We get such a good
sense time and place in this collection, what is your relationship to France
and this era?
I first visited France in 1960, really not so long after the
end of WW2. I remember being in a car driving through Le Havre and seeing, to
my eyes, endless devastation: bomb sites, tottering walls, twisted metal and
amongst it all shops and people going about their daily life. As a child from
rural Wiltshire this had a big impact. I knew what bomb sites looked like from
my infrequent visits to London and Southampton, but Le Havre seemed to me to be
on a different scale. That summer I stayed with a British army family in
Picardy and saw how a small village got on with life without many of the
services and conveniences we take for granted today. The Algerian war of
independence was in its later stages, and I remember being told that if I saw
an Algerian I had to spit. I asked how I could tell if someone was from
Algeria, and was told in no uncertain terms that anyone I didn’t recognise from
the village came into this category. Fortunately I wasn’t called upon to
indulge in this unhygienic practice.
I studied French at A level and was fortunate to be able to
go on a study trip to Paris in the spring of 1968. No one explained about what
was going on, and in the Lycée Louis le Grand there was no access to radio or
television. It was only when I got home at the end of May that I found out
about the student riots and understood why hordes of young people had been
running through the streets waving placards and tearing up paving stones.
As an adult I’ve visited France for holidays and always
enjoyed exploring the small towns and villages, Visiting churches,
archaeological sites, markets, shops (especially the wonderful hardware shops
or quincailleries) and finding small
cafes and tabacs to enjoy a drink or the plat du jour. It was from these
holiday visits that I got the ideas for Forentan, which is an agglomeration of
many towns and villages.
The first story ‘Amelie at the Window’ was written in 2014,
the centenary of the start of World War 1. It was also a time of debate about
the role of the UK in Europe in the run up to the 2016 referendum which
resulted in the UK leaving the European Union. Ideas about conflict, national
identity, nationhood and international security were being hotly debated but I
was conscious that whatever happened, ordinary people, in ordinary towns trying
to lead ordinary lives would be affected in ways that could not be foreseen. So
I thought about an imaginary town, wondered about who lived there and using
historical facts as a starting point the town of Forentan and its inhabitants
came slowly to life.
Many people have
commented on how much they like the cover, can you comment on the art work?
At around the time that all these ideas were swirling around
in my head, my husband Roger painted a picture that became the back cover of
‘Amelie at the Window’. It was inspired
by an illustration his mother had cut off a box, and having painted it he was
wondering about the perspective; the artist is looking down at the street. We
talked about it and I wondered about someone looking through a first floor
window and then asked the magic question, what if…?
What if the
viewer was a young woman who could not leave the room?
What if the
street was in France/
What if this was in 1914
instead of 2014?
What if her
world, and the world around her, changed irrevocably?
I shared the first story with a writing group that I was
part of and was surprised to have very positive feedback and a request for more
stories about what Amelie saw through her window. As these stories started to
take shape, Roger painted a bespoke picture of Amelie, looking though her window
on a dark autumn evening at the young man that she is infatuated with. Roger
incorporated the church, the dairy, the run down tabac with the volatile
Fischers drinking themselves into oblivion outside it, even Amelie’s father
leaving his milliner’s shop for a meeting outside the dairy. Some of the
details from the front cover reappear in the book, along with line drawings by
Roger and also by my daughter Katharine. A real family effort, especially as
son Tom did some proof reading.
What advice would you
give to people who want to write historical fiction?
This is difficult for me to answer because I didn’t set out
to write historical fiction. The collection started as a story about a young
girl who was unable to leave her room! I guess everyone will have their own
reasons for writing historical fiction and their own knowledge levels as
starting points. I have talked about some of my starting points above, but for
me there other drivers and inspirations. First of all I had some knowledge of
the period, having studied twentieth century European history. Then there was a
degree of personal knowledge. For example, sickness and disease are a theme in
many of the stories, and my father used to recall in graphic detail the
treatment he had for diphtheria in the early years of the twentieth century (he
was born in 1906). The condition we now recognise as PTSD was known as shell
shock when I was a little girl, and I remember survivors of the Second World
War shouting and cowering in the street. I was simply told ‘don’t stare’. Also don’t underestimate the need for
research. I have a research background, so this is the most enjoyable part for
me, but I have to remember not to get carried away and give too much detail.
