Continuing my series on inspiration and influences for my novels, in this post I am taking a look at the ideas behind my romantic drama Love vs Honour.

This book stands apart from the rest of my novels, as teenage romantic fiction is not a genre I generally dabble in. However, themes of religious oppression, deception and revenge are definitely mainstays in a lot of my other writing, and they are very much to the fore here. I have always been drawn to unusual love stories, and I wanted Love vs Honour to succeed on that level, as well as, given the potentially contentious subject matter, on the level of a thought provoking drama that would attract readers outside the teenage romance crowd.

Here are two key influences on Love vs Honour:

Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare) – The most obvious influence on the novel, purely because disapproving families have always been a staple as a blocking force in romantic fiction. Also, I think as protagonists Johnny and Sabina share some of Romeo and Juliet’s characteristics, although certainly they evolve in very different directions.

House of Sand and Fog (Andre Dubus III) – Pre-revolutionary Iran under the Shah hangs like a shadow over the character of Massoud in this novel, as it does over Sabina’s father Ahmed in Love vs Honour. I have always been fascinated by the appalling damage caused by the Iranian revolution to those whose beliefs were insufficiently radical for the new regime, and their subsequent exile in western nations.

I have to confess, I struggled to think of other writing or stories that were an influence on the novel, although I am hardly the first to try and tackle interfaith romance. Tonally, some of Peter Weir’s films (particularly Picnic at Hanging Rock, Dead Poets Society and Witness) were touchstones in their explorations of emergent teenage sexuality, loneliness, overbearing parents and clashing cultures.

The truth is the main inspiration came as the result of a long train of thought whilst stuck in traffic on a long and boring bus journey. The setting came to me later, once I moved to Devon and I was inspired by locations in that part of the world.

You can download or buy print copies of Love vs Honour from Amazon here.

So far, 2017 has been a very productive year for me. I have finished the first draft of The Spectre of Springwell Forest, and am awaiting feedback from a couple of willing guinea pigs, whose critical eyes are passing over said prose. In the meantime, I am working on my second novel of the year, tentatively titled A Statement of Disbelief. That project remains top secret for now, but here are a few more details regarding The Spectre of Springwell Forest.

1. It’s a ghost story for grown-ups.

2. Although it is bookended by sequences in the present, most of the story takes place in 1979. Many of my favourite horror films are from the 1970s, so this seems oddly appropriate.

3. Once again, my home turf is the setting, ie the South-West of England.

4. The plot involves a sinister painting, a disused railway tunnel, a potentially haunted forest, children who might be possessed, secret government research and suspiciously tight-lipped villagers who are obviously hiding a major secret.

5. Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black is a key inspiration.

6. I hope readers find the ending as bone-chilling as I did when I thought of it.

7. The Spectre of Springwell Forest is my fourth full-on horror story currently awaiting publication, along with The Wormcutter, The Irresistible Summons and The Thistlewood Curse. Or fifth, if you count The Faerie Gate, which is aimed at children.

Speaking of The Thistlewood Curse, I really am hoping to have news on that front soon. Sorry about the delays. With any luck, it will be downloadable sometime in April once I have finalised one or two final details.