Thank you so much for inviting me onto the blog to discuss the inspiration behind The Island Escape. In this novel, I wanted to capture the ebb and flow of friendships as circumstances change, as well as the restlessness I noticed among my peers when the youngest children started full-time school. Suddenly, it seemed as though everyone was taking a moment to consider, ‘Is this what I intended to do with my life?’ Some women changed jobs or went back to work, some had another baby and a few got divorced.
And divorce appeared to be the factor that affected friendships the most. Initially, the women splitting up from their husbands had a lot of support and sympathy. However, later on, when the initial trauma had receded and the newly single woman was dating again and glowing with the flush of new love, a bit of envy crept in among long-married mums. There was a sense that some were taking stock of their husbands and thinking, ‘Um, no, I won’t still need or feed you when you’re sixty-four.’ Equally, the divorcees who no longer slotted neatly into a couple often felt left out from social occasions.
Whichever side of the fence people were on, good old Facebook – peddling the perfect lives myth – was guaranteed to enhance any marital/financial/family dissatisfaction. And if anyone really wanted to know what happened to that ex-boyfriend, that bit of unfinished business, well, the chances are he was just one little FB message away.
The Island Escape by Kerry Fisher is out now.
