The spotlight is on Yvonne, whom I met at a writing retreat in Las Cabanes, Temple-sur-Lot in France on September 11th 2001. Yes, you read that right. We heard the news that something had happened in New York city when we were at Gatwick. There was no social media so you could only catch the news when you saw it on a big screen. Then we were in isolation on this farm in Bordeaux while writing fiction, eating French food and drinking wine. Every night we gathered around the piano, which I played while others sang sho’choons. It was like 1952. We did not realise the horror of terrorism or the lasting effects of it, until we were back in the UK a week later. Yvonne’s debut historical novel is a pageturner called Kept, and I am pleased to share it with you here. Kept will be out on my imprint, Leopard Print Publishing on 30 January 2025. Yvonne tells us more about her inspiration here.
IN: What inspired you to set Kept in 1880s Wigan, and how did the location and historical period shape the story?
YL: It wasn’t so much inspiration as being held to a location and a time frame. The novel is loosely based on the lives of my grandparents who were born in Wigan. Those factors have in fact shaped the story very much as I kept to the dates they were born.
IN: Jessie’s journey in Kept explores themes of aspiration, love, and sacrifice. What drew you to these themes, and how do they resonate with readers today?
YL: I empathised with Jessie’s desire for more education and rewarding work as my own journey towards taking a degree and finding an interesting career wasn’t a given when I was 18. I certainly think these themes will resonate with some readers. There is still inequality in society in terms of birth, where you live, go to school, and how much your parents earn.
IN: The Methodist community plays a key role in Kept. What role does faith and religion have in shaping the characters and their choices?
YL: Faith, reading the Bible and chapel-going is very important to the families. It structures their lives, and how they think about the moral and social mores of their time. It’s also where they socialise and where their children might one day find partners. The main characters have been brought up to believe and act as Christians so their actions go against everything they’ve been taught.
IN: Family dynamics are central to Kept, with Jessie caught between her own desires and the stability of those around her. How did you balance these relationships to create conflict and depth?
YL: I felt I needed to keep up a momentum of conflict for Jessie in her home life for a good part of the novel. Much of this is her love for her father and his unwillingness, or inability, to change which hopefully deepens the plot. Still, there is love between them which I think prevents her from sinking deeply into depression. But the lure of love and being safe elsewhere, counterbalance the desperation at home.
IN: What message or feeling do you hope readers will take away from Jessie’s story in Kept?
YL: I don’t think I mind what message readers take away from Jessie’s story. Everyone will have their own opinion about the validity of her choices. They may sympathise or condemn and there’s nothing I can do about that. However, I would like people to feel invested in the story, and want to know what happens next.
About Yvonne:
Yvonne Lyon is a retired Adult Education tutor in English. Two years ago she moved back to her native Lancashire after living for many years in Oxford where in 2012, she took an MA in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University. She has published short stories in Asian Anthology New Writing Vol 1 and Distant Echoes, published by the Historical Novel Association. Painting and visual arts now vie with writing for space in her life.
