From one of the most unassuming writers you could wish to meet
“I found the ending very difficult because there were so many people doing different things. It takes off at the middle and suddenly they all want to do their own thing.
“It’s like sweeping dust or leaves – sweeping them into the middle and they are all flying off.
“Good was going to triumph over evil but just how? I had no idea.”
Fortunately for Janice’s readers, those leaves settled and the story took shape. She paints a light picture of Scottish settings, from the West End of Glasgow to the Highlands and Islands. And she says the basis for the fictional Eastern European country in the book was from the memories of a woman she knew who grew up in Romania.
“She would say things in conversation that were very interesting and I asked to sit down and hear them,” says Janice.
“For example, her father had been working as a supervisor on a building site and someone had an accident so her father was put in jail.
“This was under the communist regime and she said at one point, ‘Nothing is going to change until all the people who were in power in that era are dead. And they’re still alive.’”
“I have always been fascinated by the difference between the surface we show people – whether as individuals or as a city, government or MPs – and what is really going on inside a person’s head as they are charming to you.”
Those layers of intrigue could also be applied to Janice’s other hobby: learning Mandarin. She laughs when she explains that her first year getting to grips with the language was a joy as she encountered new words but trouble set in when she was taught the different tones of those same words.
“Last year I met a Chinese couple on holiday. We were in a lift and all I could remember to say was, ‘Would you like to sit down?’ and ‘Would you like a cup of tea or coffee?’” says Janice.
If they had known they were in the company of such a good storyteller they might have taken Janice up on the offer...
Through Every Human Heart is published by Sandstone Press on June 18.
I’m always happy when characters are talking, so that hasn’t changed