Dear Ken Follett,

I love Ellen's sexuality, beauty, strength and anger. Why did you choose her to be such an opposite to Agnes's character? Why did you have Tom Builder get so involved with her right after his soul mate's passing? To demonstrate her bewitching ways? Or that men are pigs?

— Eve R.

Dear Eve,

Sometimes you have to follow your instinct as a writer. I know the love scene between Ellen and Tom is the last thing you expect, but it seemed to me that something strange had to happen after the terrible trauma of birth and death in the forest. Tom needs some affirmation that life can go on, and Ellen appears like a vision to prove it to him. Weird? I know!

— Ken Follett