All That We Are Heir To

Book 3: CRIMINAL CONVERSATION

by Laura Lyndhurst

Genres: Literary Fiction; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

Her mother dead, her father unknown, Katie is growing up within her adoptive family and she has questions. One day a strange man comes to the house; will he be able to provide the answers she needs?

Release date: June 16, 2021

Publisher: Independent

Print pages: 321

Content advisory: Some mild adult references and words

Sample

Author’s Foreword 

When I wrote my debut novel, Fairytales Don’t Come True, I intended it to be a stand-alone text, a modern version of William Hogarth’s series of paintings entitled A Harlot’s Progress, containing a warning about the incidence of students, mainly but not exclusively female, turning to the sex trade as a way to pay university fees. It was only when I’d just about finished writing this text that I realised there was another story to be told, and Degenerate, Regenerate came into being.

Fairytales had a mixed reception, some readers missing what I was trying to do and comparing it to Fifty Shades of Grey; which bothered me not a little because I’ve never read that book but knew of it by reputation and was trying to do something very different. The main concern of those that disliked Fairytales, however, was that Magdalena’s little daughter, Katie, be cared for after the death of her mother. It made sense, therefore, to turn the whole thing into a trilogy with Katie’s story making up the third volume as All That We Are Heir To.

When seeking a title for the trilogy I decided upon Criminal Conversation, ‘conversation’ being a now-obsolete euphemism for sexual intercourse and ‘criminal conversation’, by extension meaning adultery. As the main action of Fairytales and Degenerate involves convicted criminals engaged in conversations, having indulged in dubious sexual activities during their lifetimes, I thought the phrase highly suitable for my trilogy; taking the literary liberty of widening the meaning of the term to include any sort of sexual action, or relationship, seen to be outside the ‘norm’.

As to Katie’s own personal conversation, I present it to you here; I hope you enjoy it.

Laura Lyndhurst

June 2021