Today we talk about Two worlds. The awakening, a book by Heather Pedley published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Heather Pedley, to get to know her better, what was the moment that led her to the writing of her book Two worlds. The awakening, as well as what are the crucial themes of her story.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- What was the moment that led you to the writing of your novel?
I had a thought… how would a person respond if something really strange happened during the course of their normal, average day? That gave me the idea for Daniel… what if I, like Jules (the protagonist) bumped into him on the street? How would you react? Disbelief, a bit scared maybe, but you’d definitely be out of your comfort zone. It would be surreal but amazing, a bit like going out for a walk with the dog and bumping into an alien. That was my starting point. But the main theme of the story is one of transformation. I do believe that people can change if they want to, but they have to be prepared to push their own boundaries in order to achieve any kind of success. Jules was in a desperate place, her life was going wrong, she was unhappy and quite lonely even though she appeared to have it all. She’d been stuck in a pattern, it’s a common thing for many people I think, she wanted a different life but didn’t know how to achieve it. Then she met Daniel, an unusual, but spiritual being, he took her on her journey of self-discovery, she found out that she was interested in the truth, not just about herself, but about the world she lived in.
- What are the crucial themes of your story?
It’s a simple good versus evil story – but I wanted the main characters to be either very, very good, or horribly evil, I wanted to push this contrast to it’s extreme, no half-way measures. I think most people want to believe that all people are born good, but somehow life experiences can make them do bad things, and I think that does happen. However, are some people inherently bad, are they literally born evil? I think it’s possible, yes, and I wanted to illustrate this. I think as we all live our lives, we look at the world we live in and judge it to be unfair, asking questions like; why is there so much suffering in the world, why do bad things seem to always happen to good people? And sometimes, it’s like the crime pays… sometimes we do see that the bad guys getting away with it, or they profit from their wrong doings. But what if there was a bigger picture? Maybe we’re looking short-sightedly at our lives, at the expanse of living say 80 years, what if our conscious existence was much greater and longer than that? It would give us a completely different perspective.
- What do you want to communicate to readers with this work?
That we live in a beautiful, amazing world and that we are far more than just a physical body made up of the five physical senses… everyone! We are here for a reason, we are not just flesh and bones, we have infinite awareness. It’s about opening up to possibility, grasping opportunity and facing the fears head-on. We are conditioned from a very young age to only believe in certain things, about ourselves and our world, and these beliefs can be limiting, you will only exist within the boundaries you impose on yourself. But by keeping an open mind, or by imagining that you might not know everything there is to know and that our human existence is only a small part of who we actually are, then you’re opening up to possibilities. We all have big potential… and that includes the potential to be very good, or very bad – so we have to choose carefully! But it is a choice. When pushed, Jules found her self-worth, she uncovered her talents, she found her strength to overcome her worst fears. We can all do that, hopefully not by being shoved to the extremes that she was, but I believe we have the potential within us to achieve whatever we want, we just have to desire it enough, open our eyes and have the confidence to look for it.
- How do you see yourself in the protagonist of your book?
I’m not sure I do. But friends who know me who have read the book have said they think Jules is very much like me. Then they analyse the other characters and they think they’re like me too (not the bad ones… lol). I think I was like Jules once, many years ago. I was anxious, scared of my own shadow, but quite successful in my line of work, so even though I felt isolated during my average daily life, I didn’t want anybody to see that side of me, I wanted everyone to think I was together mentally and emotionally, that I was capable and totally able to cope with whatever life threw at me. But underneath I did feel like a kid struggling to get through the day. I can see myself as the early Jules, for certain. But I did change over the years, I had my own ‘spiritual awakening,’ so I can relate to her outcome very much. It’s all progress, I’m in progress, you will be, we all are. However, I tried to make the main characters relatable, I think that most people will spot aspects of themselves in Jules, Ian, Sydney or Lynne.
- Are you working on a new writing project you can tell us about?
‘Two Worlds – AWAKENING’ is a part of a much bigger story, I couldn’t get it all into one book, so I am currently writing the sequel, under the same title, called ‘DAWN.’ It’s not a repetition, although the main characters are present, it follows on from the first book. It’s going really well, I’m enjoying writing it very much. It is my hope that readers will want to know more. In the first book, spiritual subjects such as life after death, reincarnation and karma were touched on and woven into the story, as well as the importance of the law of attraction and how we are energy transmitters and receivers. In the second book, I am covering the spiritual side to life in more depth, but also taking the sinister aspect of human nature a step further, so it will be quite dark in places. However, the light shines brighter. It always does! Plus, there’ll be some more twists and turns!
Europe Books thanks the author Heather Pedley once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside her on the editorial path that led to the publication of her book Two worlds. The awakening. We wish her the best of luck for her future works.
To you, my dear reader, I wish that this book allows you to seize opportunities and face fears, while keeping an open mind as open as possible to welcome new knowledge and new truths. At the same time, it allows you to open your eyes and persistently work to get what you want.
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy this very interesting reading!
Your editor!