Paula Xiberras
The blue jay is a bird that owes its colour, not to pigment, but instead to light interplay caused by it’s feathers internal structure. If the feathers are crushed the blue colour will disappear. It’s perhaps a metaphor for fragility and for our heroine whose spirit is damaged by past events requiring her to disappear.
The origin of Jaye Ford’s name nests in the blue jay and it’s hard not to see a connection between the fragility of feathers of the blue jay and both the fragility and strength of Jaye’s main character in ‘Blood Secrets’. Rennie is a young woman who has temporarily lost her colour, crushed by past experiences she is rebuilding her life in a new town with a new partner, until events once again threaten to crush her and test her innate strength. Jay bird or blue jay also means noisy and bold and the second adjective fits Rennie perfectly. It’s also fitting to note the blue jay is apt to chase away predatory birds and Rennie is very much the super heroine chasing away the predators and protecting those close to her and like the jay sounding an alarm when danger is in sight.
I spoke to author Jaye Ford this week about ‘Blood Secrets’. Jaye has never been to Tasmania and is looking forward to seeing some of our state when she visits as part of her Get Reading commitments. This trip will only allow two days but she is looking forward to the drive from Launceston to Hobart.
Talking of drives Jaye’s book opens with her main protagonist Rennie driving to a party with her partner Max and we are to learn both have a history or back story that is explored and built up atmospherically by Jaye. Road rage by a teenager threatens to hinder them and we breathe a sigh of relief when our couple arrive at the party. The initial car antics set up perfectly what is to be a fast paced action drive with plenty of twists and turns. Drive is also a metaphor for the sheer endurance and ‘drive’ of the two pivotal characters.
When Max goes missing during the party a mystery begins to unfold. Is the cause of his disappearance the threatening teenager he met earlier? Is it someone from Rennie’s past who has caught up with her or is it something else? Some red herrings keep us guessing until the blood secret alluded to in the title actually turns out to be more intricately bonded than we imagined.
Jaye has worked as a news reader and a sports reporter, in fact the first female to host a live national sports program. It was a news story she read while still at college that inspired her first novel ‘Beyond Fear’.
Jaye writes her stories from the viewpoint of the victim and Rennie is very much a recovering victim of crimes past and an enduring one of crimes present.
Jaye is not averse to getting her books translated to the big or little screen and would love to see her home of Lake Macquarie utlised in the filming
While Jaye is presently working on another book you can get your copy of ‘Blood Secrets’ out now published by Random House.
