Just Below The Surface

Ordinary people. Ordinary lives. It’s not a crime. It’s not intentional. But how far and how deep do reverberations reach when a perfectly ordinary decision serves to crack the veneer that cloaks the person lying just below the surface?

In middle-class, English society the superficial image is all. It is rare to delve beneath the small talk, the polite enquiries and the remedies a cup of tea can bring. A sense of decency, decorum and conservative values prevails. Suppressed emotion generally remains suppressed. But beneath this lie angst, boredom, unrequited love, and a deep desire for something ‘more’.

The Middle Classes are either fiercely proud of their working class backgrounds or else striving to touch the hem of the swirling skirts of the upper classes. Seldom are they satisifed - or proud - to be simply Middle Class.

This story reveals and explores the emotional, psychological and sometimes humorous repercussions resulting from one woman’s choice. She is a daughter, mother, sister, ex-wife and friend and her actions have an impact on those closest to her. For some, it is a subliminal awakening leading to the discovery of dormant love, passion, joy and warmth. For others, it reveals gritty determination, feistiness and a sense of adventure. But where blessings lie, there also lies malevolence and, albeit it in the minority, the uncovering of a cold-hearted, morality-challenging soul provokes still further the underlying, unwittingly-stifled sensibilities of the majority.

The reader may enjoy a ‘looking glass’ experience into the lives of ten characters that culminate in traits awakened, illusions shattered, emotions uncovered, bridges mended. The reader may also accept the gentle challenge to walk in parallel with the characters, tapping into the rich seam of empathetic recognition, the fine line between the persona we present and the person we might allow ourselves to be.