Stolen Child (39 page)
Authors: Laura Elliot
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Crime, #Thrillers, #Suspense, #Mystery & Detective, #International Mystery & Crime, #Psychological
- Consider the two women, Carla Kelly and Susanne Dowling. What values, concerns and priorities distinguish their characters? Do they share any similarities?
- Why has Susanne focused on Carla Kelly? Does she only want her baby?
- The role of motherhood is shown as having the greatest importance in
Stolen Child.
How does the fact that Carla only meets Joy when she is fifteen affect their relationship? - Examine Carla and Robert’s relationship. Throughout the book we see it disintegrate. Can we understand why Robert felt he had to move to Australia? How much sympathy do we feel for his character in comparison to Carla?
- In which ways is the theme of morality explored in the book?
- How important is the media’s influence upon the events in the book? How does the fact that Carla is a celebrity in Ireland affect the press’s response to Isobel’s kidnap? Why does Carla feel she has to cover up her abortion?
- What is the significance of Susanne changing Isobel’s name to Joy? How far does it illustrate her lack of concern for Carla’s sorrow?
- What is the major factor that causes the breakdown of Carla and Robert’s marriage? How much is the media frenzy that centred around them to blame?
- Throughout Carla has an unshakeable belief that she will be reunited with Isobel. Can we understand her obsession and why she is unable to move on?
- Can we empathise with Susanne? Despite her reckless actions can we in some respects understand what led her to desperate measures?
- Compare and contrast the different father figures within
Stolen Child
, Robert and David. In what way is father-hood seen as less crucial than motherhood?
All stories begin with an idea. Sometimes it arrives fully formed, sometimes it stirs on the breath of a memory.
Stolen Child
belongs to the latter category.
When I was a young girl, I read a newspaper report about a stolen child. She had been snatched when she was a baby and was about to be reunited with her family. Despite my own young years, I appreciated the trauma involved, and the adjustment she would have had to make when she met these strangers, who were her flesh and blood. That memory was the breath that stirred my story into life.
However,
Stolen Child
is fiction. The beautiful and mysterious Burren in County Clare exists, but Maoltrán is my own creation, as is the Valley View Maternity Clinic, St Anna’s Clinic and the Chalwerth Industrial Estate. So also, are the cast of characters who journey through these pages.
I’d like to extend special thanks to those who helped me to bring it all together, in particular, Peter Brunton and Mary Coffey for their advice on police procedures and maternity care. Thanks also to Sarah Jane Davis for her valuable input.
I’d like to express my gratitude to Ronan Considine for his wonderful photography, and to Sinead Mullally for the many enquiries she made on my behalf. A special thanks to
Peter Beirne and the staff at Clare County Library for their courtesy and assistance.
As always, my family were supportive and encouraging. Thank you Tony, Ciara and Michelle, my son-in-law Roddy and daughter-in-law, Louise. Thanks to Fran for his technical know-how, and to my extended family and friends for their companionship over the years. Special thanks to the little ones my grandchildren Romy and Ara, for the exuberance and joy they bring to my life.
I appreciate the support I’ve received from the team at Avon/HarperCollins. Special thanks to Kate Bradley for her insightful and sensitive editing, to Sammia Rafique for being so thoughtful and obliging, and also to Rhian McKay and Jim Blades for their eagle-eyed work on my manuscript. Lastly, a special thanks to my agent, Faith O’Grady.
STOLEN CHILD
Laura Elliot is the pseudonym of children’s writer and journalist June Considine. She is already a bestseller in her native Ireland.
To find out more about Laura Elliot please visit www. juneconsidine.com
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The Prodigal Sister
This novel is entirely a work of fiction.
The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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FIRST EDITION
Copyright © June Considine 2010
June Considine asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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EPub Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 978-0-007-36798-6
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