Tuesday 12 March 2024

A mystery plant, the colour of flames...


While exploring the area not far from where the fictional town of Aloe Glen is situated in my novel, The Fire Portrait, I came across an extraordinary garden with a range of local and exotic succulents and cacti. One of these is the pictured here. I felt it captured not just the colour of the flames that consumed part of France's house in the book, but also the harsh climate in which it lived. Those fleshy leaves would have stored water to keep the plant alive in the searing heat of the semi-desert Karoo environment.  

But what is this plant? I have not managed to identify it, perhaps one of you might be able to? It is sitting among a bed of ice plants but it distinct from those...  The local gardener who had planted it was not available to help me, and I haven't been able to find out whether it is local or imported.   


When she arrives in the Karoo, Frances, the artist at the centre of The Fire Portrait, is at first dismayed by the seeming lack of variety and colour in the landscape. What would she find to paint? But then she begins to look more closely and finds bulbs that flower briefly, and cryptic stone plants that lurk at her feet. It turns out that when you are forced to look closely, or wait for flowers that appear only rarely, you appreciate them all the more. Frances discovers aloes that put up an orange spike in the winter, and waits for tiny succulents to erupt with colour after the rains.

It makes me think that we shouldn't forget to appreciate the small bursts of colour in our lives, rather than hankering for the big, showy events... 
As Frances says, when unveiling her paintings: 
There is beauty in the most remote places, if we're prepared to look hard enough...

  

Wednesday 28 February 2024

Behind the Books....


Just recently I have been talking to audiences about the research I did for my 3 novels... and sharing some of the snippets I found that sometimes do - or do not - appear in the book. Even if they do not, they may nudge the course of the story or add a particular deviation that I might not have expected when planning the plot... 



One such instance happened when I investigated the sinking of HMS Dorsetshire - one of the warships at the centre of my novel, The Girl from Simon's Bay. Dorsetshire was set upon by Japanese dive bombers off Ceylon in 1942, and sunk, along with her sister ship, HMS Cornwall.    

In my research, I noted that the Captain of the Dorsetshire, Augustus Agar VC, was wounded in the leg and taken to India with the survivors, including the hero of the novel, David Horrocks. But the heat of India proved unhelpful and Agar's wound turned septic. It was decided that he should be moved to a cooler place for further treatment - and this turned out to be The Royal Naval Hospital in Simon's Town, at the foot of Africa. Here was the factual snippet that gave me an opportunity to move the fictional plot in my favour... 

Given his condition, Captain Agar would probably have been accompanied on the voyage to Simon's Town by a fellow officer. I realised that I could choose David Horrocks for that role, before he was re-assigned elsewhere. And this would deliver David to Simon's Town, enabling him to meet up again with a young nurse at the RNH who once cared for him, and with whom he had fallen in love, and she with him... 
Every word, every moment with her, is a gift. 
How could I have imagined coming back to Simon's Town - and not meeting her?


Much of my research for The Girl from Simon's Bay took place at the Simon's Town Museum. Here I am, donating a copy of the book, and my latest novel, The Fire Portrait, to the Museum's Margaret Constant who helped me uncover the historical background to the novel. Thank you, Margaret!    

    

Monday 1 January 2024

Happy New Year! Sunrise on 2024...




Did you know that 2024 is set to be a record-breaking year? For example, there will be more elections in more countries than any other year in history. Some will be free and fair, some will not, but it it does mean that more of us will be putting our cross on a ballot than ever before. 


Will the leaders we choose - or don't choose - have the ability to confront the challenges that lie ahead? For example, this past year was the hottest on record and, according to opinion polls, most of us expect the world to be hotter this coming year. But those same polls also reflect optimism: we expect 2024 to be a better year, overall, than 2023. Will this come true? Who knows. 

Let's look at a few slightly more unusual happenings that will distract us in 2024.
Extra-terrestrially, there is one particular event that we will be watching: after an absence of some 50 years, astronauts will once again circle the moon and look down on its surface - and look back at us. Meanwhile, on earth, Paris will host an Olympics in which breakdancing will take its place alongside the more traditional sports. Then there is the 29th February 2024... a 'leap' day added every 4 years to keep our calendar in line with the solar year - and a day when, according to some traditions, a woman can take the initiative to propose marriage to her man! Out of this world!
And finally, don't forget National Marmalade Week in April in the UK... unmissable! 

Happy 2024!


Wednesday 6 December 2023

Escape into a book this Festive Season! Here are some of my favourites...


When we need inspiration or to get away from troubled times, a book can be both a catalyst and a refuge, if need be... a way to open our hearts and minds to a different world.
Walt Disney was right when he said:
"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island"! 


I'm sure you will have dipped into the great classics by Shakespeare, Jane Austen, DH Lawrence... so I have chosen to recommend books written more recently. It's a diverse choice - and how to limit it to 8? - listed in no particular order. Some fiction, some non-fiction, some long, some short, and all, in my humble opinion, extraordinary. Perhaps you might like to try one or two, if you haven't come across them before?   

The Children Act by Ian McEwan, a taut, thought-provoking, legal - and human - story.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Devastating youthful determination in time of conflict. 
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng. Far Eastern war story with an African connection 
Owls of the Eastern Ice by Jonathan C Slaght. The search for the world's largest owl amid daunting terrain and wild weather.
Peaches for Monsieur le Cure by Joanne Harris. Simply delicious.
The Talented Mr Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Seen the film? Prepare to be terrified even more by the original book.
Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen. The Boss reveals a fluent prose style on the long road to success.
Death in Holy Orders by PD James. The master of literary crime fiction at her best. 

