I received an email today telling me of a new, debut psychological thriller. It sounded SO brilliant, that I thought I’d spread the word and share the latest addition to my TBR!
A psychological thriller that explores whether evil is born or made.
Is evil born or made?
Seas of Snow is a story of broken trust and shattered dreams. Of consequences. Of a life lifted and liberated by poetry. Of a life haunted by darkness and lived in fear.
This is the tale of Gracie Scott, who becomes fascinated by the work of Rainer Maria Rilke and delights in his words for guidance and succour. But when her psychopath uncle Joe enters her life, is poetry enough?
Alternating between contemporary North Tyneside and around the time of World War Two, Seas of Snow dances through time, backwards and forwards between the literary reveries and troubles of the young girl, and the old woman of today, frail and isolated in a nursing home.
Seas of Snow is a bleak psychological thriller about trust and betrayal told with a distinctive and complex narrative voice.
1950s England. Five-year-old Gracie Scott lives with her Mam and next door to her best friend Billy. An only child, she has never known her Da. When her Uncle Joe moves in, his physical abuse of Gracie’s mother starts almost immediately. But when his attentions wander to Gracie, an even more sinister pattern of behaviour begins.
As Gracie grows older, she finds solace and liberation in books, poetry and her enduring friendship with Billy. Together they escape into the poetic fairy-tale worlds of their imaginations.
But will fairy tales be enough to save Gracie from Uncle Joe’s psychopathic behaviour – and how far will it go?
Take a look at the booktrailer for “Seas of snow“.
Kerensa Jennings is a storyteller, strategist, writer, producer and professor.
Kerensa’s TV work took her all over the world, covering everything from geo-politics to palaeontology, and her time as Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost coincided with the life- changing events of 9/11.
The knowledge and experience she gained in psychology by qualifying and practising as an Executive Coach has only deepened her fascination with exploring the interplay between nature and nurture and with investigating whether evil is born or made – the question at the heart of Seas of Snow.
As a scholar at Oxford, her lifelong passion for poetry took flight. Kerensa lives in West London and has developed a career in digital enterprise to help inspire young people across the UK and unlock their potential.
#BookishBlogPost Book Post – Seas of Snow – Kerensa Jennings
Posted on Apr 15, 2017
Beautiful #bookpost and a shared feeling of the love for books and poetry is sometimes all it takes to make new connections in our awesome #bookishworld
— Our Bookish World —
Let me first say, this is what drew me into the book and why I felt I just had to read and review it: “Seas of Snow is the tale of Gracie Scott who becomes fascinated by the work of poet Rainer Maria Rilke and delights in his word for guidance and succour. Her life in post-war Newcastle and her friendship with childhood friend Billy seems idyllic. But when her psychopathic uncle Joe enters her life will poetry and friendship be enough?”
You can see, despite the gruesome details and Gracie’s heartbreaking moments I will undoubtedly encounter when reading the book, this sounds like a fascinating novel. A girl escaping in a world of poetry whenever the real world is too dangerous and too hurtful to handle. Rainer Maria Rilke, the Prague-born poet of Austrian parents who has given the German language new meaning and has inspired so many people.
Today, my lovely book post arrived and it is such a beautiful book! I just had to show it on social media, thanking the author for the book. I loved it when Kerensa Jennings answered referring to the ‘World of Books’ philosophy we share – as does the author’s protagonist Gracie. We both feel the importance of books in people’s lives how, in the author’s words, “escaping into your imagination through the pages of a book or the verses of a poem can be the best self-help on the planet.”
I cannot wait to read and review Seas of Snow by Kerensa Jennings – stay tuned and watch this space!
love our awesome #bookishworld
— About the Book —
1950s England. Five-year-old Gracie Scott lives with her Mam and next door to her best friend Billy. An only child, she has never known her Da. When her Uncle Joe moves in, his physical abuse of Gracie’s mother starts almost immediately. But when his attentions wander to Gracie, an even more sinister pattern of behaviour begins.
As Gracie grows older, she finds solace and liberation in books, poetry and her enduring friendship with Billy. Together they escape into the poetic fairy-tale worlds of their imaginations.
But will fairy tales be enough to save Gracie from Uncle Joe’s psychopathic behaviour – and how far will it go?
— About the Author —
Author Kerensa Jennings is a storyteller, strategist, writer, producer and professor. Her TV work took her all over the world, covering everything from geopolitics to palaeontology, and her time as Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost coincided with the life-changing events of 9/11. The knowledge and experience she gained in psychology by qualifying and practising as an Executive Coach has only deepened her fascination with exploring the interplay between nature and nurture and with investigating whether evil is born or made – the question at the heart of Seas of Snow. As a scholar at Oxford, her lifelong passion for poetry took flight. Kerensa lives in West London and over the last few years has developed a career in digital enterprise.
— The Author about her Life & Inspiration —
“I’ve been writing stories and poems ever since I was a little girl. Although it’s taken me a long time to get around to writing a book, I’m lucky enough to have had a long career in the media as a TV producer, writing television programmes. Most of the time viewers would have had no idea who I was, but my words have informed, educated and entertained millions over the years. I produced, directed, wrote for and worked with some of the most amazing people including Nelson Mandela, Sir David Frost (I was Programme Editor of Breakfast with Frost), Sir David Attenborough, Fiona Bruce, Sian Williams, James Nesbitt, George Alagiah and Rory Bremner.
I moved away from programme making to strategy and became the BBC’s Head of Strategic Delivery where I designed and delivered strategies for the Corporation, including a significant digital strategy (BBC Make it Digital). I now run The Duke of York Inspiring Digital Enterprise Award (idea.org.uk). I’ve always used literature, and poetry in particular, for solace and escape. I happen to think literature is probably the best self-help on the planet! You can fly into other worlds and find ways through writing to make sense of life. SEAS of SNOW draws together some of my passions and fascinations in life. While I was at university, I studied the psychoanalysis of fairy tales and got very interested in archetypes and the way characters and stories of good and evil are portrayed.
While leading the BBC News coverage of the Soham investigation, I had the opportunity to see first-hand a lot of evidence about the mind and motives of a psychopath. So in SEAS of SNOW, the protagonist Gracie uses poetry and playtime to escape the traumas and abuses of her life; the antagonist, her Uncle Joe, is a very bad man, a psychopath; and there is a subtext of fairy tale underlying the page-turning scenario which hopefully makes you want to read while half-covering your eyes.”
