Connections

June 4, 2024

From the Publisher: Sue Farwick, author of The Eternal Song, is back for her third and final guest post in our author series. In her first post, “Never Too Late,” she discussed her trajectory as a writer, from blogging and photography writing to becoming a published novelist. In her second post, “The Music Behind the Story,” she discussed the influence of music and family on her first novel, The Eternal Song. In this post, Sue discusses her decision to write a series around the characters in The Eternal Song and shares an excerpt from an article she wrote about her own family’s potential brush with Jack the Ripper in London’s East End. Thank you for the lovely posts, Sue!

When I wrote The Eternal Song, it was originally intended as a single story. However, as I revisited the mystery that I had written earlier—Smoke—I realized that the two novels could quite easily be linked. In fact, I thought, why not write a whole series based on the characters who appear in The Eternal Song?

Rereading Smoke, I couldn’t decide whether to tell the story in the third or first person. I think I changed the whole thing twice and then opted to tell the story in third person with the exception of the first chapter, a compromise that seemed to work well. I wanted Marianne to set the scene.

In the end, despite writing Smoke first, I decided that The Eternal Song was a more complete novel that introduced all of the major characters that would appear later in the series. Thus, I published it as the first book in the series.

Once again, music plays a part in the story, although it’s in the background, an incidental accompaniment to the plot. And there’s plenty of romance, mystery, and sinister undertones.

When Marianne first meets Vincent Foxworth, is it just a coincidence, or has destiny already mapped out the path that they must follow together? As Marianne, or Annie, as she is known to her friends and family, uncovers and solves one mystery, with devastating consequences, she is faced with an even more disturbing truth.

Each of the stories in The Connections Series stands alone. You don’t necessarily have to read one to understand the others, but the reader may want to learn more about people like Marianne, Jasper, Corinne, and Rose. Each of these characters is connected in one way or another and plays a part in someone else’s story, as we all do.

Indeed, like my character, Marianne, my own family history is not without its chilling tales.

Excerpts from In the Time of Jack the Ripper (originally published in my blog, Incidentally)

My grandfather’s aunt, Mary Ann, was born in 1855 in Sussex, England. She was one of at least 12 children born to Moses and Johanna and was no stranger to poverty. The family were probably travelers, moving about the countryside in Sussex, Surrey, and Kent and ending up in London’s East End in George Yard, Whitechapel.

On August 7, 1888, the body of Martha Tabram was discovered on the landing above the first flight of stairs in George Yard Buildings. She had been stabbed 39 times. Many people think that Tabram was the first victim of a person who was soon to become known as Whitechapel’s most notorious killer, Jack the Ripper.

Imagine living in this squalid and overcrowded tenement building, once described as nothing more than a brothel inhabited by vicious, criminal types. How did Mary Ann go about her life with the thought of the Ripper lurking in the streets and alleyways that she must have traversed daily? All the Ripper’s victims were found in Whitechapel, and no one knew when or where he would strike next.

Mary Ann was still living in George Yard by the time of the 1891 census, and stories of the Ripper remained fresh in everyone’s minds.

Despite numerous suspects, all of whom were eventually dismissed by the police, the Ripper remained at large. As far as the residents of George Yard were concerned, it could have been anyone. Had Mary Ann brushed past him in the street or encountered him as she visited one of the shops or pubs in Whitechapel? Was he a neighbor or even an acquaintance?

I would like to close this post by giving a shout out to Madeline Friend, the talented young artist who illustrated the cover of The Eternal Song. Madeline did a splendid job, capturing exactly how I wanted the cover to look. And she has graciously agreed to illustrate the second book in The Connections Series, Smoke.