It is great to welcome author Louise Wise to Books, Life and Everything today as part of the celebrations for her novel, Wide Awake Asleep. First, here's a little about the book.
Can you really be on the WRONG path in life?
No one knew she was driving on that stretch of road. No one saw her car leave the highway and crash into a watery ditch. No one heard the car’s windscreen smash or saw the tree branch come through to impale her to her seat. No one heard her screams.
Julie Compton’s life should have come to an end that day, but instead, that moment was the beginning of her new life as she wakes, unharmed, back in 1972 and primed to relive her traumatic childhood all over again. One flaw. She’s in the body of a stranger.
Journey back to the 70s and 80s England where Julie is forced to jump through the eras, occupying and controlling other people’s bodies she knew as a child. She must work out which destiny path was the wrong one all while wondering if her body, back in 2016, was dying in her car.
With each momentous change, her memories transform and she realises she’s not only changing her future but of those around her. She’s finally ‘living’ but does that mean she must die?
Hi Louise, it's great to have you on the blog today. I believe you are going to share some views from one of the characters, in Wide Awake Asleep- Jude. Over to you (and her)
Notes from a Time-Traveller
By
Louise Wise
It began with that feeling you get when you have déjà vu, that and almost killing someone! I was sitting in traffic but as the lights changed to green and I set the car to move off, a man dashed in front of me and I had to hit the brakes pretty fast to avoid running him down.
He hit the bonnet with his hands, steadying himself, and then looked at me through the windscreen. That was the moment when I felt we’d met like this before. I think he felt it too.
It was weird. We both stared at one another knowing that maybe, in another life, we knew each other. Then the moment was over. He gave me a quirky grin that was half an apology and half flirty, and moved to the safety of the pavement.
I soon forgot about him; my life is crazily busy, what with my hectic career and sick mother. She and I have had our differences in the past—and I can’t say we get on even now.
You see, I left my home life (a small village called Potterspury) due to a family feud. It was all a bit of a mess, actually. My mum was heavily reliant on prescription drugs due to various problems from her past, one of which was being raped and accused of being a ‘loose woman’ in the village. I didn’t know about the rape at the time, that all came out later, all I knew was that she was up one minute and then down in the doldrums the next. My dad left when I was four or five—he always told me he would win custody of me but he never did. I had to wait until I was sixteen before I could live with him.
Growing up I met a boy, Karl, and when I was fifteen we started going out, but then my so-called best friend, Shirley, decided she wanted him for herself and he was off faster than you could say ‘Don’t forget the condom.’
I learned that Shirley died a few years after I left Potterspury, it was one hell of a shock. I mean, Shirley and I had done everything together from the moment we met in infant school at aged four. I think I missed her more than Karl, if I’m honest, anyway, it was all cloak and dagger on the details of her death and Karl was arrested and then acquitted of any crime. He later committed suicide, so something DID go on there, but I suppose, I’ll never know for sure.
Then Dad died, and Mum got ill (dementia and cancer) and ended up in a home. So my childhood past was all gone—no one left to share it with. And that’s why, I guess, I plunged myself into Odette’s perfume business, investing all I have until I’m mortgaged to the hilt. And approaching middle-age, I’ve begun to wonder that, if I’d acted or treated people from my past differently, how different could my life have been?
Maybe I wouldn’t be as lonely as I sometimes feel.
I could have been nicer to my mum and explored to find out why she was like she was, and my dad… I idolised him…but was he as perfect as I believed?
And Karl and Shirley were only kids themselves, Shirley was barely eighteen when she died. Maybe if I fought harder to keep Karl they’d still be alive, and he and me would be married, maybe with kids? Not having children are my biggest regret.
The events that happened next in my life are hard to explain and you’ll never believe me anyway if I told you like this. You’ll just have to read my story—let me say one thing: that path you’re travelling, your life path, I mean, are you absolutely sure it’s the right one? Because if not, fate will intervene, you can be sure about that.
Jules - Protagonist from the book Wide Awake Asleep
About the Author
Louise Wise is a British writer and has been weaving stories all her life—and for many years, she was a 'closet writer' with a cupboard is full of ageing manuscripts depicting fantastical romantic adventures!
Most of her books have an element of romance, but tend to cross over into other genres, giving them a unique edge.
Her debut novel is the best-selling sci-fi romance EDEN, which was followed by its sequel HUNTED in 2013.
A PROPER CHARLIE is a romantic comedy written purely for the chick lit market, but then she decided to unite her love of all things supernatural with romance and OH NO, I’VE FALLEN IN LOVE and WIDE AWAKE ASLEEP came along.
Her other works include SCRUFFY TRAINERS (a collection of short stories with a twist). She has written numerous short stories for women’s magazines including Women’s Own and Take a Break.
She loves hearing from her readers - the good, the bad and the ugly stuff they want to share!
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