Blog Archives
Love Them or Loathe Them
The Family Law Court in Lansborough become the battlegrounds for Alexis Smythe and her ex-partner Martin Thompson, as they try to sort out their differences surrounding their eight years twins, after their acrimonious separation. Alexis’s mother Danielle is a business partner in Greymoon Gardens Village, a future retirement village project being developed. Tensions have always simmered between the Foster and Thompson families since a disputed land deal two generations ago. While Alexis and Martin are slugging out in the courts, Denis Thompson explores the disputed bushland and discovers something that brings Alexis and Danielle into the ongoing feud between the two warring families.
Ian Bradshaw
Author, Ian Bradshaw, takes a few minutes to discuss his novel, Greymoon River Road. We talk about his personal inspiration for the characters and the disputed land deal in the novel.
I felt bad for Martin having to go through that mess with his ex-wife Alexis. What was your inspiration for those characters and their situation?
My son was involved in a similar experience. He represented himself in the Family Law Court, and my wife and I joined in the legal action, representing ourselves, trying to gain access to one of our grandchildren.
The characters in Greymoon River Road are very complex. What is your process for creating such in depth characters?
Obviously the characters are critical to the success of the book, as is engaging the reader to love them or loathe them in a process that slowly builds up as the book progresses. I don’t really like going into detailed physical descriptions of the characters, I prefer the readers to use their imagination.
Greymoon River Road is about a disputed land deal that happened a long time ago. How did this become the setting for your story?
Sometime ago a friend of mine purchased some acreage in bushland. He proceeded to have a house built on it. Just after it was finished it was discovered the house was built on the wrong land. He had actually purchased an adjacent property. A complex legal battle followed and he had a hollow victory in court.
You’ve written other books as well. How has your past writing experience helped you with writing Greymoon River Road?
Reading reviews and listening to advice from friends made me realize that entertaining the reader is the top priority, rather than getting carried away with telling the story in a manner that does not hold the reader’s interest. The choice of the name of the book is also critical, together with the cover.
Greymoon River Road
Oh, wow! This story elicited so many different emotions in me! Normally I’m strictly romance stories kind of girl, but I enjoyed reading this from start to finish. It was very well written. The characters all had depth and layers which are awesome. I felt bad for Martin having to go through that mess with his ex-wife Alexis and not being able to see his twins. That was horrible for him. I couldn’t imagine having to deal with that.
At first I thought Danielle was way too controlling and I couldn’t understand her intense hatred for Martin. The more I read the more I understood. I started to sympathize with her. It made sense why she was filled with such hatred. I would have probably reacted the same way. Betrayal eats at you like a poison. Though I had hoped she would come around if only to free herself of that hatred. Everyone deserves peace in their lives.
Arnold and Cindy’s love is what we all secretly want. To have someone love you for that long is amazing. To wake up knowing this person loves your flaws and all. Yeah, they struggled from time to time, but they stuck with each other through it all. What relationship doesn’t have its ups and downs? That’s how the strongest relationships are built. The situation between Jeremy and Nana was sad. I kept expecting him to mess up and say something.
The more I read and found out about the feuding between the Thompson family and the Fosters the more I was torn between siding with one or the other. They were both wronged. To keep it going for eighty years though was a little much. They put their own children through something that had nothing really to do with them. In a way, I get it and in a way I think it should have been settled. Just like Maree, Justin, and Martin did in the end. That gesture showed how they had grown as individuals. Something I feel their parents should have been able to do.
Overall I liked how each character was in some way, shape, or form intertwined with each other. The way they interacted was very believable. They acted just like a normal family or small town would. They had drama, suspense, murder, love, and family togetherness. Then add in an 80-year long family feud and it all makes for an amazing story.
The author, Ian Bradshaw, did an excellent job of pulling emotions from everywhere. With every turn of the page you discovered a new twist. When you thought you knew what was going to happen something changed that made you rethink. Just when you think this character is going to be the one you cannot stand something is revealed that makes you understand why they are the way the are. May not have started out as my normal read, but I am glad I read it.
Pages: 318 | ISBN: 9781742845432
LITERARY TITAN 