http://bit.ly/38a5zne click on this link to hear a sample of Madeleine Brolly reading WITNESS X Audible book.

A book is like a conversation – it needs two partners to fully realise it – a writer and a reader.

It is a journey begun in the mind of the writer, and completed in the reader’s mind – a journey exploring a landscape that no two people will see the same, as we each bring our own ideas and experiences to it.

When I first heard the Audible audio version of WITNESS X I felt as though I had wandered though the Looking Glass. My book was so familiar to me and yet – interpreted through another person – was somehow different.

It’s strange how, although I have a Scouse accent (as the title of this post suggests) and my husband is from Derry in Ireland, I didn’t even think about the accents that my characters had. Yet when Madeleine gave Jimmy a soft hint of Northern Irish it suited him perfectly. I loved the way that she brought Brownrigg to life with a slight Cockney accent – although, on reflection, I imagined he would be posher – having been higher up the ranks in the British army.

Then there was Kyra’s name and it’s pronunciation. I hear it as Kaira but Madeleine says it as Keera. There were other surprises too as Madeleine read WITNESS X out loud. The spoken word gives the book a new layer of existence from being read silently in one’s mind.

That’s one of the amazing things about letting your book go off into the world – it takes on a life of its own and becomes different things for different people. This is what art should do – become a living thing in its own right, freed from the restraints of its birth, able to interact with those it meets on its journey in its own way.

Bon voyage, WITNESS X!

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