Joyce Muriel

Goodbye Chastity (Part 1)

The residents of No.  48 Woodland Avenue may seem superficially normal, but when the enigmatic Chastity Brown moves in, she quickly discovers how unstable their relations really are.  As relationships and people fall apart, Chastity must protect herself and those around her.   But a hidden conflict is lurking in the background, much larger than anything any of them is prepared for.   And, as Chastity quickly learns it is not always easy to tell who is a friend. Find out what happens on this tale of Christian morality and the classic struggle between good and evil.

I've been told that "Goodbye Chastity" is the best of my five novels - all written since I was seventy-six.  As a matter of fact, I agree.  Why?  Perhaps because it is the book I've always wanted to write. Many of the characters and the underlying themes have been with me since my early twenties.

I think they began to take shape when, as a student at Oxford, I took part in discussions with CS Lewis in his exclusive Socratic Club and learned about the fundamentals of Christianity - love, compassion and forgiveness.  Or perhaps it was when I listened to Tolkien striding up and down with flying gown as he lectured on the Old English epic poem, "Beowulf " and talked about the battle between good and evil forces which he was to make famous in the "Lord of the Rings"

I was privileged to be there and the listen to both these great men but I was not born privileged.  As a girl in the forties from a working class home I'd had to struggle very hard to get there.  I'd already begun to realise that life is always a struggle but now I began to understand that it was not just a material struggle to obtain success, money, etc.  but a spiritual struggle between the powers of good and evil, A struggle in which it was dangerous to remain neutral.  That was the beginning and I met some of my characters in Oxford.

Others I met later when I taught by choice in Peckham under a truly Christian headteacher.  There, I met children (sadly there are many more today) who were not only deprived of life's necessities but also of the love and care which helps people to realise their worth.  I was privileged again to help them.

A couple of years later not only the love of writing but also the need to earn more money to help to support our growing family forced me into the 'jungle' called Fleet Street writing for the "Daily Express", "The Guardian" and several magazines.  There life was also a struggle - a struggle not only to get noticed as an insignificant woman but also to maintain one's headlines without losing one's integrity.  Many stories here.

At last, I was able to abandon this for a time and to devote myself to husband, home and now six children. You can learn a lot about life and people doing this, as all mothers know.

It was a happy time but I was forced out of it when my husband became ill and I had to support all of us. The obvious choice was full-time teaching.  First, a humble job among the poor and under achieving and then, by an amazing stroke of fate in one of the most selective grammar schools in Kent and, finally in the Public School in Abbots Bromley.  On this journey I learned a lot and met many different people and discovered too that the children of the wealthy are often just as much in need of love and understanding.

I was always writing but now, apart from one radio play and a short TV drama, it was mostly sketches for the Drama Club, an annual pantomime to entertain the school and even the script of a musical called "Just Jo", based on "Little Women" and much noticed by local radio and TV.

It is clear, therefore, that my stories and characters have resulted from my life and many different experiences.  It was only when I finally retired that I had time to write my novels but not until eight years and four earlier books was I ready to write this special one.

This piece, I hope, has given some idea of how I came to write it.  Another day I hope to say more about the book itself.  Now, I'll say to encourage those who think it might be scandalous that 'Chastity' is the name of my heroine.  I like significant names.  And to reassure you more I'll end with a quote from my severest critic, my editor."There are shadows as well as sunshine and tears as well as laughter; but this is a tremendously positive book and leaves the reader feeling a little better than he or she was before." What more can a writer want?

Goodbye Chastity (Part 2)

During the weeks since I first wrote my notes about "Goodbye Chastity" and myself many people have read the book and most of them have given me their opinion of it.

Surprisingly so far they have all been favourable, which is pleasing to an author.   Readers of different ages and differing backgrounds have told me that it is immensely readable.  'Once I started it, I couldn't put it down.' Practically everyone has said something like that.  Another person wrote, 'It is an exciting story of romance and mystery with many fascinating characters; some sad bits and some funny ones.' Another said, 'The ending is never clear until you get to it and that, most of all, keeps you going.'

A few people, however, have begun to see more, which is what I hoped would happen.   Pondering over the dreams which occur throughout the book, some readers have begun to suggest that there is more than one dimension to the story.   How serious are the dreams? Are they just dreams or more like vision and prophecies? Characters are faced with choices.  Alex starts with a vision of heaven but is shown several other possibilities that await those who make the wrong choices, even when they have been warned.

Chastity describes a 'meeting' with 'The Lord of the Universe' which causes her to decide to come back to the world in spite of her sorrow and loneliness because God, as she now believes, has a purpose for her as he has for all of us.  Back in the world she meets Jan, her new mentor and constant companion.   His identity remains something of a mystery.   Who is he really? We talk glibly about angels sometimes but can we accept the amazing possibility that we share this world with powerful spiritual beings.

Can we further accept that not all these spiritual beings are good and that we live in the midst of a spiritual battle; that we cannot safely be neutral, in fact that it is impossible to be so.   Can we also believe with Chastity that our weapons are those of the Lord Himself – love compassion and forgiveness?

I'd love top know what some of you think about these questions and how should the answers affect our daily life?

Click here to contact Joyce.