“Little White Bones” is a dark horror romance which has received promising reviews with readers unanimously agreeing that it is filled with twists and a book they struggled to put down.

Elaine has lived in Lagos since 2019 and told me it was not in their original plans to move here permanently. They “sailed to the Algarve in 2019 but our plan was to stay over the winter but with the pandemic we got stuck here”. Humorously adding “What a place to get stuck and we are not planning to go anywhere else.” When asked about her thoughts on the Algarve she told me that “We love Lagos because it has everything. We have done excursions around the Algarve and we have been to Lisbon. Portugal just has everything to offer really.”

Lockdown benefits

Like many authors, the two lockdowns worked in this authors favour and allowed her to finish writing the novel, “I had the basis of the story already there but I needed to smarten it up and the lockdowns were the discipline I needed to do that really.”

Elaine kindly shared a synopsis of the novel which captured my immediate attention “On the surface, Kayleigh Marron has the perfect life. Great job. Rich City banker boyfriend. Lovely house in the suburbs. Singing on stage with her musician friend Jay at weekends. But underneath, dark currents are stirring. Why is she seeing flashbacks of the past? Why is she dreaming about rows of little bony feet? And what does any of this have to do with the new priest at her mother’s church?”

Haunting scenes

We also discussed the novels protagonist Kayleigh Marron, who is a strong character and who Elaine described as being “a very straightforward and ordinary person in a lot of ways as a musician and who does not believe in ghosts and religion and who tries to find a local explanation to what is happening despite everything that is happening being illogical.” There are also other characters that are intertwined in the plot which makes for a captivating read which readers have highlighted with their positive reviews, stating that “I couldn’t put Little white Bones down. Grant conjured up such a rich cast of characters and haunting scenes.” As well as being “A dark story that kept me wondering what will happen and where will I be transported too next. My feelings towards the characters strengthened as the story progressed. Definitely an ending I hadn’t foreseen.”

Inspired by London

Elaine told me that this ghost story was actually inspired by London which is where she lived prior to embarking on her sailing adventure. She told me that “I have always loved a good gore story and I used to work in the city of London and the old city is full of really old buildings and it made me wonder what things have happened here. The part of the city that I was working in was also where Jack the Ripper had been active and it fired my imagination.” Further adding that “This story had been at the back of my mind for some time and I had always wanted to write a novel but never had the time whilst working full time so when I left my job I cracked on with the novel. It evolved from an initial idea I had and really unravelled as I was writing it.”

Elaine shared her writing process with me, stating that “I am quite organised so I dedicated time to writing every day, I think you have to put the hours in to get the job done because if it is just an idea in the back of your mind, without a plan it will never happen” and admitted that “writing a novel is much harder work than you think it is going to be.”

Elaine is quite widely read, kindly sharing with me her latest read “American Dirt” which she told me was “a great book.” She also enjoys Stephen King books as well as Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy, adding that “she likes being frightened so enjoys watching scary films and reading scary novels”, which mirrors “Little White Bones” which she assures me “you will find a lot of horror!”.

Second novel

Most excitingly, Elaine is in the process of finalising her second novel which will be published this year called “Eyes of China Blue” which has a great gothic premise as it is about “a very troubled author who has hit rock bottom but ends up buying this house in which she starts to get vibes from the house and its previous owner and in some ways that helps her but it is about the house and the effect it has on the protagonist.”

In terms of the future, Elaine plans to continue writing, affirming that “I have lots of stories in my head that I would like to get out there and I think I can probably write one a year.” She also added that “she would love to have “Little White Bones” in local book shops in the Algarve so if anyone is interested, please contact her directly.

“Little White Bones” is available on Amazon and on Kindle and Elaine has told me that she would be happy to do book signings. If anyone would like to get in touch with Elaine, you can contact her through Instagram @e_w_grant.

Author

Following undertaking her university degree in English with American Literature in the UK, Cristina da Costa Brookes moved back to Portugal to pursue a career in Journalism, where she has worked at The Portugal News for 3 years. Cristina’s passion lies with Arts & Culture as well as sharing all important community-related news.

Cristina da Costa Brookes