Welcome to another of my occasional guest posts, this time by the wonderful Jennifer Wells, who gives us an insight into the theme of motherhood in her new book, The Liar.
First, here’s the stunning cover. Beautiful!
The Liar – A Story of Mothers and Daughters
‘A mother’s journey as she tries to find out what really happened to her daughter – a journey that unearths secrets from the past and ends in obsession.’
When I started to write The Liar, I imagined it as a simple mystery but, as the characters started to emerge, I found that another theme was developing – the relationship between mother and daughter.
The mother-daughter relationship is something that we all experience, even if what we are feeling is the absence of that bond.
The story actually features two mothers – Emma who idealises motherhood but has little experience of what it is really like, and Maud, who struggles with the reality of motherhood and would risk the love of her children just to make ends meet. Ruby, the little girl they appear to be fighting over, is torn between them. One of the women is her real mother – but which one?
As I was writing I started to think about, not only my own mother, but the relationship that I will develop with my infant daughter, and I started to question where my inspiration for the characters had come from.
So, am I Emma? In some ways, yes. I am fortunate enough never to have lost a child but, as a parent, I have a constant fear of losing my children and, when I think too deeply, I can feel Emma’s loss.
So, am I Maud? Well, like all mothers, I struggle day-to-day, work hard so that they can be fed and clothed and, as a consequence, neglect them at times.
But good mothers and perfect relationships do not inspire good stories and, as I work on my next novel, I find that new characters are emerging. They are very different from Maud, Emma and Ruby…but again, they are mother and daughter.
Terri Nixon 