Cover art by Gregory Rogers

When I open up my workshop sessions for questions from the audience almost invariably I am asked the question, ‘Out of all the books you have written, which is your favourite?’ Believe it or not this is the most difficult question I ever have to answer. That’s because I don’t have a favourite book – just favourite bits of each and every one of them. It might be a character, a piece of dialogue, a description of place or an event that, when I look back, still excites me.

In Leaving no Footprints my favourite bit has always been the ending. Soon after the book was first released I spoke to an adult Book Club. Before I started talking about the ideas, the motivation, the characters, the plot, I asked each person, in turn, what they thought had happened at the end. From that group of twelve people who had all read the same book, four different endings emerged. I felt very happy. It meant that I had managed to write an ending that allowed my readers to be part of the story, to put their own interpretation on the words and actions of the characters and to keep the story alive in their heads long after they had closed the pages of the book.

This week, while turning Leaving no Footprints into my second eBook, I have changed a few words of that last sentence. The possibility for multiple endings is still there. But I will be fascinated to hear how people react. And I can’t wait to use the new sentence alongside the old one in future workshop sessions.