An Interview with Rachel Lorimer, a pivotal character in The Patient Man, by Joy Ellis

An Interview with Rachel Lorimer, a pivotal character in The Patient Man, by Joy Ellis

The Patient Man is the sixth in the popular Jackman & Evans series, where detectives DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans are pitted against their arch nemesis, psychopath Alistair Ashcroft in a lethal game of cat-and-mouse. But are the good detectives the cats or the mice?

Joy’s intimate knowledge of the misty Fenlands of Lincolnshire is woven throughout the novel. The remoteness of the Fens makes it a perfect place for a psychopath like Ashcroft to hide — and that much more difficult for the detectives to locate. That eerie sense of isolation presses against the ever-growing tension until it wraps around the narrative. The feeling of authenticity and realism is enhanced again by Joy’s uncanny ability to distil what it is to be human into her characters. At the same time, the investigation into the crime is steeped in Joy’s expert research of police procedure, aided by her partner, Jacqueline, a highly decorated retired police officer.

Put together, The Patient Man achieves that rare accomplishment of being truly escapist in its authenticity, and, in the words of one reader, ‘a refuge from the horrors of the pandemic, and a tiny slice of sanity in a world gone mad.’

We are delighted to feature this character interview!

I approach the ramshackle old farmhouse with some trepidation. The place is surrounded by equally dilapidated barns, animal stalls and caravans that have seen better days. Weeds grow everywhere around rusty farm equipment, but even so, there is an air of industry about the place. Rachel Lorimer and her dysfunctional family are sad victims of the past, when many years ago these remote and rural hamlets saw cousins marrying cousins, sometimes with tragic repercussions for their children and grandchildren. 

Rachel does not have the reputation for welcoming strangers into her home, but I am led into a surprisingly clean and tidy sitting room, and even offered tea. 

Joy: I really appreciate you talking to me, Rachel. I know it’s not something you are comfortable with.

Rachel: We keep ourselves to ourselves, it’s true. Best that way.

Joy: It can’t be easy, living so far off the beaten track, with no neighbours and the nearest village having no transport and no amenities?

Rachel: It suits us. And we do have cars these days, unlike when I was a girl; it was take the old horse and trap, or a bicycle, if one of your brothers hadn’t pinched it.

Joy: I’m told your father was a blacksmith and a farrier?

Rachel, in a softer tone: Caleb was the best there was. People came to Hawker’s Fen from all over. Weren’t nothing he couldn’t do with iron and metal. I still miss him, always will.

Joy: And your husband died many years ago, so you’ve had the responsibility of five children to bring up alone. That must have been really tough on you?

Rachel: Didn’t you forget the bit about all five having… what do you call it these days… learning difficulties? That’s the part that most people harp on about, that my kids are not quite normal, whatever that is! I love my kids, everyone of them, and I don’t see their disabilities as shortcomings, it’s what they are, how God intended them, and I’d never have them any other way.

Rachel has four boys and a girl, Levi, Paul, Noah, Jacob and Esther. Each one has a different kind of difficulty to contend with, the worst affected being the youngest lad, Jacob, who is still very much a child in his ways, despite his size and strength. He loves nature and has a way with animals that is nothing short of miraculous. 

Joy: I did hear that when they were younger, there were all sorts of problems regarding schooling, and they were stopped from using the school bus as there was a certain amount of disruption?

Rachel, angrily: And they didn’t start any of it! Children can be very cruel. Would you sit quiet while your brothers and sister were being called names and bullied? She pauses and sighs. Mind you. they might not have started things, but I have to admit my Paul’s temper might have ended a few of those ‘disruptions’. But they should never have been let down like they were. We had no transport back then, and the school was over five miles away. How could they get there? It wasn’t fair, not at all.

There is a loud crack; a report from an air rifle, followed by a little whoop of delight, and I look up anxiously.

Rachel: Don’t worry, it’s just Noah shooting rats.

Joy: Oh, I see. He’s a good shot?

Rachel: Fair, I s’pose, but not as good as me. Caleb taught me well, and I taught Esther. She’s a better shot than any of her brothers. The only one who doesn’t shoot is Jacob, bless him. He loves every living thing and hates the others shooting anything, even rabbits for a pie.

Joy: So, now all your family are either teenagers and adults.

Rachel: And damned hard workers everyone. Despite their failings, and lack of education that was not their fault, we are tight knit here. We look after our beasts well, grow as much as we need to survive, and look out for each other. We don’t need no outsiders here, don’t trust ‘em.

Joy: But you do trust DS Marie Evans of the Fenland Constabulary, don’t you, Rachel?

Rachel: She’s the only copper I do trust! Well, apart from her boss, that DI Jackman, he’s a good man, and he’s been fair with us, unlike most! She smiles a little sadly Caleb knew Marie’s father, they were friends, and Marie’s like her Dad. Got a good heart and she tries to understand my beloved kids. I’ve got a lot of time for her.

Joy: You must have. You risked a lot to help them with their last murder case. In fact, you risked everything.

Rachel, wiping a tear from her eye: But I didn’t risk as much as my darling son, he paid the ultimate price.

Joy: I’m so sorry for your loss, Rachel, really I am.

I wonder if I should leave now, but Rachel is pouring more tea.

Rachel: We’ve suffered more than most, and that’s a fact. The last months have been a nightmare that would have torn some families apart, but we old Fenlanders are tough. We’ve survived, well, with that one sad exception, but I think we’ve learned from it. She smiles sadly as she hands me my cup. And some good has come out of it, and that’s what we have to cling on to. I think things are finally looking up for the Lorimers.

We chat about life on the Fens, drink more tea, and I leave, feeling a strange mix of pity and admiration for Rachel Lorimer. I wonder as I drive away down the long lonely fen lane, if I’ll ever meet a stronger woman, and soon come to the conclusion that it’s very unlikely indeed.

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Joy grew up and lived in Kent, trained in floristry in Mayfair and ran her own highly successful floristry business in Weybridge for many years. Following the recession in 1991, her business, along with many others, folded to the pressures of supermarkets and, after a period of living practically out of the back of her car, in the mid-1990s, she followed her lifelong love of books, becoming the manager of an independent bookshop in Leatherhead, Surrey, and later a writer. When she retired, Joy and her partner, Jacqueline (a highly decorated police officer), and their two spaniels settled in a village just outside Boston, captivated by the Lincolnshire Fens. 

Joy’s love of writing starting in the mid-90s, when she took part in a writing retreat run by Sue Townsend, but it wasn’t until much later that she’d put pen to paper. After the prerequisite series of rejections, Joy signed with publisher Robert Hale, but it was not initially the success story she hoped. Years later, Jasper Joffe of Joffe Books, stumbled upon Joy’s writing quite by chance, hooked in by her book The Murderer’s Son. He tried to track her down, but her books had gone out of print, she wasn’t on social media, and there were no contact details on the publisher’s website. Joffe thus reached out to Ellis through a local Lincolnshire paper, and since signing with Joffe Books, Joy is now a multi-million copy selling author, a No. 1 Amazon bestseller, and now, a British Book Awards shortlisted author – a true testament to never giving up.

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