Happy reading! 
And a peaceful 2024...   


Wednesday 15 November 2023

Making lesser Hero(in)es... some good, some decidedly crooked...


After identifying the main protagonists in your novel, the next task is to produce a layer of supporting characters. Some will be worthy, some may be weak or downright nasty! These folk will help to develop the plot or sub-plot, and ramp up the drama and challenge for my heroines to overcome.


I have to confess that I thoroughly enjoyed creating Rosemary - Miss Rose - in The Housemaid's Daughter. She is the indulged daughter of Ada's Irish employers, the Harringtons. Rose is jealous of Ada's kind nature and brilliance at the piano, and detests her mother's fondness for her housemaid. Rose doesn't get much time on the page, so every interaction has to be short and sharp. It's not often one can write withering putdowns, as when the young, unschooled Ada asks about numbers and what they mean. 
"I don't have time to explain," said Miss Rose, as she brushed her yellow hair in front of the mirror. "You haven't any money so you probably don't need to learn to count." 
The antipathy lasts a lifetime. When Rose's mother, Ada's beloved Mrs Cath, passes away, she grants Ada the right to be caretaker of Cradock House.
"I can stay?" I found myself murmuring. "Is that true, sir?" 
"Yes, it's true," snapped Miss Rose. "You've been angling for that from the very beginning."

What of Piet, the rogue in The Girl from Simon's Bay? He is a thief, ends up in a reformatory, fails to change his ways, defrauds the navy during the war, has the chance to make good but succumbs to drink and dies in an accidental conflagration. Poor Piet - I could sympathise with him. He wasn't a bad man, he simply lacked the will to save himself. And he did, I believe, set some teenage readers' hearts beating...

And then there is Wynand, the man who fire-bombs Frances's house in The Fire Portrait but is never brought to justice. In fact, he goes on to become an elected politician. He tries to flatter Frances by inviting her to visit him in his Parliamentary office, but she will not be fobbed off so easily.
"Are you worried, sir, that I still have the ability to expose you as an arsonist?"
I could see the calculation going on in his head.
Dismiss her with contempt? Or use her? 
"I am a different man, Mrs McDonald. Now, shall we have a photograph together?" 


Wednesday 1 November 2023

Making Heroines!


In each of my three novels, I created - I hope! - a heroine for her era. But how to go about that? How to create Ada, an illegitimate child born to a housemaid; Louise, born to parents who will one day be evicted from their home; and Frances, out of her depth as a newcomer in a community whose language she does not speak? 

The key is to know more about your character than you will ever reveal on the page. So, for example, what are her hobbies, fears, favourite food and music, bad or good habits, the clothes she likes to wear, her dreams or nightmares? This gives a platform - and also a hint of how she will react in certain circumstances. And, if you know her well, you will be able to give the reader a sense of her character with the smallest comment or passing thought...  

Louise, in The Girl from Simon's Bay, runs barefoot to the beach but must contain her carefree nature when she becomes a nurse in a formal uniform and carefully whitened shoes. Ada, in The Housemaid's Daughter, is taught classical piano by her Irish Madam but feels her soul lift when she hears the music of the townships, which she christens 'Township Bach'. And in The Fire Portrait Frances, clad in blue linen and a straw hat at the school gate, realises she needs to dress in trousers and velskoens (local leather shoes) to fit in. Learning some of the language helps Frances - and she keeps quiet about just how much she understands. After all, if the author keeps some of her character under wraps, then she can surely keep some secrets from the locals - although they keep a greater secret from her than she realises...

Did I base my heroines on real people? No. Ada, Louise and Frances are unique individuals who have sprung from the imagination and yet they - and the other characters in the novels - do contain snippets of those I've encountered throughout my life. Like the wonderful lady I met while stacking shelves as a student, and who taught me rudimentary Xhosa; the charming Coloured nurse who cared for me in hospital; the grandmother who taught me the piano and murmured about life in an arid, rural community, the politician whose deceit caused me to stand up in a public meeting...  

More next time!


Tuesday 17 October 2023

Soft revenge in The Fire Portrait

 


Frances McDonald, heroine of The Fire Portrait, had reason to seek revenge: her home has been set on fire, and the authorities are making no progress in bringing the perpetrator/perpetrators to justice. What to do? Leave Aloe Glen, the small rural town she has made her home, and run for cover back to Cape Town? She'd prefer to stay and fight but she's in an awkward situation: it is wartime, her husband is away in North Africa serving with the Allies, many of her neighbours feel more sympathy for the enemy, and she is regarded as an outsider in the community. 


It turns out there was a witness to the arson attack on her home: a youngster who can identify the perpetrator. But he is a minor and his evidence may be discounted as unreliable. The war ends and still there is no justice. Yet, slowly and steadily, France's resolve and patience begin to tell. She stands up in a public meeting and confronts the culprit. Several young people stand up beside her, along with their mothers who also know the truth. The code of silent acquiescence is dented. Even so, the culprit becomes a politician and achieves success. Yet so does Frances and, inadvertently, it is because of the fire: in its immediate aftermath she painted a portrait of herself using the charcoal and ash from the conflagration. The work becomes famous. But Frances is not yet done: she confronts the culprit in his parliamentary office and threatens to expose his actions to the press should he seek to intimidate the whistle-blowers. And when she turns her burnt home into an art gallery to display some of her singed paintings, she invites him to the opening ceremony to observe but not to speak. Everyone present now knows his culpability.
Everyone present now acknowledges the truth.
A soft, shadowy revenge, indeed...