Are we rewarded and punished for what we do?
If ‘karma’ really does exist, I wish it were a little more obvious. It would be great to think good deeds will be rewarded and bad deeds punished. Too often criminals get off scot-free and truly good people never get a break. But maybe karma is just not obvious to us. Maybe, at a deeper level (or in another life if you believe in this possibility) what we do will be repaid in ways we are not even aware of.
In all three of my novels, karma is clearly at work. In The Way Things Fall, it takes fifteen years to catch up with Rachel, the protagonist, and punish her for a cowardly decision she made when she was young. In my second novel, In Love With The Night, karma forces many characters to fight with their conscience and take surprising paths to put things right.
And in my most recent novel, A Long Walk With Fate, karma plays out against the backdrop of Ma’at and Isfet, the Ancient Egyptian concepts of justice and chaos, causing one guilty character, Gabi, to be both the architect of her own punishment and the catalyst for new relationships and cathartic experiences for the people she has wronged.
So many soothing and enchanting vistas
Tuscany features prominently in the second half of my novel, The Way Things Fall. It’s where the character, Steven, goes to heal some old wounds and discover his true talent as a painter.
This photo is San Gimignano, one of the many magical little towns in Tuscany and the inspiration for the view Steven has from the ridge near his home when he walks each morning to greet the sunrise.
Throughout Tuscany you can’t help but be entranced by the colours – the lilac sky, the terracotta buildings, the stately Cypress trees, the vineyards stretching as far as the eye can see.
If you have never been, it’s definitely one for the bucket list.
How they deal with the fateful events that shape their lives
Over my three novels, three completely different women come onto the stage.
Rachel Covelli, in The Way Things Fall is a quiet, thoughtful person in her early twenties, happy with her own company and not part of the social, party-going scene usually expected of someone her age. Before she develops her career, she falls under the influence — some might say the spell — of Karl Gustav, an astronomer-Egyptologist who taps into a deeper part of her psyche. She feels he is the only man who has ever truly known her. Later, as a successful art critic, she develops greater self-awareness and self-confidence but her attraction to Karl proves to be deep-rooted and inescapable.
Amina Gamel, in In Love With The Night is only fifteen when we first meet her. She is poor, with no hope or ambition for the future. When taken in by a wealthy hotel owners, she lives a life of gratitude, very much in the shadows, and nurses a crush on one of two brothers in the family. It takes a long time for Amina to realize the power of her physical beauty and beguiling personality.
Gabriella Mazhar, in A Long Walk With Fate is in her early thirties. She is a bitter woman, believing her family does not value her contribution to the business. Eventually, this bitterness hardens into a calculated need for a husband and child and a plan to take over the entire enterprise. As the story evolves, Gabi loses her moral compass and her grip on reality.