Ordinary People

The village of Middlewapping, a small and ancient rural backwater of southern England, forms a stage upon or within which the characters in this tale live out their various lives. Each has come to the village via a very different road; for some, such as Sally who works in a bank in the town, to own a house around the village Green has fulfilled a lifetimes' ambition, whilst others such as Rose, a prostitute from one of the less salubrious parts of London, arrive here quite by chance and not of their own volition. And each brings to the tale the manifestation their own experience, and how they now see the world. They are as disparate in age as they are in background; from Will and Emily who are on the cusp of adulthood, to Daphne, in the twilight years of her life. In their middle years are Percival, a former city banker and drug addict, who has come to seek refuge from his former life, and Keith, who with his lady, Meadow, lives on a bus on the outskirts of the village, and yet all are or become in their own way dependant upon one another to gain passage through the business of life, and alliances are formed which would seem unlikely, unless one knew the story. And so, from the very mundane to the very significant, 'Ordinary People' attempts to chart the progress of these people; their loves, their ambitions, and their own very individual ways of living out their lives. There may be irony in the book title, the reader will decide this for themselves, but however this may be perceived, the author has done his best to bring each character to life, and to present them in their stark manifestation, and in their collective manifestation of the human spirit.

During part I of 'Ordinary People', we have been introduced to the leading players who reside in the village of Middlewapping, and whom we meet again here, to see how their lives, loves and relationships are developing. During much of part II, however, centre stage is taken up by another young lady, who's name is Victoria Tillington, only daughter to the Lord and Lady of Middlewapping Manor. One morning she takes it upon herself to walk the family dogs into the village; the morning itself is of little significance, but her action eventually sets off a chain of events which nobody in this apparently sleepy backwater of England would have imagined. Victoria's life is about to crash; to be broken on the rocks of her loneliness, and she comes to see the village as perhaps her last hope of redemption; a way back to a happier life. And waiting in the wings is another person; somebody whom she has not seen or heard from for over ten years, and the only person that she has ever really loved. In the end it takes the death of two people to set in motion something which could be her only salvation, and dark forces are brought into play in order for this to become possible. For in part II of our tale we are introduced to another character whom we have yet to encounter; we are about to meet Rebecca.

Book III of the series of 'Ordinary People' follows the mixed fortunes of our already established characters, from the financial affairs of Lord and Lady Tillington to the performance of the village cricket team. In this part of our saga, Daphne will form an unlikely alliance, as will Will Tucker and Victoria; an alliance which leads them to a most terrible discovery in Victoria's quest to further understand the past life of her beloved Rebecca. Meadow will also make a discovery of a most fundamental nature; something which has been close to her but which she has not seen, and Percival delves deeper into matters which he had perhaps better have left well alone. For there are dark forces at work, and slowly these forces come to bear on the residents of the seemingly quiet village of Middlewapping.

Tarquin and Adimu are married, and Tristan has survived his drug overdose, but can his relationship with Grace survive the ordeal, when a new love enters the arena of his thoughts? Megan now knows that Sharon is not dead, as she had feared and assumed, but has no means of contacting her, and must let fate decide her future. Meanwhile Abigail and Ross must decide their own future together, but can they have such a future and remain working at the Manor House? Someone is looking for Molly, whom she has not seen since her teens, and it is someone who has come with a particular agenda. Olivia suspects that Horatio, her brother, has met someone who is of more significance than he is admitting to, and as she attempts to widen her social network, she meets someone who has unexpected connections with the Manor House, whilst Lady Elin meets someone by the lake, who awakens in her unwanted and unwelcome feelings. A new tenant comes to live at Beal Street, with consequences which nobody could have foreseen, although perhaps they could, and a meeting takes place, where Victoria must face the woman that she hates, for the sake of her dead brothers' son, with no sense as to how she will react upon meeting her. Tara is on tour with the band, the end comes into sight, which turns out is not the end, after all.