The Story Behind the Story ... by Eva Glyn

Posted on 22nd July, 2021

The Missing Pieces of Us, the debut novel by Eva Glyn, was published on July 21st.

Eva writes emotional women’s fiction inspired by beautiful places and the stories they hide. She loves to travel, but finds inspiration can strike just as well at home or abroad.

She cut her teeth on just about every kind of writing (radio journalism, advertising copy, PR, and even freelance cricket reporting) before finally completing a full length novel in her forties. The Missing Pieces of Us is her first novel as Eva Glyn, and will be followed by The Olive Grove later this summer.

Eva lives in Cornwall, although she considers herself Welsh, and has been lucky enough to have been married to the love of her life for twenty-five years. She also writes as Jane Cable.

Here, Eva shares the story behind the story . . . .

* * * *

I wrote The Missing Pieces of Us a long time ago, and even then it had been a while brewing.

 

The starting point for the book was visiting the tree in the woods above the River Hamble, where the children leave their letters and the fairies, elves and wee folk who live there reply. And the children have their own way of saying thank you. Or please.

 

The oak stood on a rise just above the path, not too tall or wide but graceful and straight, its trunk covered in what I can only describe as offerings – pieces of ribbon, daisy chains, a shell necklace, a tiny doll or two, and even an old cuckoo clock.”

 

It must have been in the spring of 2010. 2009 had been my annus horribilis, with my husband having a major health scare, me ending up in hospital with blood poisoning, and a close friend having a breakdown so massive they absented themselves from the world for most of the year. The walk above the banks of the Hamble, bluebells lining the way on either side, and the sight of the tree ahead, seemed to me a sign of renewal, of new beginnings. But I knew it had stories to tell.

 

But the initial scene, where Izzie sees Robin as a homeless man in Winchester, was already written, in my head at least. The Christmas before we had gone to the city early one Sunday to visit the Christmas market and beforehand had had a coffee in Caffe Nero, which is opposite the medieval buttercross. As we sat inside, watching the homeless men gather there, a thought occurred to me – a thought so strong the inner author recognised it as an opening scene – and as we sipped our skinny lattes a character sprang to life in my head.

 

Inside the café, Claire sits me down at the nearest table while she queues for our drinks. She’ll be gone a while. I unbutton my coat and spread it over the back and arms of the low leather chair, sliding into its silky lining. I close my eyes but I can still hear Christmas: instrumental carols through the chatter. A face drifts across my memory… a pair of intense hazel eyes. No. It was twenty years ago.”

 

Now I had a place with a story, and a character with a story, and as is the way with these things, they became stronger and stronger in my head. But unlike Susanna, I write my books directly onto my computer, so much of the actual writing of what was then The Faerie Tree and is now The Missing Pieces of Us was done in my study in our cottage in West Sussex.

 

From the calculator on my desk you can tell I was still working as an accountant (which I did for a while even after we moved to Cornwall in 2017). The gladioli and sweet peas had just been brought up from our garden by my husband, and the photos on the wall were of our Cornish holiday home and of the property that inspired my debut novel, The Cheesemaker’s House. Which is of course another story entirely.

 

* * * *

 

The Missing Pieces of Us:

An emotional and page-turning family saga perfect for fans of Barbara O’Neal, Amanda Prowse, and Susanne O’Leary!

‘Full of mystery and magic’ Heidi Swain

There are three versions of the past – hers, his, and the truth.

When Robin Vail walks back into widow Isobel O’Briain’s life decades after he abruptly left it, the dark days since her husband’s unexpected passing finally know light. Robin has fallen on hard times but Izzie and her teenage daughter Claire quickly remind him what it’s like to have family…and hope.

But Robin and Izzie are no longer those twenty-something lovers, and as they grow closer once more the missing pieces of their past weigh heavy. Now, to stop history repeating, Izzie and Robin must face facts and right wrongs…no matter how painful.

* * * *

Website: www.evaglynauthor.com

Facebook: Eva Glyn, Author 

Twitter: @JaneCable 

 

Amazon: Eva Glyn's author page

Make A Comment

Characters left: 2000

Comments (0)