Not every father is the one who raises you. Some of them find you later, when you need them most, and love you in exactly the way you need to be loved; even if they don't know that's what they're doing.

Joe Murdoch - a Found Father Just a sentence in my father’s notes gave me the character Joe Murdoch. That's all I had to build what was the most influential character in Matthew's story. I knew that Joe's name had been passed down from Matthew, himself, to his son and his grandson and finally to my father. They were accurate, but could I find anything about the real Joe? No. That was it. No date. No description. Just a name, sitting there like a seed in the fertile soil of my

Charlotte Beck was intelligent, intuitive and affectionate. She knew that Matthew mattered. Her character was inspired by my Border Collie Bec, read on and you'll see why.

Small characters with a big impact. Both Bert and Nigel were the men Matthew Seller needed to become a man himself.

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When I set out to write a historical fiction book, I was so worried that I’d be writing a dull, dry tome, but I need not have worried — my characters had other plans. In no time at all, they took control of the story and showed me how to find the humanity in the grit.