Recently widowed Janet is a dark and embittered woman with a troubled past. Determined to throw off memories of her life with deceased husband, Frank, in the new year of 1990, she returns to her beloved job within the soft furnishing department of Masons retail store, to forge a new life for herself safe behind the mask of customer service.
But Janet’s newfound happiness is soon threatened by a feisty young co-worker in the form of Marian whom she loathes. Sparks fly between the two women and they are forced to go head to head for a management position to gain the upper hand. When a triumphant Janet wins, their tempestuous relationship intensifies, which ultimately forces Janet to confront her own past and the death of her husband. She soon needs to recruit family and friends to help resolve a painful decision she made in her youth which shadowed the whole of her married life, as well as keep herself out of prison!
As she fears losing control, her antagonistic relationship with Marian escalates and proves to be more challenging than Janet could ever imagine. Will Janet be able to face her own demons? And what will her future hold?
A quote from the book:
”Janet visualised hurling Marian Johnson, shrunken to the size of a doll, right through that hole in the wall, coming to rest at the bottom of an abyss with a thud and a whimper, never to be seen again.”
From Lauren Sapala, writer and book reviewer:
‘‘A profound exploration of how the political becomes personal for women, After Black is an incisive and nuanced portrait of one woman’s experience with abuse, oppression, and, ultimately, transformation.’’
Targeted Age Group:: 40 to 90
What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
The plot of After Black developed from my first having conceived of a hard and embittered middle-aged female character, named Janet, who is itching to get back to work after her husband dies. I used my own experiences of working in an elitist department store in the 90s to make this the environment which Janet adores and in which she is most comfortable wearing black.
The plot developed through imagining what life experiences, events, and secrets may have made Janet so ‘hard’, so ‘black’, and I also loved the idea of her ‘comfort’ being threatened by a feisty young co-worker who she hates and to explore what may transpire between them. What came to the fore in the writing are the deep hurts in Janet’s past which have shaped her in the present. I wanted to drag those shadows into the light and allow Janet to grow as a person – to find her true self again and to make amends. So the theme become very much about midlife transformation, and a quote of Carl Jung’s was perfect to adapt for the subtitle for the novel – turning the shadow into light.
