One Moment | Becky Hunter
Author Becky Hunter join us now to talk about her new book out March 2023 – and we reveal the cover! One to look forward to next year…
I think that, as a new author, the moment when you see the cover for your book – a book with your name on it – is the moment it feels real. It’s when you realise: you did this, all the work paid off, and it’s not long before people are going to be able to read this, if they want to. And when it’s the first time that happens, I think (though I’m just guessing), it feels even more special. So, speaking of ‘moments’, I’m beyond excited to be sharing the cover of my debut novel, One Moment, with My Weekly today!
One Moment is the story of Scarlett and Evie, who have been best friends since they were seven. They have the type of friendship that runs so deep, it’s built into foundations of who they are. They went to the same school, supported each other through university, moved to London together. When Scarlett gets her first job in fashion, Evie is the one she celebrates with. And when Evie is diagnosed with MS, Scarlett is the one who is there for her.
So when Scarlett dies, on the morning of the day that is supposed to make or break her career, because she stops to help a stranger, Evie completely falls apart. She cannot contemplate her life without her best friend – and she certainly can’t forgive Nate, the man she blames for Scarlett’s death. But Nate keeps popping up, catapulting Evie’s life in directions that, because of her illness, she never would have dreamed possible. Evie can’t deny the growing attraction to Nate, but it would feel like a betrayal to Scarlett, to let anything happen between them.
But Scarlett’s story isn’t over yet…
Unknown to Evie, Scarlett is still lingering after her death – forced to watch as her loved ones try to live without her. Not only that, but as she watches, she finds herself pulled back to defining moments of her life – forced to relive them exactly as they played out, even if she notices things she didn’t at the time. And what she doesn’t realise is that these memories are building towards something.
I wanted to write the story for so many different reasons. I lost one of my own friends when she was just 28 – a friend who made my London life bearable as I was floundering in my early years there. I still remember getting the call to tell me that she’d died, completely unexpectedly – and remember sinking to the ground where I was, completely falling apart. So in part, Evie’s grief of losing a close friend is something that was painfully familiar to write about. But I also wanted to reflect the fact that, sometimes, it’s not the romantic leads in our life that are most important – or at least, not only them. One Moment is a love story, yes, but it’s also a celebration of female friendship, and of the value it can bring to our lives.
And, of course, it’s a story about moments – or maybe that one moment. The moment you met your spouse. The moment you picked your degree, quit your job, fell pregnant. Or maybe just the moment you did something inconsequential, without thinking about it, as Scarlett does – not knowing that the consequences will be far bigger than you could possibly realise. I am a sucker for the what ifs in life, and perhaps that’s why I wrote this – because I hope it will appeal to other people who wonder, as I often do, what would have happened if they’d chosen another path along the way somewhere – what would have happened if that ‘one moment’ in their lives had been different.
But all that is for the future – for now, here is the cover, and I hope you like it!
