A number of people have asked me – “You’ve been banging on about this book for a while, but what’s it actually about?”
Trouble is, if I write a comprehensive plot summary (which I will need to do for publishing purposes, but not for general consumption) and post that up, to my mind it gives the game away. What’s the point in reading a book when you know what the outcome is?
Having said that, I do want to give people enough flavour of the story so that they are interested enough to read it, and, one hopes, to buy a copy.
Perhaps if I explain ‘why’ I’ve written this and some of the major themes I’m exploring that will be sufficient for now.
The seeds of this book started back in the 1970s. I was taken along to my local village church (a classic Anglican Norman affair) for many years. At the age of 6 I was already a confirmed geek, and into science and space in a big way. By the age of 8, I’d figured out that what I was reading in science books and encyclopedias wasn’t jiving very well with what was being read out on Sunday mornings. I distinctly remember saying to the rector, “I’m going to find a way of making both of these make sense.” The reaction, as I recall, was polite amusement.
I found myself in a variety of churches and religious groups as I grew up. Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic. You name it, somewhere I’ve got a a membership card. Add to this Christian unions, at school and university. A huge variety of experiences, some positive, some negative, some plainly baffling, some scary.
My love of science has always been with me too, rankling with faith and belief and occasionally coming to blows. I don’t think it’s being to self-congratulatory to say that I have a half reasonable brain, and I always objected to having to ‘leave it on the shelf’ for the sake of a neat and tidy piece of religious reasoning. Many folks like things to be black and white, but I don’t think anything is; merely ’shades of grey’. I watch with interest, and some incredulity, the machinations of the Creationism and Intelligent Design schools of thought.
Yet, some Christian organisations are very draconian on what they believe, and the inflexibility demonstrated by some did force me into a choice between family and belief in the bible as a whole. I chose family. That was a tough one.
I’ve seen the church at large do hugely worthwhile things. Selfless giving for worthy causes, people who will stay with you in the dark small hours of a crisis, or just offer a simple “Let me help.” Friendship, companionship and life renewing change. I’ve also seen the dark sider: dogma, intimidation, politics, manipulation and gross injustice, bigotry, racism and the like.
With the birth of my own children, and increasing responsibilities at work and home, I was forced to take a good long hard look at what I did believe and didn’t believe. It takes an awful lot of effort and heartache to do this, as people have certain expectations of you, built up over years, and if you are planning a change of direction, it can come as a bit of a shock. Friends who really are friends stand by you, others disown you or betray you. Sad, but true.
So what is the book about? It’s the best and worst of church, religion and faith. The best and worst of science. It’s about wrestling with faith in a complex world. It’s about indoctrination, dogma and manipulation, even outright lies. It’s about family, expectations, mis-communication and betrayal. And it’s about love and hate.
It’s based on some real situations, and though there are no ‘real’ characters in here, recognisable traits from people I’ve met will doubtless be detectable, both laudable and otherwise. The characters in the story are deliberately clashed together to create conflicting situations that demand a painful resolution. At times I’ve felt I’ve had to scale back on the story in order to keep within the bounds of credibility, only to be confronted with a worst excess on an almost daily basis. It’s possible you may read this and think – “That can’t happen!” Let me assure you, it can; it does.
Religion and science may or may not be compatible, so I guess my book is my way of exploring what I think about all of this and the battle we all face in trying to seek real ‘truth’, despite the influences around us. Hopefully that gives you a bit of a clue…
I’ve responded here as I feel that I can babble on a little bit more freely than on the Facebook page!
I’m really intrigued with your explanation of how your book came to be. So many of us have gone through the same type of journey with, I’m sure, many different results.
I went to church fairly regularly during my early 20’s, but once the little ones were arriving, I didn’t bother.
I had come to my own comfort level concerning various biblical happenings that stretched my sense of logic, considering that I was about 9 or 1o when I told my father who wasn’t yet in the church that if Adam and Eve had only two sons, then where did all the other generations come from. He simply said that as there was no written history, people told the their children about their ancestry in “tales” that symbolized their understanding at that time. That made sense to me and I applied it to all the other things that weren’t “logical”. I’m not much of a “literal” bible reader, and the only time I was persuaded to go to a bible study I arged the whole time and never went back.
Years later Danielle asked why I went back to church when my children were young. My answer was” for an hour I get to think to myself while someone else i.e. the Sunday School, looks after the little darlings!!! She figured that was good enough for her too!!
I’m really looking forward to your journey, twisted into a novel, especially one set in a quaint english village!! I’m a sucker for the location!!
I think your explanation above, perhaps not in so much detail would serve better as a “summary” of the book that a description of the story itself!! Good luck!!!
Love to all the family,
Olga
P.S. I warned you I was going to babble!!!
Jesus had me for a sunbeam during my late teen years, and it took some real bravery on my part to stand up and say that after some years I’d realized I didn’t actually believe a word of it.
I’m really looking forward to read the book !!!