Author Amanda Jennings tells us about the inspirations behind her new book, The Haven, as we celebrate its release.
My best friend’s husband very sadly fell ill in 2018. She had been caring for him and was tired and needed some time away. We decided to go away for one night, to walk and talk and breathe in some fresh air. We booked a night at Jamaica Inn, planning to have a meal and then spend the next day walking on Bodmin Moor. It was the most beautiful day. The weather was sensational with blue skies and sunshine. We packed a picnic and set off. We walked for six or seven hours, and it was everything we’d hoped it would be. Restorative and invigorating. We walked to the top of Brown Willy, which at 420 metres is the highest point in Cornwall. The views were breathtaking. It felt as if we could see the whole world. As we walked, we crossed paths with ponies and sheep, and spotted birds of prey. We happened upon a stone circle, as well as numerous flat granite rocks, built into naturally occurring stacks. At every turn, there was something new to wonder at.
This time away formed the inspiration for my next book, which I was mulling over at the time. Fifteen months later, in March 2020, the UK would find itself in its first lockdown. I was in the middle of the first draft of my book. What had started life as a story of a couple trying to come to terms with the disappearance of their daughter changed direction. The world seemingly closed in. Families were hunkering down. People began to experiment with making bread and homemade pasta and growing vegetables. We were no different. My husband and I and our three daughters dug and built a sizeable vegetable garden, complete with polytunnels and raised beds. We sowed potatoes, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, raspberries and strawberries. It became my husband’s passion. When he harvested his first vegetables, the pride in his achievement was tangible. Lockdown had given us the opportunity to taste a different way of life. We began to talk about whether this might finally be the time for a lifestyle change, the move to a farm, which we’d always discussed. And it was against this backdrop, fantasizing about an off-grid existence, that the foundations of The Haven took root.
The more consideration I gave the concept of creating the perfect life – a utopia – the more I realized how difficult these havens are to put into practice. Dreams are notoriously hard to turn into reality. What might seem like the perfect existence on paper, soon becomes something else when you add in hardship and obstacles, and – most importantly – human nature. My premise for the story was ‘there’s no one-size-fits-all utopia’. Every person has their own concept of what constitutes the perfect life. I became fascinated in how personalities would cooperate. Or not. What would happen if some members of the group worked less hard than others? What would happen when it got cold and dark in winter? How would they survive without an income? What would happen if one powerful character began to exert some control? What if he imposed rules and what would happen if people broke those rules?
The characters in The Haven took on a life of their own. As the pandemic rolled on, I became more and more reliant on the story as my own form of escape. I was hugely invested in the success of Winterfall Farm, and as I watched these characters of mine begin to argue and fight, it was almost with a sense of sadness that I witnessed their dream collapse. The group of idealists manage to maintain a sense of peace and harmony at Winterfall Farm for several months, but it all begins to unravel when the self-appointed leader of the group – the charismatic Jeremy – arrives back at the farm after a trip to the city with a second girl he has, according to him, rescued from the streets.
The Haven was difficult in many respects to write. It was an anxious time. The everyday had altered unrecognizably. It became clear that ‘normal’ life – what we remembered – wasn’t coming back any time soon. Concentrating on writing was often impossible. But then there were times when it was the only thing keeping my head level. I would retreat into its pages, consumed by the trials of my characters as they battled the elements and each other, all of us trying to make sense of a new existence. The essence of that walk on Bodmin Moor in 2018 remains in the story. The open spaces, the big skies, the animals and vegetation that inhabit the pages, as well as the feeling of hope and optimism the moor gave us that day. But in the story, there is a darkness too, reflective perhaps, of the tumultuous times we were living though. Then again, maybe it’s just the vein of darkness which runs through me, rearing its head in my fiction as it always does…
Read your copy of The Haven now.
