Description
Set in London, in the noughties, sometime after the smoking ban, and
before the great 21st century recession... James has always believed in
happy ever after, and he plans to get there one day. He is doing okay.
At the age of thirty-three, he has a top job, dream house, two healthy
children, and a wife who always stands by him. These things, James can
rely on, until one day, when everything changes, and he realises that he
has spent so long looking towards the future, that he has neglected the
present. Feeling unloved, his wife, Pamela, has left him, leaving
nothing but a brief note. She has taken their two children. How far will
James go to save his marriage? What can Pamela do to stop the past
haunting her life? Will it be enough?
Praise and Reviews
This novel would work beautifully as a four act play. The dramatic tempo
is nearly perfect; the characters are well exposed in just their
dialogue. It would be riveting to hear this text spoken because it is
riveting enough on the page. The key to this working in either form, is
the gift of the author for wrenching emotions, and crushing self-doubt.
Has that made this a depressing story? Absolutely not. No.
`Second Chances' by Maria Savva, is actually very tight,
disregarding the fact the characters hop on international flights a
couple of times. We don't watch these two main characters from much
distance at any point of the story. This is very intimate, and a stage
would enhance that. It would be stunning.
The subject is quite sad, and very life-like. Pam and James do not
have a made-for-each-other marriage. What marriage they have, can hardly
bear the strain of silence they have imposed upon one another. Silence
they have created because they are each tormented, so deeply they cannot
express any part of it. Maria does not allow her characters any
privacy, nor does she introduce their problems over any gentle length of
time. Pam and James certainly arrived at this moment, over years of
strain and hesitation. But, Maria introduces them to us at the precise
point that they can no longer contain their individual torments. They
are literally flung apart, and we are washed by their heartache. We
don't journey to that point, we journey away from it.
How do people act, when broken so completely? They act rashly. How
do people confront the loss of nearly everything they hold dear? They
wallow in self accusation. In that one little slice of human nature,
Maria hangs her entire moral, and she does have one. Pam and James blame
themselves - more deeply than they blame one another. `Second Chances'
avoids any hints of a love story, the characters don't dwell on that
emotion; this is a doubt story. By finding a way to overcome their
self-doubts, Pam and James turn this into a story of trust. Something as
valuable as love could ever be.
Reviewed by Joel Blaine Kirkpatrick, author of 'Breathing into Stone'