In 2011, with Mesmerised not yet picked up by a publisher or literary agent, I was back to writing short stories. Several of them were chosen to be read at live events, others received publication in magazines and anthologies.
One in particular, entitled Blind Faith, based upon an anecdote told to me by my maternal grandmother when I was a child, got longlisted for the Cinnamon Press short story award in 2012. When I took it to my writing group they wanted to know what happens next.
God’s Will and the Yellow Dress is a fable. Like Mesmerised it is set in mid-nineteenth century. Unlike Mesmerised, it takes place in Russia, the part that is now Lithuania, and focuses on life in a Jewish shtetl, revealed to the reader from the perspective of certain members of the rabbi’s family after an incident of deceit and betrayal.
The rabbi's house
A journalist friend of mine who has read the novel said, ‘It’s about forgiveness’. I see it as a story about the imperfections of ordinary people who find love.