Martina Cole’s novels look long and hard at the consequences of violence – what happens to people who’ve been violently treated and how they cope, or don’t. Her latest book, THE TAKE – already a hardback No. 1 – is about family, jealousy and betrayal. Jackie’s caught in a destructive marriage with Freddie, an ex-con who wants to be a Face, while Maggie wants to get out of the life her mother and sister endure. Jackie’s obsessed with her unfaithful husband, even though sometimes she wishes he was still banged up, because at least then she’d know where he was. Maggie’s looking for a better life, albeit with Jimmy, Freddie’s cousin, but she’s going to find it hard to escape family ties.
At the moment Martina is writing her next book, CLOSE. We don’t want to give too much away at the moment, but it’s about the women left behind while their men are in prison, and what they have to do to keep their families together.
Martina Cole’s novels look long and hard at the consequences of violence – what happens to people who’ve been violently treated and how they cope, or don’t. Her latest book, THE TAKE – already a hardback No. 1 – is about family, jealousy and betrayal. Jackie’s caught in a destructive marriage with Freddie, an ex-con who wants to be a Face, while Maggie wants to get out of the life her mother and sister endure. Jackie’s obsessed with her unfaithful husband, even though sometimes she wishes he was still banged up, because at least then she’d know where he was. Maggie’s looking for a better life, albeit with Jimmy, Freddie’s cousin, but she’s going to find it hard to escape family ties. 