Giselle Green signing her latest book ‘A Sister’s Gift’.

Giselle Green is back with a new novel which tackles some pretty serious issues. A Sister’s Gift is her third book similar in style to Pandora’s Box and Little Miracles, and she says it feels great!

“What I didn't realise at the beginning was how many different versions of the books I would end up with; when you take into account Large print, Audio and German versions it's surprising how soon my book shelves at home are starting to fill up.”

Visiting Gibraltar recently she met up with some of her school friends over a cup of coffee, and spoke of writing her third novel and the world of book publishing... and of course there was also some book signing and dedicating.

So with three books on the trot does writing get any easier or are the pressures as a writer greater still?

“It is all swings and roundabouts to some extent. Over the last three years, I've felt more focused and experienced with each new book, more able to get straight down to what needs doing because I know exactly what's required. But you're right about the pressures being intense. It's never going to be easy to produce creative work to order. It's a huge commitment. Especially as most writers - like me - have a busy family life going on around them while they work, too.”

Meeting friends over coffee on the Rock and signing their books.

Her latest book is about the relationship between two sisters.

She describes it as “a book about a childless woman - Hollie - who asks her rather unpredictable and unreliable younger sister Scarlett to become a surrogate mum for her. When the reluctant Scarlett finally agrees, it's because she's got her own agenda for doing so; one which will have enormous and devastating consequences for the family.”

Giselle set this book locally to where she now lives in the city of Rochester, Kent, something which she really enjoyed doing because she was able to incorporate all the historic attractions of the City.

But on the relationshop side, and her books are relationship and emotionally driven, I asked her how hard it was piecing it together as she herself does not have a sister, and the two sisters are central to her latest book.

“Funnily enough, the sister bit wasn't hard. As an author, I'm never really writing about myself or my own experiences which is sometimes easy for people to forget! I'm using my imagination to see how it might be for the characters I've invented. Stretching my imagination to explore how far a childless woman might go in order to start a family was - shall I say, challenging and interesting!”

This latest edition to the bookshelf is on a theme which is very much alive today and a very sensitive issue.

Giselle and friends locally catching up with her and her books.

“More and more, the sensitive issues of the day are boiling down to ethics a lot of the time. As scientific advances mean we don't have to accept the limitations that biology might once have imposed - the questions arise, how far should we go to tamper with the natural order of things? “In this case there isn't that huge amount of technological intervention involved, but the underlying assumptions - that everyone can always have exactly what they want (without there being due consideration for the potential consequences) is what is brought to the fore.

“Is it harder to write about sensitive issues? I haven't found it so, but I am aware that sometimes readers find it harder to read about them.”

So, is this her best yet? Her favourite?

“I think you've always got to be in love with each book as you're writing it. My favourite book is always the one I'm currently working on - and I'm ideally aiming to make it some way better than the last one. It's probably true to say that this third one was easier for me to write than the first two. That's because the characters are so far removed from me and how I am and what I'd personally choose to do if I were in their shoes. That is to say, even though I had to work harder at imagining these characters, at entering into their mindsets to speak from their points of view, it didn't affect me on any personal level. It didn't tire me out as much to write it!”

Talking about style, and about her writing, she tells me she feels comfortable with the style she has developed so far, admitting she likes to push each one a little further, technically speaking.

“In 'A Sister's Gift' we have a third 'character' point of view, which is that of a red helium balloon set off at the beginning of the narrative. The balloon travels throughout the story carrying an important message, which was quite fun to do and also a challenge. I'm already planning how I will take the whole 'viewpoints' thing a little further and in different directions for my fourth book.”

So is the mind working on the next one? And of course the answer is yes!

“I think the people who read my books are expecting to read about close personal relationships, so that won't change. Close relationships throw up the greatest amounts of emotional reaction in people. Things that cause us to react on a feeling level also give us an opportunity to consider why we feel the way we do, challenge what matters most to us, and so - apart from being possibly cathartic for the reader - those things also offer the greatest story-telling opportunities.”

But there is nothing concrete about the next book it is still at the planning stage and she is filling notebooks and random scraps of paper with ideas.

“It’s all coming in now. I don't like to give away too much at this stage, as it feels like digging up a seed to check if it's growing all right. However, all my novels have had underlying hints of another thing which interests me and that is the metaphysical realm. I aim

to expand on that and I can promise you'll be seeing more of that in the coming books, too!”