Paula Xiberras
The name Helen means ‘bright shining light’ and Helene Young’s bright shining light is flying high both literally and metaphorically.
In her day job Helene is a pilot but during her off time she writes. She finds the two careers complement each other while being very different. In her role as a pilot Helen says she needs to adhere to a strict checklist but when she comes down to earth she can switch off and fly in a different sense in her writing, as Helene says ‘if you can dream it you can write it. There are no boundaries.’
Helene’s novels and her latest, ‘Northern Heat’ are not your conventional romance. In fact they are properly known as ‘romantic suspense’, or as she calls them ‘two for the price of one.’ At the moment there are a few exponents of the genre, one being Bronwyn Parry. Often the suspenseful matter will be topical. The key element of these books is that neither element, the romance and the suspense works alone that they complement each other, just as Helene’s dual careers do.
In the case of ‘Northern Heat’ the topical suspense is created by the subject of domestic violence. Helene intelligently weaves the situation of domestic violence in a storyline we often don’t associate with such violence that is a very affluent household.
In a separate situation of such violence is a central character named Freya who will says Helene, appear in another novel which will explore her life after her experiences in this book.
Helene tells me her books resonate with male readers as well as female because they have strong storylines quite apart from romance. Helene also has a strong desire to appeal to female readers by giving her female characters non-specific careers, this is in the hope her female readers, especially the younger ones, will see that many of these careers are open to them and to chase their dreams. In her latest novel her protagonist Kristy is a doctor with the surname ‘Dark’ Helene has subconsciously created a character that is in a dark place but by making her character a doctor and in that respect a healer she is a mender of broken lives including her own.
Kristy gets caught up in some investigative work while she is struggling with the tragedy in her own life and meets Conor, a man that is also coming to terms with his own tragic past.
‘Northern Heat’ by Helene Young is out now published by Penguin Books.
