CLARE'S WAR - Story

Clare’s War is the third novel to go on Kindle.

There are times when publishers are looking for a novel on a specific subject.  They then they ask one of their writers if they would consider doing so.  I have written several at their suggestion - Advances, Molly’s Flashings, Hector’s Hobbies, the trilogy The Cresswell Inheritance and Clare’s War were all suggested to me in one way or another.   There have been others which, on reflection, I decided I could not do - either I did not like the subject or was not interested in it or I felt it was one which was beyond my capabilities or knowledge.  There was never any pressure but I always felt it was courteous to think about it.

     So, I was asked if I would consider working on a novel set in France during the Second World War, particularly involving the Resistance.  I needed to read a lot around the subject since most of what we know about France during that period is from the English standpoint and, it has to be admitted, is not always complimentary to the French.  It was a fascinating subject to research.

    It was by sheer chance, looking through a magazine that I learnt that of the thousand medals bestowed by the French, after the end of the war, only six were awarded to women.  It seemed a paltry number.  Had they done nothing?  Unlikely, I thought. 

     Fortunately I was living in France at the time, in the Auvergne which, wild and mountainous as it is, was a centre for the resistance.  Memories were fresh as if it had happened yesterday.  On the road below our house two young men had been executed.  Our neighbour’s house, which is higher than ours had been requisitioned by the Germans as a look out post.  The more I enquired the more I learnt; a farmer’s family, close by, had sheltered a Jewish family for the whole of the war.  We were warned not to patronise a certain shop since the owner’s father had been a collaborator.   The fallout from the war was all about us, and who had been in the thick of it - the women.  It was they kept the network going, delivering food, printing papers, hiding people, transporting Jewish refugees, nursing the wounded, always with the knowledge that if they were found out they would be shot.

     So I decided I would write this novel from a woman’s point of view, but she would be English.  I began the novel but after ten thousand words felt it was not right and started again.  Something told me that it should be in the 1st person.  I had never attempted this nor wanted to, but, it was right for this book and once the decision was made then Clare’s adventure really began.

    

      

Lottery's Story

When I posted the story behind Love the Bright Foreigner I received so many emails saying how interested they were to learn how it came about.  While their starts are not so dramatic, I decided to explain a little about each new one when it appears on Kindle.

Lottery.  This book was first published in 1995,  it came about purely by chance.  I often write on the subject of money and the affect it can have on an individual or on their friends and family.  I know from experience that having great wealth does not always make people happy - even though I find that puzzling for I’m sure I would be happy!

It also raised another interesting point for me, that is, why do some people see a story that needs to be told and yet the next person does not.

One evening, watching TV, there was a news cast about a woman who had won a small fortune on the football pools.  She looked to be early sixties, and as if she had worked hard all her life.  A very mumsy sort of woman.  Surrounded by her family they were hugging her and saying what a great mother she was and it couldn’t have happened to a better peron . . . the usual, somewhat banal expressions.  But then I noticed at the back was a young man with a steely expression and a chill ran down my spine.  “It’s all lovely,” I said to Bill, “What about that blog at the back. I don’t like the look of him, I wonder what comes next?  There’s a book in this.”

      “I don’t see it myself,” Bill said with a shrug.

      I knew there was; how would she cope?  How would her relationships pan out?  What would happen within the family?  Some of you know that once I have a premise or theme, I make a list of words I related to the theme.  So soon I had a listl; jealousy, avarice, suspicion, gratitude, bullying, love . . . on and on went my list.

     The problem I had however was making the subject of football and the pools, sexy and enticing.  Difficult.  My editor was not over enthusiastic about the project and I could not blame her.  I had serious doubts myself.

     Then, suddenly, all was resolved.  The Prime Minister, John Major, bless his cotton socks, announced there was to be a national lottery.  However, another difficulty loomed; this lottery was some time away and so I had to write the book imagining how the winner would be treated, what ceremony would there be.  Camelot, were as helpful as they could be but they themselves did not know what the final result and the machinations would be.  So I carried on in the dark - made it up as I went along since I had to write it in time for the November launch of the real lottery.  I did it!  There was plenty of time left over, we could present the book at the very same time.

     Now, publishers move in interesting ways which we mere mortals cannot understand and never will.  For reasons unknown, the launch date was to be in the summer - the following year!  I am not a publisher nor am I an advertising expert, marketing is a mystery to me BUT in my opinion they were daft, pure and simply daft not to ride on the wave of publicity the lottery and Camelot created.     

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KINDLE and ME

Well, I’ve done it!  I’ve taken that step into the unknown!.  I’m part of the brave new future from which there’s no turning back. I’ve put a book on Kindle.

  So what, everyone is doing it, what’s the fuss?  I can hear you say. I am aware of that, I’ve friends galore who have been up and running for months.  I didn’t expect the reaction I had, it took me by surprise how emotional I felt at sending the book into the ether. It was different and it was exciting and, in a strange way, it was moving.

   My backlist is long and choosing which novel to be first was difficult. Eventually I chose Love the Bright Foreigner. It was the first book I wrote though it was the second one that was published.  Subsequently it has a special meaning to me and, since it had been out of print for some time, it would be nice to give it a second chance.

   When I wrote it we were facing financial wipe-out from a disastrous venture into the hotel business - having converted our lodge in the Northern Highlands of Scotland - there was no Ruth Watson to come to our rescue in those days.  A stern letter from the bank arrived just as I was watching a programme on Charlotte Lamb on television, telling of her success and huge earnings from writing.  To console my partner and my sons and to lift their spirits from the doom which the bank manager had created, I was laughing as I suggested we wrote a best seller.   We trooped into the kitchen, the only warm part of the house, armed with paper and pencil and began.  Two hours later, I looked up and I was alone.  The others, bored had drifted off.  With a start I realised that I had become totally lost, immersed in my story, that what had been a joke was nothing of the sort.  I knew instantly that there was no going back, I had to finish it.

  There are people who are born under lucky stars and I am one of them.  For the year before, on holiday on Mull, we had met and made friends with, Mic, a literary agent who when we said goodbye had asked me when I wrote a book to send it to her.  I fell about laughing and explained I would never write, that I didn’t want to, it was the last thing I would ever do.  ‘I think you will - one day,’ she replied.
 
   So, when I had finished my novel, we had no idea what to do next until we remembered the meeting on Mull, I wrote to her, she phoned, I sent the typescript and twenty-four hours later I had an agent.  In my ignorance I had no idea how difficult it was and is to be taken on.  See what I mean about lucky stars?

    Still in Scotland, I had caught the bug and immediately started writing my second novel - Distinctions of Class.  From having no desire to write I now could not stop and twenty five years and twenty three novels later I am still writing.  The truth is I don’t know what I would do with my time if I stopped nor what filled it before I became a writer.

     I have met so many wonderful people during this career of mine, fellow authors, publishers, book sellers, journalists, students and readers.  It is a wonderful career path to take and it all started with a bleak day in the Highlands, a letter from the bank, Charlotte Lamb, a chance meeting on Mull and a book called Love the Bright Foreigner so I feel it had earned the right to be published first this time.