MAKER OF FOOTPRINTS BY SHEILA TURNER JOHNSTON

maker of footprints

 

by

 

Sheila Turner Johnston

 

Colourpoint 2019

 

https://blackstaffpress.com/maker-of-footprints-9781780732435

Meeting him was easy. It was knowing him that burned bone.  Paul Shepherd is dangerous.  He crashes into Jenna's life like an asteroid into an ocean.  Wilful and exhausting, he stirs feelings that make her confront all that has kept her safe - and bored.  Relentless and determined, he needs Jenna with a desperation she does not understand.  Jenna discovers that, although she can try to hide from Paul, there is nowhere to hide from herself.  But, he is married.

What do you do when you discover you are not the person you thought you were?

 

 

This is a love story, but not one that runs smoothly for all concerned.  Jenna is a plain girl, a good girl and a bit boring with it.  Her boyfriend, Adam, does not have the inclination to develop their relationship in a romantic way anytime soon. 

 

Jenna’s brother Luke is a typical student, turning up frequently at Jenna’s to crash out and ponder his plan to quit Belfast for Scotland, or even Outer Mongolia.

 

Paul, Adam’s older brother, is all ego, blunt, opinionated and insufferable more often than not.  He has returned to Belfast from London with his wife of a few months, Dianne, a snobby socialite who hates the city and is determined to return to England at the earliest opportunity.  Paul has no intentions of returning to London permanently.  Dianne has to find a way to get through to Paul.  She loves her husband but not his stubbornness.  

 

Paul and Dianne meet Jenna.  Dianne is not impressed but Paul spots something in Jenna, a challenge perhaps, a project of sorts, the main plot strand of this intriguing book.  There is a kind of slow dance between the two and their relationship develops romantically.  Initially, Jenna is cautious but Paul is determined that they will be together.  His marriage to Dianne is doomed to fail.

 

The push and pull of relationships, old, current and new, give the book depth and draws the reader into caring about what happens to everyone involved, even the ones hard to like. 

 

But just when you are comfortable in the story’s groove, the book shifts gear as events turn darker and more dramatic.  Amongst other things, Paul’s superego front is not all it’s cracked up to be.

 

Sheila Turner Johnston conducts her orchestra of characters beautifully.  This is a wonderful novel, truly a page-turner residing in the upper echelons of the very best modern fiction.