My next novel, Three Brothers, is getting closer to a completed first edit stage. I'm at 84,000 words now, the expected final length is 112,000.
Three Brothers is the first of what I think will end up as a five novel historical series (the first three are fully planned) which explores the impact a world in turmoil has on my three central characters; Felix Wolf, half-German/half-English; Theodore (Ted) Weitz, his cousin who has an American father; and their childhood friend, Maxine Bonetti, a Swiss national.
Three Brothers covers the period 1910 to 1919, obviously taking in the Great War.
It will then be followed by:
Black Crosses (1919-1932) - The post-war world where the impact and horror of the global conflict and the Versailles Treaty (plus the Flu pandemic) casts a giant shadow over the lives of everyone - but particularly my central characters and those around them.
The Red and the Black (1932-1940) - where the rise of Nationalism and National Socialism in Germany with its antisemitism and increasing militarism goes head-to-head with the doctrine of communism and the forces of democracy, all of which requires my characters to chose a side and the path they must follow, whatever the consequences. for them and their loved ones.
Originally, the Three Brothers series was going to be a trilogy but, in planning the first three books, it became pretty obvious I couldn't stop then, I myself needed to complete my characters' journeys into the post WW2 era. Therefore, Book 4 will cover 1940-45 and book 5 1946-53.
So, it seems my writing road-map for the next few years is set. Fortunately I like my characters and I love this period of history.
It's going to be an interesting journey.
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