Today I’m on the blog tour for Dancers in the Wind by Anne Coates and I’m sharing some words from Anne about friendship. Thanks to Kelly at Love Books Tours for the invite.
About the book
SHE IS HUNTING FOR THE TRUTH, BUT WHO IS HUNTING HER?
Freelance journalist and single mother Hannah Weybridge is commissioned by a national newspaper to write an investigative article on the notorious red light district in Kings Cross. There she meets prostitute Princess, and police inspector in the vice squad, Tom Jordan. When Princess later arrives on her doorstep beaten up so badly she is barely recognisable, Hannah has to make some tough decisions and is drawn ever deeper into the world of deceit and violence.
Three sex workers are murdered, their deaths covered up in a media blackout, and Hannah herself is under threat. As she comes to realise that the taste for vice reaches into the higher echelons of the great and the good, Hannah realises she must do everything in her power to expose the truth …. and stay alive.
Dancers in the Wind is available to purchase now – Amazon
Friendship reflected in fiction
In writing Dancers in the Wind I have enjoyed exploring my protagonist’s friendships or lack of them. Friendship fascinates me. What makes one relationship last decades while others fade within months? How do some friendships that begin so passionately fizzle out like a spent sparkler on bonfire night? I am still close friends with three people I was at school with – a tribute to their generosity! But like most people I have friends who had disappeared from my life sometimes in an inexplicable way leaving a sense of loss.
Friendship has to be cherished and nurtured but sometimes we are let down by people through no fault of our own. I’m sure I must have disappointed friends at times but I don’t think I’ve ever deliberately gone out of my way hurt anyone.
When I became a single parent, lots of so called friends faded away. Offers of babysitting were never realised. One couple just didn’t turn up for drinks – after I’d bust a gut to get the house and myself presentable. However others were incredibly supportive, kind and generous. Without them I might not have survived as well as I did.
In fact Hannah has few friends on whom she can rely: Linda and Dave, teachers who live nearby and have a small son; James, a hospital doctor and Joe a friend from university who runs a PR company but won’t stand for political office as he is gay and hasn’t “come out”. Each one is crucial to the plot but it is little wonder that DI Tom Jordan whom Hannah interviews at the beginning of the book finds a way into her affections as does the prostitute – but no spoilers!
One reviewer wrote: “I find I’ve grown quite fond of the prickly journalist. She’s not an easy person to love, being quite introverted and a little stand offish… but I think I can say with confidence we’ve become friends.”
My now grown-up daughter’s response was: “Oh she’s met you then!”
About the author
For most of her working life in publishing, Anne has had a foot in both camps as a writer and an editor, moving from book publishing to magazines and then freelancing in both. Having edited both fiction and narrative non-fiction, she has also had short stories published in a variety of magazines including Bella and Candis and is the author of seven non-fiction books. Telling stories is Anne’s first love and nearly all her short fiction as well as Dancers in The Wind and Death’s Silent Judgement began with a real event followed by a ‘what if …’. That is also the case with the two prize-winning 99Fiction.net stories: Codewords and Eternal Love.
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