Closing in

The realities of the life of an undesirable person are beginning to hit Clara. She has to travel third class. She must dress sombrely, in second hand clothes. She experiences hunger and cold. She watches other people suffer. She begins to feel her age. 

She is a little lonely and a little homesick. She is amongst a society whose religion is now strange to her.  

Yet even in these circumstances she experiences kindness. She enjoys the sunshine. She looks forward to the spring. She remains optimistic and tries to render these people a service also.

It’s quite difficult to get this right. The time in Rexingen must seem harsh, though even harsher times are to come. Yet we do know that she was a positive influence on the people around her. We have an eye-witness account of this. It has to be her own spiritual belief that makes her positive.

The balance for me as a writer between making the text palatable but not sanitising the story also remains. Am I actually working on a book that will be viable?

Still, however, I come back to the fact that Clara’s story must be told.