Friday 1 June 2018

The Creation of 'A Young Man's Dreams'


Many years ago when living in Florida I became involved in Historic Preservation. I could tell you lots of tales about that..... but I won't.

Why would an Englishwoman interest herself in American Historic Preservation? I was already engrossed in the history of the town where I was living, having spent hours and hours in the reference library reading every book on the subject which they had. I then went on to learn the history of the Sunshine State. Very mixed, from people who cared about the ecology and welfare of it to the ones who were only in the development for profit. (Were? I can think of at least one person who lives there who still is.)

I decided that I wanted to write a book set in the early years of the 20th century about the development of a fictitious coastal town. And created Joseph Montgomery, a larger-than-life character who helped with the town's development. And, yes, he did line his pockets.

But he needed to be a sympathetic character. And he needed a background. Well, his back story just grew and grew and grew. And I found I had a saga beginning with his childhood in the circus. His family were Spanish acrobats but, ironically, young Jose was unco-ordinated. Fortunately an American school teacher found him and took him under her wing so that he learned to speak, read and write English.

A Young Man's Dream is the opening of this saga which takes us to the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914 which, although the US wasn't officially involved at that stage, it did affect many people living in the States.

If this book sells well I will continue on to Book 2 which takes the story through the WW1 and on into the Twenties. It is up to you, my dear readers.

A Young Man's Dreams is available on Amazon in both Kindle and Paperback. It is also available on KOBO.



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