Inverloch author Terry Guilford defies American internet troll
IT’S indicative of her positive attitude that Inverloch author Terry Guilford would call it “the best 24 hours of my life”.
Promoting her book The Dandelion on an author Facebook chat site, another contributor enthused that the work – which has all the essential Hollywood ingredients of betrayal, love and redemption – would be ripe for TV adaptation by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine.
Unfortunately, an internet troll ran with the idea, posing as the Hollywood kingmaker and chatting enthusiastically with Terry about the prospect of her putting her name up in lights, a la Big Little Lies’ Liane Moriarty, who shot to stardom on the back of the TV series remake of her novel.
Travelling through America last year, Terry still harboured hopes of a meeting with Witherspoon.
While the letdown was extreme, those hours when she believed her life was about to change forever were too delicious to describe.
It’s the very reason why she still sees the experience as a constructive one.
The super fit 65 year old personal trainer is the kind of person who bounces though life, embracing whatever is thrown at her.
Of course, genuine readers agree that The Dandelion would be perfectly suited to Witherspoon’s ambitions.
The first person account of one woman’s descent in to a “deep, dark well of fear and despair” has become a favourite for literature lovers.
First published through Balboa Press in 2014, the novel had many people calling for a sequel.
“I kept getting requests from people around the world wanting to know what my character does next,” Terry said.
“I didn’t have any inspiration for a second novel, so I gave readers the ending I thought they really wanted.
“People want a happily-ever-after-ending, but it meant I had to revise the novel all the way through in preparation for that moment.”
Terry described The Dandelion as a “woman’s book, written by a woman, for women”.
The statement is a true enough, but the novel’s storyline is built around a universality of experience.
“Everybody goes through a journey of anguish about something in their lives, whether it’s being fired or failing or losing somebody,” she said.
“It’s a journey from anguish right all through the feelings that someone goes through after discovering something like their husband’s betrayal: rage, jealously, frustration, revenge.
“In the end the narrator asks, ‘What am I going to do about this now? What do I want to do about my life?’
“It’s a journey from anger to exhilaration.”
The amended ending is a definite surprise. Want to know what happens? Buy the book.
Many have and perhaps Reese Witherspoon may yet.
The Dandelion is available at Leongatha newsagency and online at amazon.com.au.
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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Aug 23 2019. Filed under Featured, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
