Island of Dreams by Harry Duffin

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Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I don’t write sci-fi, horror, or crime. Most of those genres have basic formulas and I don’t like writing to a formula. I wrote many hundreds of hours writing drama for television and that was usually to a formula, so I avoid that.

So, I don’t know where my ideas come from. They can from something I read, or something someone has told me. They are often about one particular person and, for some reason, I especially like stories about strong women. My characters May Sharpe [Chicago May] and Anna Mueller are strong, feisty women, and the main characters in my novel ‘Birth of the Mall Rats’ are Amber and Ebony. They are both are leaders.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

The main thing is never give up on your ideals and dreams. Keep trying.

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I may start with an idea of the story, but then I let the characters take control of their lives. I often don’t know what they are going to do. I let them surprise me. If what they do feels good and right, I go along with it. If not then I have to start again.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I am just researching the sequel to my first novel, ‘Chicago May’. It is set in Los Angeles in the 1920’s when the film industry in Hollywood took over the city. It was a crazy, fun, exhilarating time. I am looking forward to going back there and seeing what my characters get up to.

Do you have a question for our readers?

Sometimes do you put down your phone and read a book? If not, you should, because there are so many wonderful stories out there for you to enjoy.

In May 1939, when Professor Carl Mueller, his wife, Esther, and their three children flee Nazi Germany, and find refuge on the paradise island of Cuba, they are all full of hopes and dreams for a safe and happy future. But those dreams are shattered when Carl and Esther are confronted by a ghost from their past, and old betrayals return to haunt them.

The turbulent years of political corruption leading to Batista’s dictatorship, forces the older children to take very different paths to pursue their own dangerous dreams.

And - among the chaos and the conflict that finally leads to Castro’s revolution and victory in 1959, an unlikely love begins to grow - a love that threatens the whole family.

Having escaped a war-torn Europe, their Island of Dreams is to tear them apart forever.

Read an Excerpt

Freddie stopped the car in the path, and watched Anna get out.

Freddie was surprised. ‘Oh, well, goodbye,’ he said.

‘Can you get out, please, Freddie,’ she said quietly.

Very curious, Freddie got out. Anna came and stood in front of him. She looked around, then taking his arm, she led him into the forest. Freddie was very puzzled now. Did she think he might go back and tell the police where the camp was? Surely, she knew he wouldn’t do that? She led him to a clearing, out of sight of the path.

‘You don’t think I’m going to go back and tell the army where the camp is, Anna?’

‘Is that what you think?’

Freddie shrugged. He had given Anna his gun in the car. ‘You’ll need it more than me,’ he’d said. Not that he would use it on her anyway.

Anna came close to him. As he was about to speak again, she put her fingers to his lips. ‘You don’t know, do you?’ she said.

‘Know what?’

She reached up and pushed a lock of his hair back from his forehead. ‘Freddie, I hated you from the moment you picked me up and dragged me off the boat.’

Freddie attempted a smile.

Then her fingers ran softly down his cheek. ‘And loved you just as much.’

Before he could speak her lips met his. It was a long kiss. Twenty years in the making.

About the Author:

Harry is an award-winning UK screenwriter, who won the Writers’ Guild Award for Best TV serial, while writing for Granada Television’s ‘CORONATION STREET’. Before that, in 1985, he was on the first writing team for the BBC’s ‘EASTENDERS’.

Before beginning his career writing drama for television, Harry spent a dozen years working in British theatre, as stage manager, writer, designer and director, working with actors such as Nigel Hawthorne, Anne Reid and Lesley Manville.

After script-editing the BBC’s HOWARDS’WAY, he freelanced for series like DISTRICT NURSE, THE BILL, BOON, THE BRETTS, EMMERDALE.

In 1994 he became Head of Development at the UK independent company, Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment. As the script executive he was responsible for seven major television series, included ‘SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON’ starring RICHARD ‘JOHN BOY’ THOMAS, and ‘TWIST IN THE TALE’, featuring WILLIAM SHATNER. He also wrote the film, RETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND.

In 1998 he was the co-creator of the UK Channel Five teen-cult drama series ‘THE TRIBE’, which ran for five series, numbering 260 episodes. ‘THE TRIBE’ has been sold world-wide, and all series is on YouTube.

His first novel, CHICAGO MAY, is the first book of a two-part series. He has also written JAIL TALES, about his wife’s 20 year career in the prison service, and the novel BIRTH OF THE MALL RATS, the prequel to THE TRIBE.

He has just finished his third novel, ISLAND OF DREAMS, to be published on December 1st 2022.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4674467.Harry_Duffin
http://www.harryduffin.co.uk
https://twitter.com/duffin26

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