With the run up to publication on Monday, and again throughout next week, I shall be blogging about some of the characters in The Coal Miner’s Son. My first character is new to the ‘House of Grace’ series and she is in fact a beautiful red setter named Tassles.
What inspired me to include a red setter?
Well, as a child I was always very nervous about dogs. I’m sure this was due to dogs running loose along the streets without owners all the time, that’s what they did when I grew up in the fifties and sixties. My late sister and I used to be so frightened of the dogs running after us that we’d throw our sweets to them in the hope they’d go away. Of course, we didn’t realise at the time, this made them follow us all the more. My fear wasn’t helped when my late sister was bitten on the top of her thigh when minding her own business, just enjoying a rope swing over the brook. The fear of dogs stayed with me until my early twenties when I was married and had a family. So what changed?
I made a new friend who had a bouncy red setter named Tassie. At first I was scared of Tassie but in time, not only did I warm to her, but started to look forward to seeing her when I visited my friend.
My first husband loved dogs and desperately wanted to own one. His preference was a German Shepherd but I put my foot down and said if we’re going to have a dog then we’ll have a red setter. We both agreed that we should contact the red setter rescue society to see if we could get a dog that needed a home.
The procedure to adopt a rescue dog from the Red Setter Rescue Society wasn’t easy. It was like adopting a child. We had numerous visits to our house when we were asked questions as to where the dog would be allowed and the representative also wanted to meet the other family members. We were ecstatic when it was agreed that our home was perfect to give a dog a home. But then it was a waiting game.
After a few weeks we finally got a phone call to say they had a dog available, she was just under two-years-old and desperate for a new home because her owners were getting a divorce and neither of them wanted her. Would we like her? Of course we would. We set out on a hundred mile round trip and brought back this scatty red setter, named Ginny.
I don’t mind telling you I was nervous of Ginny when we first got her but after a couple of weeks we all adjusted and she soon became part of our family. Ginny was a bouncy red setter just like Tassles in The Coal Miner’s Son. No wonder George falls in love with Tassles.
I hope you enjoy the addition of Tassles in The Coal Miner’s Son.
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Don’t forget publication date is 9th March 2020 and the Pre-order button is now available on Amazon. Click here to order.
Patricia M Osborne 