By Invitation: Jacquelynn Luben and her novel, 'Lost Innocents'

I am delighted to welcome Surrey-based author, Jacquelynn Luben and her latest novel. 'Lost Innocents' to Writers at the Gate.

Read on to find out more...

About the book…

On a suburban Surrey estate, a dead man is found, next to an unconscious woman and then, a ten-year-old boy from the same estate goes missing. This is the first major story for the Hillside Gazette’s journalist, Nick Delmar.  

Is there a link? Was the boy a witness to a desperate struggle?  Nick soon finds himself drawn into the lives of the people involved, putting his career and life in jeopardy.

The book centres around Nick who has left his well-paid City job to write a novel, but who gets side-tracked into a modest job as a reporter and financial columnist on a local paper.  Nick, sometimes impulsive and occasionally thoughtless, has a knack for getting into troublesome situations.  In addition, the story focuses on ten-year-old Martin, who is being relentlessly bullied by a classroom thug in the time leading up to his disappearance.  His parents, Carol, and Gary, separated for eight years, are also important characters as the case of the lost boy makes headlines in the media.  What seems at first to be a domestic drama is closer to crime than is envisaged.

 

·         Publisher : Goldenford (30 Oct. 2019)

·         Language : English

·         Genre : Fiction

·         Paperback : 301 pages

·         ISBN-10 : 1911317067

·         ISBN-13 : 978-1911317067

·         Dimensions : 12.9 x 1.7 x 19.8 cm 

'Lost Innocents' is available on Amazon HERE

            

 

About the author…

Jacquelynn Luben has been writing for more than thirty years, and has brought out six books - two non-fiction, one children’s book and three novels, her most recent being a crime thriller, Lost Innocents.  It was the death of her second child, a baby daughter, that made writing imperative at that time, and important ever since.

Although originally a Londoner, she now lives in Surrey in the house which she and her husband built and, in which they lived for six months without laid on gas or electricity, as described in her autobiographical book, The Fruit of the Tree.  

Jackie always wanted to write, and had imagined herself sitting with her notepad, her children frolicking around her feet as she scribbled, but instead, she was seduced into office work by three weeks’ paid holiday and luncheon vouchers (who remembers them?), failing to find the magical job which would lead her to a writing career.

Jackie left London for married life in Surrey, and for many years, was her husband’s reluctant secretary/bookkeeper. She dealt with all the administration from home, but she occasionally managed to escape to attend creative writing courses, and eventually, gained a BA (Combined Studies) from Surrey University as a mature student, with a dissertation on the Harry Potter series and other children's books. She now belongs to a reading circle made up of fellow graduates. She strongly believes that writers need to read the work of others, and she sometimes reviews her current choice of book on Amazon (under the penname Minijax) and Goodreads.

Apart from writing, she has also occasionally participated in writing workshops and used to give talks to various organisations on writing topics, prior to the pandemic.

With her children, having fled the nest, she now quite enjoys cooking for two. She also loves her garden, particularly planning what new plants should be tried out, whilst leaving the labour to others, more energetic.

In addition to her published books, Jackie Luben has written many articles and short stories. More than twenty of her short stories are available as Kindle books - some of which are published by Untreed Reads www.untreedreads.com

Jackie on Twitter: @JackieLuben

Jackie on Facebook: Jackie Luben

Brief interview… 

When did you start writing your new book?

I started several years ago but got stuck and put it away.  Then had another try, probably five years ago.

What was the inspiration behind the book?

I saw a news item on the TV about a dead body being found on someone’s doorstep. I never heard the reason, or about a prosecution or who caused the death, and I was intrigued.

Can you describe your route to publication from concept to completed novel? 

Despite my original desire to write, I dropped it all when I was married. However, when I lost my baby daughter through cot death – a life-changing event - I started to write articles and then a book about the experience.  I submitted the autobiographical book, The Fruit of the Tree, to many publishers, but there was very little interest.  When Thorsons, a mainstream publisher, read the chapters, they said it wasn’t for them, but asked if I would write a self-help book. Cot Deaths - Coping with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was published, and later, brought out in a new edition by a second publisher.

With this knowledge of publishing, I later decided to self-publish my memoir and learned a great deal about that. I didn’t use a ‘vanity publisher’, but had my own publishing imprint, and used a short-run printer, before the days of POD.  I was already attending a creative writing course, and subsequently went on to two further courses, including one at Surrey University, and after that, joined a writers’ circle in Guildford. Two of my friends at the writers’ circle decided to get together to publish our books, each of us working on different aspects of publishing, and my next four books were published by this company – Goldenford Publishers.  My books are available from their website, as well as on Amazon, Waterstones, and other bookstores. 

Finding inspiration for a long book was always a problem.  Short stories took me on to my first fiction book, A Bottle of Plonk, where a cheap bottle of wine takes the reader from one story to the next, linking them together. Then, interest in our family’s genealogy gave me the idea for Tainted Tree, which looks back on four generations in the 20th century and the skeletons which are revealed when an adopted girl tries to find out about her family history. Tainted Tree was extremely popular on Amazon for several years.  I loved writing it and found that the words came effortlessly into my head.

Lost Innocents - my crime novel - on the other hand, was difficult and I could only write it by thinking out the next scene and hoping that an idea would materialise to take me further on.  Although I had a rough idea of what was going to happen, halfway through I had a complete mind-change, and the book developed in an unexpected way.  Miraculously, I eventually finished it, and so far, have had good reports and reviews.  For some reason which escapes me, I wrote from a male point of view, that of Nick, the main character, and there are two more male points of view. I felt quite relaxed about that.

My problem was getting police procedure, etc. accurate, when I am much more confident writing about people behaviour.  Unlike many writers, who love researching, perhaps even more than writing, I am the reverse and don’t relish having to research my story.  I (fortunately) have no experience of crime, particularly not a violent crime, or murder, so goodness knows how I ended up writing this sort of story.  I checked up on matters which I was unsure of with people who seemed to know what they were talking about.

The one thing I am not happy about is the title, which, more and more, I feel, gives an inaccurate impression. It is one part of the book with which I am dissatisfied, and irritated, because all my other titles were just right. Even though I feel this, I still can’t think of a better title.  I’m happy to listen to suggestions.

What ideas do you have for any future books?

I am working on a sequel to Lost Innocents, as I felt there were unresolved issues in it.  Of course, I am in the same frame of mind as when I was writing Lost Innocents.  I struggle to write a few hundred words and then scratch my head as to what happens next.  But I feel I owe it to my characters to give them a second airing.

Which publishing services (if any) would you recommend?

Although publishing exclusively through Amazon is possible now, with the minimum of expertise, we at Goldenford use CPI Antony Rowe for our books, since because of a link with wholesalers, Gardners, they can print copies to fulfil any orders received from them, without us handling them. Gardner's supply to many independent and major booksellers. I think you must be the publisher of five different books to have this sort of account.

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