The Essence of Bliss is an emotional rollercoaster, an exploration of human emotion wrapped up in a story that will make you examine those big questions, such as chance, choice and destiny. It began with a concept, a something that would give me magic to work with, whilst allowing me to establish the rest of the narrative in the real world. That’s what I wanted, a story set in a town of real people living ordinary lives, characters, themes and development that would be relatable to my readers, with a twist, a frisson of otherworldliness that is enchanting enough to transport them towards a hint of fantasy.
I always knew that I wanted to write something emotional. I believe that our potential to feel - to love, to hate, to fear, to desire, is one of the things that sets us apart and gives us humanity. Whenever I fall in love with a book, and when I think back to all of the books that have moved me the most, it is the characters and the relationships between those characters that makes a good story, great. I read and love books from all sorts of genres but it is human emotion that I find most compelling.
My leading lady, Isabel Bliss, became the focus of my concept. She is, for the most part, a normal person, leading a normal life. She has a family, a boyfriend, a best friend and a job that she loves and is great at. However, Isabel also has something that sets her apart from anyone she has ever met, she has an extraordinary relationship with human emotions. She can feel emotional energy, be impacted by it, experience and influence the emotions of the people around her. Due to her gift, and her inability to control it satisfactorily, Isabel has learned that being around children can be easier for her. She has found that children’s emotions tend to be more simple, purer and easier to understand and manage than those of many adults, hence her career as a primary school teacher.
Once I had my concept and my protagonist, I needed a story. I wanted my readers to explore the potential of Isabel’s gift alongside her, which is why The Essence of Bliss became a first person narrative, a journey of discovery for Isabel, peppered with twists and turns that I hope will surprise, upset and delight. I started to craft the story around her, following her as she deals with a pretty horrific situation involving a little boy in her class, and then discovers a huge betrayal in her life and a whole world of possibility that will change her forever.
As this is my debut novel, I had no idea what my writing process would be like. I didn’t know if I should make a plan or just start writing and see what happened, whether I should draft out the plot or just wing it, and how much research I would need to do. What I did know was that I had a story in me and I needed to get on and get it out. I had been waiting for the right time to start writing and in the meantime I had grown up, settled into a wonderful career, fallen in love, got married, had 5 children, a menagerie of rescued animals and a dilapidated 250 year old cottage that needs regular propping up. I realised that the right time would never come. The RIght Time, is a concept that doesn’t exist, not in my world anyway, and I needed to stop making excuses and start writing.
I did, and I loved every moment of the writing process. Due to my hectic life, finding the time to produce a six hundred and something page long novel took over three years, snatching moments, committing to periods of time and neglecting my poor family but I got there in the end. I have a double camping chair and I did most of my writing, sitting on it in the garden, me at one end and my dog, Bobby, on the other. I had an idea of where I wanted the story to go and I made copious notes, timelines, pages of character statistics and information, chapter lists etc but I was amazed at how organic the actual writing ended up being. Characters started to write themselves and things started happening that I had never planned. I would picture a scene in my head, when I was out on a dog walk or driving between jobs at work, and I would let it play out, watch and listen to what my characters did and said and then quickly jot it down on one of my many notes pages.
One of my favourite discoveries was Isabel’s mum, Bethany Bliss. She started out as a supporting character, but as I wrote, she became much more. Her eccentricities and complexities had to come from somewhere and so she ended up, not only with a much bigger role in the novel than I had anticipated, but also with a full back story that I hope to be able to tell in a prequel novel one day. I have so many ideas for more stories set in Isabel’s world, I hope I have the opportunity to make them a reality. I am currently well on the way to producing the sequel, The Essence of Insanity and am excited to be able to share it with the world next year.
Title: The Essence of Bliss
Author: Emily Astillberry
Publication Date: December 16, 2024
Pages: 615
Genre: Speculative Fiction/Romance
Formats: Paperback, Kindle
Isabel Bliss is a reception class teacher. She experiences other people’s emotions and can influence how they feel but she doesn’t truly understand her gift and has been encouraged, by her mum, to hide it from others. She often feels lost and alone.
When a child in her class experiences chronic distress that only she can perceive, Isabel uses her ability to relieve his suffering, but his situation continues to worsen. Eventually she is forced to take matters into her own hands, escorting him home where she finds horrific signs of abuse. She saves his mum’s life and his father is arrested for the brutal torture he has inflicted upon his family.
A wealthy family moves to town and Isabel meets the two sons. She recoils from Daniel, who is hateful, rude and emotionally deficient but is inexorably drawn to Scott, who awakens something magical, deep inside her. They are like her. They are fluencers and have the ability to sense, read and willfully manipulate emotional energies. Isabel confronts her mum and uncovers hurtful lies and deceit within her own family.
She falls deeply in love and ultimately discovers the untold potential of her gift and the passion and power that dwells within.
Read a sample here.
The Essence of Bliss is available at Amazon UK and Amazon US.
At home, in a very old cottage in the country, Emily has a husband, 5 children, a dog, a cat, an axolotl, 2 giant African land snails and a varying number of rescue hens, so finding time to write can be a challenge. She is happiest outdoors, growing fruit and vegetables in the garden, walking the dog and family holidays usually involve walking up mountains in summer, skiing down them in winter and sleeping in a tent whenever possible.
Emily loves spending time with her large, noisy, chaotic family, cooking meals for friends and playing board games. She always has at least one book on the go and has always dreamed of writing her own novel. She now dreams of writing more.
Visit her website at https://emilyastillberry.com.
You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.
The Essence of Bliss is her latest book.
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