Fort Langley author Alyssa Hall started writing in 2019 while she was in treatment for breast cancer, an experience, she said, that gave her a sense of her own mortality.
“I wanted to do something powerful that I had always been afraid to try,” she shared.
Hall was born in Newmarket, Ontario, and grew up in a multigenerational dysfunctional household of Russian war refugees.
“I had very little self confidence,” Hall recalled. “I developed a vivid imagination and was always inventing stories in my head. I would watch life around me and create my own version of the lives of everyday people, formulating my own beginnings and endings.”
She wished to write those stories.
Until she discovered who she was after escaping her household to Europe, it was when she came to British Columbia in 1987 that found a support network and started her writing journey.
“I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to be able to express myself through my stories,” she said.
Hall credits her friend and colleague, Frank (who is credited at the back of her novels), for his support and mentorship.
“My characters overcome things the way I did, and they could make differences in the most profound ways. When needed, I could simply write a new character or new circumstance to help create a good conclusion. I can’t do that in real life,” Hall said.
Now, her fifth book And Then I Heard The Quiet recently released and will be officially presented at a book launch in Fort Langley on Wednesday, May 22.
The psychological thriller is set against the backdrop of the events of Robert Pickton’s pig farm murders and the 2010 Olympics. The narrative follows Valerie, who is haunted by nightmares of her past and seeks solace in a house-sitting position in Fort Langley, only to find herself entangled in a drug trafficking scheme.
Readers will follow Valerie as she unravels a murder mystery within the home she’s caring for, and as she grapples with her past.
Hall said she hopes her readers learn through Valerie’s character that nobody is perfect and to be kinder to themselves.
“We get held back by insecurities and circumstances, and I think talking to someone is helpful, but so is good self talk. I think we are all capable of so much – often much more than we give ourselves credit for.”
The book launch, including a book signing, starts at 5:30 p.m. at Trail’s End Cafe, located at 23285 Billy Brown Rd.
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