Amber Dale

Amber Dale   Character Post 25

Amber Dale is a recurrent character in my writing. I haven't revisited her in a while, but she's the kind of person who is recognisable at any age. She popped up first in Down River, 1980.

Since she was about twelve then, she must have been born in about 1968. She turns up again in Time Off, The Suitcase, Winter-Spring Garden, Another Good Friend and All the Sea Between and, sort of, in Peri. At twelve, Amber is the second of three children, but since her elder brother doesn't impinge much on her life, she functions more like an elder child. She contrasts strongly with her younger sister Kerry, being more striking in feature, stature, personality and talent. This isn't Amber's fault, but it doesn't stop her from dominating her sister. Amber is a red-head, with long hair. She's assertive, and attractive in a way that draws people in. This is unfortunate sometimes, as she attracts her sister's friends, quite without

meaning to. As she grows into her teens, she remains much the same, succeeding effortlessly and coasting on popularity. She runs into trouble with an acerbic teacher who isn't fooled by her, but after a while they come to a truce, mainly because Amber's saving grace is her sense of humour. Not everything runs Amber's way. She is ill for a while and spends the convalescence campaigning to save an old house from destruction. She fails, though she comes to terms with this. Her next big setback happens a couple of years later when, poised to succeed yet again, (this time on stage), she gets the flu and almost loses her chance. Once more Amber pulls herself together. By now, at fifteen, she notices her sister growing up into a more assertive person and moving out from her shadow. Her innate sense of fair play comes in handy then. By now, Amber 

must be in her fifties in real time. I can picture her, still red of hair, indomitable of nature, striding around in a high-powered job (unless she's gone into the arts) and organising her family. It would serve her right if she has a daughter in her image! Speaking of images... here are two cover artists' impressions of her at 12 and 15.



ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author,anthologist and reader. She runs  Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. 2017 is now behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of February 18th 2018 I STILL haven't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books to come, and I'll certainly showcase those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, just for a change. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!