'Retold' trilogy - complete!

It's always satisfying to finish something and with 'Belle Dormer' now on sale, 'Retold' is done. This trilogy started with a slight grievance regarding the Cinderella myth - the one where we're led to believe we need to find a life partner to 'complete' ourselves. Looking back however, I certainly remember accepting a scenario like that when I was young. Things were very different back then. What I really wanted was to go to drama school and become an actress but, sadly, my parents were not able to finance such ambitions. I fell in love and got married - aged 20 - and now realise how ignorant I was of what that entailed. Having stayed married for 40 years, I guess we got a lot 'right' and our feelings were genuine but, I do remember a lot of challenges - as I'm sure my ex does!

What it means to be a woman in today's world is, I believe, quite different...although, thinking about it, the problems are much the same. Women have shown themselves to be very capable in every way - strong, resilient, intelligent and able to carry on through great adversity. Not better than men - a pointless speculation - but equally worthy of the kind of respect shown to the male gender throughout the patriarchy of the past.

Some of the challenges that the modern world can throw up are explored in my trilogy with Belle certainly going through the worst of those. These women experience fear, trauma and adversity. They cry and they rage at their circumstances but they never give up. I know women like this. I know men like this. They all deserve our admiration for their courage. Equality is not quite with us but it's getting closer. It's about time.