What's Consequences about?

The heart of the book is about how the choices we make impact not only our lives, but those of future generations. I’ve always been fascinated by the seemingly random nature of how we end up where we end up. For example, I met my future husband at 11 at grammar school (that's me on my first day at Harrow Weald). If either of us had failed the 11 + we wouldn’t have met. If Richard had been born a week later, he wouldn’t have taken the 11+ and we wouldn’t have met. If he hadn’t gone to a university near home, or if I had gone to university rather than a local college, we would probably have drifted apart. You could see this as chance or fate, or you could consider it a consequence of the choices that are made along the way.

The book follows three women, unknown to each other, who are connected by the decisions they make. In 1944 Margaret is contemplating what to do about an unplanned pregnancy. In 1965 Christine walks into the local library and falls head-over-heels for the only man in her Writers’ Circle. And in 2017, Erin sits in a Vancouver Fertility Clinic waiting to freeze her eggs. As their stories unfold, long buried secrets are revealed, new relationships are uncovered, and the unintended consequences of their decisions play out across time.