People sometimes ask me who my favourite character is, in the Teapot Cottage Series. It's never an easy question to answer because it keeps changing! As different characters do different things, in different novels, I feel differently about them. When Peg Tripper is falling over herself to be helpful, I adore her. When Mark Raven is off on one of his tirades, in his broad Lanky accent, I fall a little bit more in love with him. And so on. In different books, different characters come forward or recede, depending on what's happening around them, in Torley town.
But one character I NEVER get tired of is Feen Raven. She is such a unique little woman, and she is full of intrigue and surprises. She's about four feet ten in height, she's a tiny size six, with long dark hair, eyelashes to die for, and the bluest eyes you've ver seen. Feen's gorgeous; and she's a White Witch. Whatever your ailment is, Feen can offer a remedy for it, from her vast knowledge of herbs and flowers. She calls them 'flants and plowers,' because she is either afflicted or endowed (depending on which way you choose to look at it) with Spoonerism! She transposes the consonants on a pair of words, and she does it without thinking, and she is sometimes truly hilarious with it. In 'When It's Meant To Happen' (Book 3 in the series), she casually remarks on a dinner guest who is 'titting at the kitchen sable.' She never means to be funny - she just is.
Feen is intuitive and a lot of people find that quite unnerving. She also doesn't have much of a filter, so she is continually offending (or simply just bemusing) people with insights she has about them that she simply can't keep to herself. Having accepted her own eccentricities early on in life, along with the fact that few people understood her 'weirdness' and were often put off by it, she got used to being a loner. Since most folks who don't know Feen well have always been a little unsure of her, she always found it hard to make friends, so nobody was more thrilled than I was myself, when her soulmate showed up unexpectedly and threw her into a complete tailspin! It was hard to come up with a man for Feen, because it would need to be someone who 'got' her in a way most other people didn't. She came rushing out of an alleyway one day, with her head in the clouds as usual, and >>>BOOM!<<< ; she lost her heart in an instant to the perfect man.
This happens a lot, in the Teapot Cottage novels. Random things happen when I least expect it myself, let alone when the characters do! When I start a book, with charaters familiar and new, I never know where we're all going to end up; but I'm always more than happy to go along for the ride with Feen because she is utterly delightful, without a harmful bone in her body or thought in her head, and she always takes me somewhere interesting and fun. She is kooky and crazy, and unfailingly helpful and, to me - four books in - she feels as real as the nose on my face.
Another character I love is Trudie Sangster. She owns the women's dress boutique, Gladragz, in the town. She always offers a warm welcome to anyone who walks into her shop, and she has a great eye; especially for women who haven't a clue what they're looking for, or what would suit them! Trudie knows what a big difference a small change can make to what a woman wears, to improve her confidence, and she is generous. New custsomers always get a little gift slipped into the bag with their purchases.
Trudie is the kind of shop assistant we all want and need. She cares, she isn't 'hard sell,' and she's honest. If you think you look great in something and she doesn't, she'll say so - but it's ALWAYS followed up with a more helpful and flattering suggestion. Nobody leaves Trudie's shop without feeling like a million dollars. They usually leave awash with coffee too, and if its raining and they don't have a brolly, she'll lend them one. She's married to Kevin, Torley's brilliant Financial Adviser, and her shop is next to the supermarket, underneath his first-floor office. She's one of Adie's closest friends in Torley, and if she was real, I would absolutely, totally, massively want her as my friend too!!!
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