Past imperfect

A resourceful fourteen year-old, Freya Dunbar accepts responsibilities beyond the norm. Family is paramount. She has no regrets – she'd do anything for Mama, but she frets at being the odd-one-out in every part of her life. Always alert for clues about family mysteries she yearns for a sense of belonging until she meets soul-mate Alexander Marcou. Identity issues matter less then; they'll forge a life together.Reluctant to travel to Glasgow because of a vague premonition, Freya is distressed when the reason becomes clear. The intended four-week absence to help her grandmother pack up her home to migrate turns into a long separation from Alexander in Australia and from family support because the old lady suffers a severe stroke. Coping alone with a roller-coaster of difficult decisions and an uneasy connection with Gramma, Freya's questions about personal identity resurface to haunt her.Before Gramma's discharge from hospital Freya starts training as a nurse with a view to completing the qualification in Australia when her grandmother is fit to travel. Her caring load is shared when Gramma invites another student, Kirsty McKinnon to live with them, and the housekeeper takes up her job again. Freya's deep friendship with Kirsty saves her sanity.As Gramma's rehabilitation stretches to years, Freya and Alexander fashion long-distance dreams for the future and continue their studies to qualify them for work and the adventures they plan.Unaware of the malevolent chain of events escalating under their radar they are shocked by the betrayal that tears them apart permanently. Both battle bewilderment and heartache for years.Alexander marries eventually, starts a family and builds a satisfying life that combines teaching with his love of flying.Relationship shy and unable to completely banish the questions and grief that bubble just below consciousness, Freya is resigned to a future without marriage and children. She immerses herself in a career and takes on increasingly responsible and varied positions as salve for the ache of loss.Many years later when she meets Reg Prentiss, an Australian IT expert on a temporary contract in Glasgow, her life changes unexpectedly. WINFREDA DONALDNow retired from the paid workforce, Winfreda is able to indulge a life-long ambition to write fiction. Although she enjoyed her later work-life writing (research reports, policy documents, academic theses), the joy of allowing imagination to run is liberating. Farewell to the constraints of facts and statistics.Another ambition is to stay healthy for long enough to tap out the myriad fancies itching to take shape.Winfreda calls on experiences from a long working life and a fascination with family dynamics to fashion characters and plots. But as she writes, some alchemy happens to merge the temperaments and personalities of the characters with unforeseen events that often surprise her.Most of all Winfreda is interested in the rich and hidden stories of everyday people's lives - happy stories, sad stories, people in danger, exhilarating tales, ambitious exploits, self-sabotage and workplace skulduggery. Other incidents that weave into the fictions explode from our shared environment of tension, violence, and the increasing streams of news reports and documentaries of our times.Since 2013 Winfreda has published the first three books of The Long Shadows Series. This family and friendship saga traces the lives of young Freya Dunbar and Alexander Marcou, played out in the late twentieth century, against the legacies that World War II laid on both their families. Past Imperfect (Book One) begins the story with settings in Scotland and Australia. Present Tense (Book Two) and Future Hope (Book Three) follow the trials and adventures of the young lovers in Europe and Africa. The fourth story in the series, Tides of Time is still incubating (for publication at the end of 2015 or early 2016).Winfreda is also working on a short story assortment and possibly a memoir-is