasy be enough to save Gracie? Just how far will Uncle Joe’s psychopathic behavior go?
The story weaves between these events and the visits Billy pays many years later to an old friend, confused and dying in a hospice. It is here that he is forced to revisit the events of the past.
Character Spotlight:
Who is your character?
The character I am choosing to put in the spotlight today is Uncle Joe.
The inspiration for his/her character?
Although SEAS OF SNOW is set through the Second World War and in post-War fifties England, the story was inspired by a contemporary crime case.
I led the BBC News coverage of the investigation into a school caretaker who had murdered two little girls in Soham. I worked closely with Cambridgeshire Constabulary during the investigation as they gathered evidence – and I saw first-hand the brutality of the perpetrator’s crimes. I also got an extraordinary insight into the mind and motives of a psychopath.
The creation of your character?
Although my story is very different in many ways to the case I covered, the emotions it inspired in me is something I channelled closely in the creation of Uncle Joe. Dealing with the evidence associated with the case triggered in me everything from deep sadness to revulsion; from horror to disgust; from abject heartbreak to despair. I wrote the book partly as a means of catharsis. I wanted to explore whether evil is born or made.
Because SEAS OF SNOW uses perspective shift throughout the book, there are many passages written from Uncle Joe’s perspective. I found it an eviscerating and upsetting experience to write those passages. I had to use my imagination to synthesise what I had learned through my psychology studies, researching the behaviours and mindsets of psychopaths, and what I knew myself from the particular case that originally inspired SEAS OF SNOW. I would often break away afterwards, and find myself crying. But it was important I pushed myself to create something authentic and believable. I was making a monster, and I needed my readers to believe he was real.
Can you tell us a little about your character?
The story of SEAS OF SNOW is a sort of fairy tale with archetypes of good versus evil. The good tends to manifest as sweet, generous, kind. As for the evil…. let’s just say Uncle Joe is a very bad man. Through the book we learn about some of the aspects of his childhood and background that have shaped him. And we gradually discover more about the depravity of which he is capable, and the way he deludes himself. Some of his actions are unconscionable.
Does he/she have any similarities with anyone ‘real’?
What is fascinating when you study the psychology of psychopaths is you realise there are so many traits they have that you might recognise in people around you. The ability to lie, and manipulate. Hide in plain sight, like the school caretaker Ian Huntley did when he was interviewed by the media at the time of the disappearance of the two little girls in Soham.
Psychopaths are unable to experience empathy, but they can be very good at creating the illusion of empathy.
If so .. tell us more!
The truth is there are lots of people who are psychopaths – some of them are extremely high functioning, talented individuals. Some are even in high powered positions across society. What interests me is that not everyone who is a psychopath goes on to commit monstrous acts. I wrote SEAS OF SNOW partly to explore that dichotomy.
What do you like most about your character?
I deliberately made Uncle Joe a devastatingly attractive man with a beautiful body, handsome face and gorgeous voice. I wanted to create that sense of us not quite being able to believe our own eyes. It is very easy to apply fairy tale logic to real life… beauty equals goodness.
The brutal reality is that evil comes in all sorts of forms… it can shape-shift to suit its own intent. Uncle Joe has exquisite green eyes you could lose yourself in, and a physical attractiveness people find hard not to notice.
It was important to me to bring that dimension to life to help expose how our perceptions can be deceived; and to give the story a fairy tale quality where happy-ever-afters feel possible… but darkness often prevails.
What do you dislike about your protagonist’s character?
Gosh… where to start… the way his mind works… the pleasure he gains from causing pain… the way he strikes fear into people… the way he is able to convince himself and delude himself about certain things…
Would you and your character be friends ‘in real life’?
Never.
What’s Next?
In my next novel, there is another antagonist. The book is called EDGE IF RAIN and it is inspired by another case I worked on when I was a journalist and TV producer….. watch this space…
About The Author:
Kerensa Jennings is a storyteller, strategist, writer, producer and professor.
Kerensa’s TV work took her all over the world, covering everything from geo-politics to palaeontology, and her time as Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost coincided with the life-changing events of 9/11.
The knowledge and experience she gained in psychology by qualifying and practising as an Executive Coach has only deepened her fascination with exploring the interplay between nature and nurture and with investigating whether evil is born or made – the question at the heart of Seas of Snow. As a scholar at Oxford, her lifelong passion for poetry took flight.
Kerensa lives in West London and over the last few years has developed a career in digital enterprise.
Follow The Blog Tour:
If you liked the sound of Seas Of Snow from this Character spotlight, do follow the blog tour and find out what these other fabulous bloggers are saying.
Over The Rainbow Blog 