by Elisabeth Rose

I must have been about six I think, (we’re talking late 1950’s) when Mum and Dad took me and my brother to see Hansel and Gretel at the movies. I think it was the same outing when my great aunt and uncle were with us and my Great Uncle Billy came back from the loo in the dark and almost sat on my brother which could well be my brother’s first scary movie memory. I don’t remember much else except being in the theatre sitting on those old fashioned fake leather flip up seats with wooden arm rests. Mum says every time the wicked witch appeared I hid under the seat until she said it was safe to come out.

The next scary movie I remember was a few years later when I was about twelve. I’ve no idea what it was but it involved a ventriloquist’s doll that came to life and did evil, scary things. It wasn’t Chucky; it was earlier than that but it put me off puppets for life. There’s something seriously creepy about them. The Muppets are about all I can take in puppet world now.

Next came Deliverance. I went with a boyfriend who arrived one evening depressed about something so we decided to go to a movie in an attempt to cheer him up. We didn’t know anything about it beforehand, unfortunately. Bad choice. Feral hillbillies with guns hunting city slickers in beautiful mountain scenery wasn’t an antidote to the blues. We were both terrified and he blamed me for taking him!

As a parent I think the scariest thing is the thought of something happening to your child. When he was about two my son wandered away from us at the shops. One minute he was standing with us while we looked at a stand of sun hats outside a chemist shop and the next minute he’d gone. Completely. It was the most terrifying experience of my life. My husband ran one way and I ran the other. Fortunately I found a couple of policemen who sprang into action. One immediately called it in to roving police cars in case he’d been abducted and one went off searching in the direction I’d been heading. A couple of minutes later that lovely constable came back with my sobbing, darling boy still clutching his little toy car. He’d followed the wrong person and ended up at the other end of the block.

I’ve never forgotten that mind numbing fear and whenever I see a missing child case on the news I know exactly what the parents are experiencing.

In Evidence Of Love my heroine Lara’s world revolves around her toddler son and she will do anything to protect him. When the past she has desperately tried to avoid catches up with her a parent’s worst nightmare becomes real. Her baby is taken.

She survived years as a gangland wife, sacrificing everything to the family. But now they’re threatening the one thing that she will never, ever give up — her child. 

When Maja’s abusive gang boss husband Tony is murdered, she takes the opportunity to flee, change her name, and leave her criminal family and her past behind. As Lara Moore, she and her toddler son Petey live quietly in suburban Sydney. Then, one act of kindness threatens to reveal her secrets and unravel the threads of her new life. But Detective Nick is dedicated and determined, the antithesis of everything she was brought up to believe about the police. Slowly, Maja finds herself drawn out of her shell and into his protective embrace.

Investigating Detective Nick Lawson doesn’t know what it is about the prickly, reclusive young mother that attracts and intrigues him, but as the facts about her crime-steeped family emerge, Nick doubts whether his career would survive this relationship, even if she were interested.

Then, to Lara’s horror, her past meets her present, and thoughts of love and a future are lost as the fight for her child begins.

To win a copy of Elisabeth’s book, leave a comment telling us the first scary movie you saw (or the first scary movie you can remember seeing). Bonus entry points if the movie is not, in fact, scary at all.

Remember to include your email address, so we can contact you if you win!