The Lost Wood

The Lost Wood is the story of a brave, tough, enigmatic little ‘street dog’ and his quest to find peace, security and sanctuary. It is inspired by our whippet cross Stanley who we rescued from almost certain death, due to trauma or euthanasia whichever came first, and his transition from terrified, nervous stray to calm, loving companion. Rescued from a former life of abuse and nerve shredding existence surviving alone in a busy town, Stanley eventually responded to a quiet, gentle, simple life in a peaceful family home and became a confident, friendly and funny member of the household. I was deeply touched by the experience of supporting and witnessing his transformation and felt strongly about somehow recording this life changing process, if only all dogs in these dire circumstances could get the same help!

Life here in the countryside for Stanley, it struck me, would be a complete opposite to a gritty, urban environment, with interesting challenges in its own right. I began to imagine how he might fare on his own in the wilds and how he might feel. Having already cast our rescue pets, two cats and a lurcher as amateur detectives in my first novel The Woodsman, with hilarious consequences, it seemed appropriate to add Stanley into the mix and send them off on an adventure together to solve a mystery. This is how Stanley embarked on his emotional journey to find a new life, learning how to make and trust new friends, use his judgement and understand the ways of the countryside.

I love the mystery and beauty of trees and spend many happy hours walking in the woods. Many of the trees here are yews which are steeped in fascinating myth and legend, I did a lot of research on tree folklore and felt I’d entered a completely different world next time I went into the wood! In the past, yews were believed to guard the doorway from this life to the next and have the power to make things invisible for their protection, the yew therefore was an obvious choice as a device to facilitate the time slip elements of The Lost Wood. Other trees are also characters in the story, the woodland setting creating a slightly spooky atmosphere for events.

I have always loved houses with character, ones that have a soul, where you get a strong sense of times past. I consider myself fortunate to live in such a property, one that has many interesting and quirky features which could tell a story. The house was built in the 1700’s and the front room was once the village shop. High on the wall in this room at the side of the fireplace is a beautifully crafted, tiny wooden door which opens on to a deep recess in the wall. There is no handle just a smooth hole for a finger to fit within and pull open the door. I found this fascinating and my imagination conjured many ideas about its purpose. Was it somewhere to keep secrets perhaps? I soon discovered it was originally a ‘salt box’ designed as a place to store salt and keep it dry at the side of the fire. This mundane household necessity however, a boon for village supplies, lit a spark in my writer’s imagination and kindled the flames for an idea to support the plot of The Lost Wood.

There are many other features in the house that transport you back in time. Immersed in history every day I find myself wondering what it was like to live here in days gone by. This curiosity inspired the dual time element of the story and the sub-plot set at the time of the English Civil War. My research for the story at the local history society yielded some fascinating insights into events taking place around the village at the height of the war, some were spookily coincidental to a context and storyline I was thinking of developing. It felt like the story was writing itself!

Having already based my first novel The Woodsman within this period I was keen to further develop a narrative in this most dramatic decade in British history which had such a devastating effect on the countryside and the gentle people that lived there. The focus of the mystery in The Lost Wood is a ‘wise woman’ sometimes regarded as a witch or known as ‘Old Mother Time’. The role women played in the Civil War, it seemed to me, was often overlooked, when in fact it is well documented that women often became involved in espionage ‘turning whispers into deeds’, some of their activities were frankly astonishing, great for storytelling, and so influenced my choice of sub-plot lead character. A Poll Tax return from much earlier in 1379 details the entire population of our village, many of whom had the most incredible names, one of which I ‘borrowed’ for a character in The Lost Wood.

The Lost Wood is a homage to the countryside, the healing power of Nature, the magic of trees, the importance of friendship, however unconventional, and about time and its passage. It is about secrets and the way they have their keepers, it interweaves past and present, history, mystery and memory. Most of all, it is about the sanctuary of home.