Bridge to Eternity – Romola Farr / #Extract #BlogTour @rararesources @RomolaFarr

 

 

Audrey, recently widowed, is not saying why she left her comfortable home in the south of England to move into an old school boarding house on the edge of a moor. Tina, a young estate agent, is concerned for Audrey’s safety as she believes the folklore about a schoolboy who never went home. Property developers, annoyed at losing a site ripe for demolition, make plans to encourage Audrey to sell. Malcolm, a charming widower, brings a welcome light into Audrey’s life until it shines into a very dark corner…

 

 

Extract

Introducing a new character to a reader whilst still progressing the story requires great skill. There was a time when authors would stop the plot to describe a character but readers are way too impatient these days. Character descriptions have to be included almost subliminally and I think that Romola Farr introduces us to Tina Small particularly well. (Merlin Ward, Wildmoor Press)

CHAPTER TWO

Tina Small hated carrying clients in her white VW Golf, but it was part of the job. She was usually good at relaxed chit-chat but on this occasion she had something to hide and the elegant woman sitting beside her as they drove through the former mill town was tugging at her usually immune, estate agent’s conscience. How had she let this happen? She should have sent a taxi. She had broken her own golden rule and allowed Audrey Willatt to penetrate her tough enamelled veneer. Never like a client, her boss had warned her, and she never had, until now.

‘Has the sale of the boarding house provoked much local interest?’ Audrey asked, breaking the long silence.

Tina felt the blood rushing up her neck and spilling out across her cheeks. Thankfully, she had applied plenty of make-up so, with luck, her client wouldn’t notice. Blushing was for losers and she had worked hard to train her brain not to do it. At one point she’d gone to a hypnotist but, ultimately, it was Tina’s determination that had won through – until now. Her body felt hot as blood, pumped by guilt, flooded into surface veins, undoing years of hard work. She was a blusher and always would be. Fortunately, her hot ears were hidden by her blonde hair, but she could not hide her discordant breathing.

Her mother had suffered from panic attacks for years. Was this one? She had to get a grip. She knew she was smart, too smart to go to university.

‘Why should I waste my life and money going to a school for grown-ups when I can get on with my career right now?’ she had told her disappointed parents.

Now, twenty-one and with three years’ working for what she had helped become the area’s leading sales and lettings agency, she was experiencing her first major trauma.

Thank you, Romola Farr and Rachel’s Random Resources

 

About the author 

“I started my working life in the theatre and was very lucky to find myself on the West End stage in a hit play at the age of 16. My career and life nearly ended there as I was knocked down by a car on the way home one Saturday night. I recovered and went on to be quite a successful photographic model. Later, when that part of my career did die, I turned to writing and made quite a good living writing screenplays, making films, and writing advertising copy for a marketing company. A few years ago I entered a short-story competition and fell in love with prose and knew I had to tell my own story within a fictional framework. At the moment I am hiding behind a nom de plume.”

 

Social Media Link

@RomolaFarr   

 

Book Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bridge-Eternity-Romola-Farr-ebook/dp/B07PPPTQZ5

US – https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Eternity-Romola-Farr-ebook/dp/B07PPPTQZ5

Bridge to Eternity – Romola Farr / #Interview #BlogTour #LoveBooksGroupTours @RomolaFarr

 

Audrey leaves her comfortable life in the south of England to move into an old school boarding house on the edge of a moor. She is welcomed by locals who are unaware of the
real reason she has come to their small town.

Tina, an estate agent, feeling guilty for selling the house is worried about Audrey’s safety as she believes the folklore about a schoolboy who never went home.

Property developers are angry at losing a site that is ripe for development and has plans for Audrey’s future.

Malcolm, a widower, was Audrey’s Good Samaritan at the end of her long train journey and much to his surprise their brief encounter becomes a passionate romance, until one fateful
night…

 

 

Q&A

***

When and where do you prefer to write?

I used to write in a study at the top of our house but when the internet / broadband really took off in about 2005, I got lonely as I wasn’t just creating anymore, I was also fielding emails etc. Now my children are grown-up, I have a work area near our kitchen so that even if I am creating I can still be part of life in the house and not feel cut-off. Also, I wake very early and can write for a few hours, especially at the weekend, whilst the family is asleep.

– Do you have a certain ritual?

My ritual is getting as much done as possible in my head before approaching the laptop.

– Is there a drink or some food that keeps you company while you write?

Tea, coffee …and a glass of wine as a reward.

– What is your favourite book?

The most important series of books has to be Harry Potter. We spent a fortune buying our sons their own books, the audio tapes for the car, the toys, the bedding, the DVDs and, of course, seeing all the films. No book in my lifetime comes close to Harry Potter in terms of impact. Both my sons are readers and excellent spellers, thanks to Trojan work by J K Rowling.

– Do you consider writing a different genre in the future?

Drama is my genre laced with thrills, suspense, emotion and love.

– Do you sometimes base your characters on people you know?

Nearly always!

– Do you take a notebook everywhere in order to write down ideas that pop up?

I should do but I don’t. I let them percolate in my head – seems to work!

– Which genre do you not like at all?

Fantasy, superheroes, war, terrorism…

– If you had the chance to co-write a book. Whom would it be with?

Sandi Toksvig – she would bring out the best in me and although I would be in awe, I could still look down at her!

– If you should travel to a foreign country to do research, which one would you choose and why?

China… my grandfather was a Methodist missionary in China for fifteen years and there is a story to his life there and subsequent marriage that is begging to be told.

Thank you, Romola Farr and Love Books Tours Group.

 

About the author

Romola Farr first trod the boards on the West End stage aged sixteen and continued to work for the next eighteen years in theatre, TV and film – and as a photographic model. A trip to Hollywood led to the sale of her first screenplay and a successful change of direction as a screenwriter and playwright. Bridge To Eternity is her debut novel.

Romola Farr is a nom de plume.

romolafarr@gmail.com
@RomolaFarr
http://www.wildmoorpress.com