April Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Unexpected

Time Setting: 2021

Genre: Thriller

Minimum Word Goal: 120,000

Timespan: May–June

Locations: Antigua & Barbuda; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Basseterre, St. Kitts & Nevis; Brussels, Belgium; Cardiff, Wales; Castries, St. Lucia; Cuba; Dominica; Dublin, Ireland; France; Kingston & Orcabessa, Jamaica; Lisbon, Portugal; London, England; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Spain

Main Characters: Hilton Sheahan-Carrington, Meinwen Lewis

Background Information: 

Born the only child of the short-lived marriage between his Irish-born father and English-born mother, Hilton endured a tumultuous childhood owing to the dissolution of his parents’ marriage, as well as his father’s descent into alcoholism, and eventual death when Hilton was ten.

He spent the bulk of his childhood in the Manchester area where his mother had grown up because his father had worked for the financial company his maternal grandfather shared control of with his great-uncle until his father’s alcoholism led to his being sacked and losing his share of Hilton’s custody to Hilton’s mother, who never took Hilton along on her many travels.

Instead, Hilton was sent to the same prestigious all-boys’ boarding school his grandfather, great-uncle, and first cousin once removed — with whom he is expected to share control of the family company upon the deaths of their respective father and grandfather — had been sent to, and was left in the care of nannies for the duration of every summer, even as a teenager.

Hilton was recognised as an academically gifted child from an early age, with a particular aptitude for mathematics and, by extension, science, which caused him to be brought into the family company as something of an apprentice before he was a teenager, as his grandfather was pleased and impressed with his comprehension of the company’s workings despite his youth.

Nonetheless, Hilton lacked the passion for finance his grandfather — and other maternal male relatives — possessed; instead, his passion was cars, with a particular interest coming in their design when one of his schoolteachers showed him how maths and science were integral to the creation of cars.

As a result, when he graduated, Hilton pursued a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering on top of the bachelor’s degree in economics his grandfather wanted him to have, at the University of Cambridge — his grandfather’s alma mater.

Shortly before his university graduation, Hilton’s mother took a second husband who also worked in finance, and quickly established himself as the bane of Hilton’s existence by virtue of what Hilton believes is an intense desire to become a complete and total replacement for Hilton’s father — whom Hilton loved dearly, and wishes wouldn’t have died.

Since his stepfather elected to transfer from the company he’d worked for in London to his new father-in-law’s company in Manchester, Hilton elected to do the inverse upon his graduation, getting his grandfather to transfer him to the company’s London branch, where he works dutifully even though he doesn’t love the job, but prefers to while away his evenings tinkering away at little engineering projects.

Recently Hilton was sent to the Cardiff branch of the family company for a couple weeks, following which he’s scheduled to take a two-week holiday in Ireland, where he’s always wanted to visit, but hasn’t previously had the chance to.

Born the youngest of three children to a TV cameraman and his wife who — before having children — had also worked in television, Meinwen had a reasonably pleasant childhood in the city of Cardiff during her early years

When she was three, however, her father was hired as a part of a documentary film crew shooting a documentary off the Welsh coast at Aberystwyth. Her mother’s family lived in the area, and so the whole family had gone along initially. Meinwen and her siblings were sent to stay with their paternal grandmother in Cardiff ahead of their mother after a few weeks because her siblings had school to prepare for and their mother, because of her TV experience, had been invited out for a day of filming where it was deemed Meinwen might not be safe.

Aware of a storm approaching that day, the crew did their best to wrap up filming quickly, but experienced some delays, which led to them being at the entrance to the harbour when a rogue wave slammed their vessel into a seawall, killing several people, including Meinwen’s parents.

Because they were already in the care of their paternal grandmother, who had been widowed some years before, the decision was made to keep Meinwen and her siblings in their grandmother’s care, where they have remained ever since.

Owing to the sudden, unexpected, and shocking death of her son and daughter-in-law, Meinwen’s grandmother is very protective of her grandchildren, which, for Meinwen particularly, meant that her desires to be a competitive horsewoman or otherwise have a career with horses have been kiboshed — even if one of her uncles ensured she did get riding lessons.

In her teenaged years, Meinwen was given a camera and showed herself to have a knack for photography, which her grandmother deemed a safe enough occupation to pursue; thus, following her graduation, Meinwen has decided to get a degree in photography, and has been spending her summers working at a photography studio in Cardiff to add to her experience.

Pronunciations:

Sheahan: shayhahn

Meinwen: maenwin