Inheritance is locally set fantasy thriller which takes place in the stunningly beautiful backdrop of County Down.
Author Rachel Adair from Comber, originally from Yorkshire, is a working mum with two boys and two girls, but still has time to enjoy her love of creative writing.
And despite having being diagnosed with dyslexia when she was a teenager, it did not deter her from composing her first novel, a fantasy tale with a local twist.
Rachel said: “Inheritance will be launched on the 3oth September on Amazon and I hope people find it an interesting read.
“For a number of years I had a burning desire to write a novel. As the idea grew I started to write and it became a journey of discovery as, quite honestly, I initially did not have a clue about how to put it together.
“I just found the outdoor spaces on County Down and especially spots such as Strabo Tower, the old monastery at Nendrum, abandoned quarries, and the Lough shores all so charged with natural beauty, history and magic that it just drove me on to write.
“I looked around the landscapes and thought what did happen and what could have happened. My imagination just took over.
“Inheritance is a mixture of romance, supernatural and fantasy, but it is not one of those novels where you have a new hobbit or troll on each page you turn over, even though is has a darkish edge to it.
“I am a huge fan of Agatha Christie and have read all her works twice. I started off writing a crime novel, and as happens, it took on its own life and I just had to go along with it.
“There are bits of me in the novel certainly. In early drafts I saw too much of myself and decided to cut some of it out and now I have the main character well covered. I found the two-dimensional darker characters easier to write on.”
Rachel said the novel was an incredible personal journey for her and a vindication that she was just still a very talented person despite being dyslexic. She said: “My father too has this problem. But, incredibly, be is very clever and has four university degrees in archaeology and business economics etc. He’s just amazing.
‘When I was in my first year doing my A-Levels, the English teacher said she could not understand why I chose English as a subject. In my second year, another English teacher recognised I had a reading issue and I was assessed and it proved positive that I had dyslexia. I always had to work that bit harder than everyone else to be at the class standard and now I know why. But now I’m content and I can work with it.
“It took me eight months to get my first draft complete and I’ve had around thirteen re-writes done and it has been finally proof read by a professional publisher in America, Ravenswood Publishing, who gave me a great guide into Indie Publishing. Incredibly, the publisher is a working mum like me and she has been very helpful in making very positive suggestions in getting the final shape to the book.
“Inheritance is almost 350 words long in its hard copy form. A hard copy can be ordered as a Print on Demand (POD) from Amazon. I’m now working on my second novel along a similar theme and characters. In the past I have won a poetry competition and had a short story published online. So this is really breaking new ground for me.”
Blurb
“Alhanna is devastated by the violent loss of her loving parents. Alone and submerged in a torturous grief she learns of an Inheritance. An estate in Northern Ireland, dominated by a monstrous Tower, what awaits inside may unlock her destiny. Yet a dark malevolent force pursues her as she begins on her journey of self discovery, into the world of the supernatural…
There stands a delicate balance between the five elements, one which is in constant turmoil. What has once been forgotten, will again emerge, like a whisper from afar playing upon the autumnal winds….. Akasha.”
Review quote
“this is an intriguing read about magic, alternate universes, and even time-travel.”
