‘the fallout series’ – Book #2… delving into marriage

Well, book #2 is in the process of being written, and unlike ‘Behind the Canvas‘ which was inspired by the actions of an unknown person I observed, the inspiration for the title of my next book came from a road sign.

An aside: several years ago I started researching the history of Australia and parts of the UK with a view to writing a family saga. I found a title that suited my brainchild exactly. Without planning it, I began to write the story around the title. That book (maybe a trilogy) will take some more time before it’s finished – more of that in another blogpost. Maybe a ‘sneak peek’ later….

But to get back to the second book in ‘the fallout series’, I have my son to thank for its title.

Just south of Melbourne CBD the Nepean Highway leaves the city and threads its way through suburbs and down onto the Mornington Peninsula. Sometimes it’s a three-lane highway in each direction, sometimes it’s just a country road. As it snakes between Brighton East and Bentleigh there is a big intersection, preceded by a sign that reads: ‘No Right Turn into Marriage Road’.

Driving home from the city one day this was pointed out to me by my son, along with the prominent sign for a funeral home on the corner of the Nepean Highway and Marriage Road. Plenty of material there for a tragi-comedy, we thought. But it was the sign pictured here which imprinted itself upon my brain and soon we were imagining scenarios for a book with the title: ‘No Right Turn into Marriage.’ By the time we got home some of the ideas had taken hold – and I am now engaged in writing about (yes, you guessed it) –  marriage. Or rather, a group of marriages.

Again, like ‘Behind the Canvas’, this book will be written from several perspectives. Marriage can mean different things to different people; expectations can differ wildly; a marriage can change irrevocably with the passing of time. These are just three issues which will find their way into ‘No Right Turn into Marriage’.