BORDER LINE
 

This is a love story with a difference. Grace is at the end of her tether. She joins ten other people and they travel like tourists across Slovenia. They follow a leader, Daniel, who promises them a sure and safe exit. They have twenty-one days in which to make their choice of life, death... or love.

This story has had a long gestation. It started life perhaps fifteen years ago, as an almost comic novel about a group of very miscellaneous people on a bus, each of whom plans to commit suicide, but is forbidden to talk about it.

    When I took up the story many years later, it became Grace’s story and, after a while, a first person story – almost an extended letter. It has gained and lost a complex framework from a different time, it has grown and shrunk by many thousands of words. What has remained is my interest in whether we can choose how to end our lives and how such choices affect other people.

    It has been through three major revisions (a literary consultant, an interested agent, another literary consultant). It has generated attention, but not, in the end, attracted an agent and the subject matter is certainly a tricky sell.

    In spite of this dark subject matter, this is a positive story about love and kindness, about finding self-worth and enjoying the world as you find it.

SLOVENIA

THREADGOLD PRESS

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Review


Border Line by Hilary Custance Green is a book I couldn't put down. The writing weaves the eleven characters into its landscape of Slovenia, which is vividly described.  The reader gets intrigued on how they interact and change through taking this journey. The reader is carried along by Hilary's fluid style which reveals their stories and the drama exercises which gradually alter the group's dynamics.

 

The love story is strong and believable and although the reader like me may well cry, they also feel the joy of pure living. It's a refreshing book which is open in dealing with difficult subjects such as suicide and assisted dying.

 

I would have no hesitation in recommending it. It's far from morbid but life confirming and I found myself embracing the characters whatever their decision with unconditional love. An amazing achievement.


Alanna McIntyre (by email)

  1. This is a love story with mass appeal

  2. It discusses topical issues of suicide and assisted dying

  3. It provides ideal material for reading group discussion

  4. The story includes extensive travel in Slovenia

  1. Publication: 5 December 2014

  2. ISBN paperback: 978-0-9560127-2-2

  3. ISBN ebook: 978-0-9560127-3-9

  4. Extent: 224 pages

  5. BIC code: FA