Diane Saxon Blog Spot

You may have noticed the release date of My Mother’s Lies was a little behind this time, and for that I apologise. There is good reason. Some of you may have seen through my Facebook page where I post mostly fun and often candid photos of my furred and feathered friends. Very rarely do I ever say anything negative, but once in a while even I post about tough realities that hit our household. One of the hardest things to cope with is the death of a loved one. Never more so than when it is fast and unexpected.   Such was the case with Beau, my adorable black Labrador who was taken all too young and far too fast. It was a tragedy beginning with Beau falling ill within hours of him having his annual booster. At the same time, Skye, my Dalmatian also fell ill after her booster and spent two weeks on and off a drip at the vets while we were on holiday. We were totally convinced that Skye at the age of thirteen with all her allergies and being epileptic, would succumb and had mentally...

In the days before our big thug of a black Labrador arrived, there was this cute little darling. She's the one in the middle at the back and she was probably around 6 weeks old in this picture. Eight weeks old in the next one on the day we brought her home. Skye was my inspiration for The Keeper and the book is dedicated to her. When she was around eight months old, Skye was left for several hours on her own, something we had never done before - and never done since! She provided her own entertainment and quite literally ate our kitchen doors. And there started the tiny nugget that formed Domino's character in The Keeper. A male Dalmatian, much bigger than Skye, I based him on Skye's dad, a glorious big example so like Skye in looks. The story of The Keeper formulated some years ago when Skye and I would wander through the deserted woodlands over the far side of The Ironbridge in Shropshire along Benthall Woods. Dark and creepy, the acoustics al...