Why a Booktrail?
2009: The pull of a mother’s love for her missing son is as strong if not stronger than the pull of the ocean
I Do Not Sleep
What you need to know before your trail
Molly Gabriel is grieving for her 20-year-old son, Joey, who she lost in a terrible sailing accident five years ago. She remains haunted by his death and desperate to find out what really happened as she has never understood why an experienced sailor like Joey could end up in difficulty on the calmest of seas. Something just doesn’t add up.
Now, she returns to Cornwall with her husband and family to find out if the sands and sea will provide the answers she is looking for. They hope it will lay some ghosts to rest but for Molly, there are is one ghostly voice she is sure she hears calling out to her…
Joey’s best friend Ben is also called upon to help but could he be hiding something about that day? What did really happen to Joey and will the truth hurt more than the not knowing?
Travel Guide
Judy Finnigan loves Cornwall and it shows. From the sandy beaches to the ragged cliffs and the blue sea, the essence of Cornwall is embedded on each and every page.
I Do Not Sleep is the journey of one mother as she goes on a very personal and painful quest for answers. Five years grieving with no sense of closure have taken their toll and she wants to return to a place where she used to know and love, one where family holidays were happy and dreamlike. Memories which are now tainted with her son’s mysterious disappearance.
Cornwall is an extremely apt setting for this story since the rugged coastline is awash with almost mythical and dreamlike qualities reflecting a mother’s hope and never ending search. The woman on the front cover is drawn as if in a painting where the tide of time has washed and blurred the harsh reality. She stands there seemingly searching out to sea for answers, not really connected to the boat or the child right beside her.
Molly’s return to a place laced with happiness and now tainted with sadness is a story of loss and regret. She searches Cornwall and its people for answers to help her get some sort of closure and out her son to rest in one way or another.
The mythical landscape and history of Cornwall comes out in the form of Dreams that Molly has in which she imagines her son calling out to her and willing her to find him and discover the truth, and so she takes to a remote cottage on her own, her dreams her only comfort for now. She meets a group of charmers….
As Judy explains on the WH Smith Blog -‘charmers’ and their practices date back to the stone age. Judy explains how her knowledge of Cornwall and its history led to this part of its mythical culture being woven into a tale of sadness and hope and it really helps to evoke the essence of the place as well as a sign of a mother’s desperate search for answers.
Where Next?
