A MESSAGE FROM JOY ELLIS

Ellie McEwan

For some unknown reason, as soon as my characters have a name, they seem to arrive in my head as the complete article. Way back, when the first book was written, I very quickly felt that I knew Ellie well. This was a new experience, and I remember wondering if was like this for other writers. It took a while to realise that if they were real to me, then I’d be able to convince the reader that they could like, love, or hate this person, because they were believable.

Ellie herself is an amalgam of some wonderful people that I’ve met during my life, and especially at a point where things were difficult and I felt that I needed help. At that point I stepped away from allopathic medicine and turned to complimentary healers, an amazing life coach, and an assortment of other avenues to help get my life to a better place. I embraced meditation; met aura readers, numerologists, colour therapists, reflex zone therapists, and spoke to so many incredibly gifted people. Hence I was able to bring all of these talents together in the Cavendish-Mayer Clinic. Bottom line is that if you have an enquiring mind, you do not get to my age without realising that life isn’t black and white, and we are all very different, and some souls have awesome talents that are far from ‘mainstream’.

The thought of writing the third book, and being aware that I had to step back in time, was a little daunting, until I started it… and I was immediately back in Surrey with Ellie and Michael. Like all true friends, you don’t have to live in each other’s pockets, and gaps in time means nothing. The moment you see them or talk to them, everything is as it was… that’s real friendship. The same went for these characters, and I was never tempted to alter them, or write in a different way. A new slant on Book Three would change the whole feel of it, and I didn’t want that for Ellie and her friends.

As it turned out, it was an extremely rewarding process, and I enjoyed writing this book enormously. A little secret for our lovely readers; one strand in this book comes from a true occurrence, and it’s something that I will never understand, but has left me thinking… Hamlet was right… reality holds wonders and mysteries beyond human comprehension or established beliefs.

Do hope you enjoy reading it!

Joy