Apr 12
8
At the heart of every good book is a love story – that’s what I think – and feel. Love eternal, love tested, love betrayed, loved survived, loved just once, or twice, or the third time around. First love and last love … yes, for me, love is the driving force of each novel I write and more often than not, that love in all its complexities, is tested. The book I am about to start writing now will take me nine months - the span of a human pregnancy. The baby grows, flourishes in the womb, just like a plot in my brain, hopefully fed by ‘feeling’; the unconscious mind and all its mysteries. I always see the last scene first. Odd that, but true. It flashes up once I send off the edits of the previous book (as I am disengaging from the characters and the world I have created around them.) Writers often say they are sad to see them go. But I can’t wait to get to the next world, to meet the new faces and acquaint myself with the trials, tribulations and most importantly, the love that is shared by the two central characters. So I am very honoured to be part and parcel of a publisher’s list, Simon&Schuster, who have produced, for me, the most beautiful record of a real-life love story. The book is called “Worth Fighting For” and is written by the wife of the late Patrick Swayze, Lisa Niemi. One of his movies, “Ghost” has remained my all time favourite. I was devastated to hear of his passing, but if the movie is anything to go by, the energy of this brilliant actor and devoted husband, is eternal and certainly comes through in the book. So if anyone is keen to read a unique love story, I would heartily recommend this. Here’s what Simon&Schuster have to say about Lisa’s story.
“Lisa Niemi and Patrick Swayze first met as teenagers at his mother’s dance studio. He was older and just a bit cocky; she was the gorgeous waif who refused to worship the ground he walked on. It didn’t take long for them to fall in love. Their thirty-four year marriage — which they explored together in The Time of My Life — was a uniquely passionate partnership.
Now, for the first time, Lisa will share what it was like to care for her husband as he battled Stage IV pancreatic cancer, and will describe his last days when she simply tried to keep him comfortable. She writes searingly about her grief in the aftermath of Patrick’s death, and candidly discusses the challenges that the past fourteen months without him have posed.
But while this is an emotionally honest and unflinching depiction of illness, death, and loss, it is also a hopeful and life-affirming exploration of the power of the human spirit. Lisa shows that no matter how dark the prospect of another day may seem, there are always reserves of strength to call upon, and the love shared between two people will never truly die.”
And yes, I truly believe this. And hope that in some small way, each of the Rivers novels are able to explore the theme that all life is energy, and that energy goes on in all forms, eternally.
Lisa’s book WORTH FIGHTING FOR
Carol’s latest novel (May 2012) EAST END JUBILEE
