Teesdale author Anne Fine's new novel is a real Battle of Wills

FEW things are more likely to cause trouble in a family than a will that one or another of the beneficiaries reckons to be unfair.
And that, says Barnard Castle-based author Anne Fine, is why she chose the topic for her eighth novel for adults, published this week.
Ms Fine said: “I loved writing Battle of Wills. It’s a black comedy and the idea came from a friend.
“He described a quite astonishing altercation he’d had with his sister in front of the vicar, halfway through their mother’s burial.
“It was hard to see how anyone could care so deeply about ‘fairness’ as to make such a scene over the grave. But only a day or so later, I came across the self-same level of furious resentment in a letter to the money pages of a Sunday paper.
“Over the months, the two stories began to merge in my mind, and Battle of Wills was born.”
Ms Fine said that although she is seen principally as a writer for children, she’s always enjoyed writing for adults.
“It’s gloves-off writing,” she said.
“You can let fly. We all know only too well how easily quarrels can start up in a family.
“I like to delve into what my characters really think and feel. They’re normal people, in normal families, and under the sorts of pressures with which most of us have to deal. Then something blows.”
She added: “What I love is that, when readers come up to talk about the novels afterwards, they so often say, ‘You must have been a fly on the wall in our house when...’  And out comes a tale that pretty well mirrors the novel I’ve written. Or even, for pure drama, puts my story to shame.”
Battle of Wills is now available as an E-book or paperback.