This is after all fiction but I think it’s vital to be accurate with dates,
historical events and (in these stories) the emergence of technology.
I like to write about what connects us as human beings,
regardless of time and place. We all have our hopes and dreams; some of these
we can realise, many we never can. In these stories the slow emergence of
female emancipation is portrayed. The lives of the women of Forentan are substantially
changed as a result of the conflict. For example we see Amelie choosing to go
to Paris and refusing to take holy orders, we see Marie-Pierre running a
successful restaurant and Monique renouncing her vows and moving to England
with her husband. But at the end of the day, it is the widowed Hortense who has
to scrape a living in her smallholding and care for her shell-shocked son on
her own.
So my advice would be, if you are interested in an
historical period, interested in people, interested in research go for it and
see what happens!
What other sorts of
materials do you write?
I write mostly short stories and flash fiction. I enjoy
writing poetry and I’ve written a few short plays. Because I came late to
creative writing, I don’t want to concentrate on any one theme or genre. I get
lots of ideas from the world around me; people, the natural world, places and
events are all grist to my creative mill and come out in all sorts of formats.
The most difficult for me is probably humour. I get a huge sense of
satisfaction when I write something that is funny, quirky, or amusing in some
way.
In my professional life I was a subject librarian in a
university and in that capacity wrote academic, peer-reviewed articles and
research papers. It took a long time to make the change to creative writing
when I retired and even now when I get the chance to do some research, analyse
and review evidence, then write it down, I feel quite at home.
What did you most
enjoy about producing this book?
Without doubt writing the stories was the best bit. As
explained above, I also enjoyed the research but it was letting the characters
develop that gave me the most pleasure. I used to think ‘what would Gaston do
here?’ or ‘how would Christine deal with this situation?’ Sometimes I felt I knew my characters better
than I knew my own family. I’m very fortunate to have a family who not only
give me support and encouragement when it’s needed but also very practical help
in terms of artistic input and proof reading as I’ve described earlier in this
interview. It was great to have so much talent to call upon.
I was fortunate to have Debz Hobbs-Wyatt as my editor. I
enjoyed working with her, fortunately we saw eye to eye on most things and I
was able to go to her for help and suggestions over a number of points.
Seeing it in print was amazing. When the box of books
finally arrived I was completely blown away.
What was the most
difficult?
I didn’t enjoy sending the manuscript out to publishers.
Because Amelie had been with me for so long, I could not bear the thought of
rejection. This sounds silly; as a writer, rejection is a part of what I do,
but Amelie was very special to me and it felt like sending a child to school
for the first time. The day that I signed a contract with Bridge House was
simply amazing. I honestly never thought Amelie and I would get that far.
The promotional work posed quite a challenge, and it still
does. I enjoy talking to groups, going to book fairs etc and I take every
possible opportunity to do this, and it’s great of Gill to ask me onto this
blog. But because I’m not very mobile and live in a semi-rural area, going
round bookshops and nobbling potential outlets is a challenge. I’m a member of
the Society of Authors and belong to their local group which is useful for
networking and events, and as of March 2026 I’m Writer in Residence at my local
library.
What’s your next
project?
As a long time contributor to CaféLit, I have thought about
asking if Bridge House would publish a collection of my short stories that they
have published over the last ten years or so. Another possibility is a pamphlet
of poetry, but that might be something just to do on my desktop and circulate
among friends. I’ve also got a secret project in mind, whether or not that
comes to anything we’ll see.
Do you have other
comments?
#nevertoolate
As an older writer, I’m constantly on the lookout for ways
to keep my horizons as wide as possible and to keep in touch with contemporary
writing and culture. This can be quite a challenge, perhaps especially because
I’m not very mobile and live in a quiet, of the way area. This is where social
media can be wonderful, but it’s a two-edged sword and can be intimidating and
difficult to access for the very people who could benefit from it the most.
Here are some ideas that other people might find useful.
1.Libraries
are a marvellous resource. Here in Dorset we have a network of Digital
Champions who give free help to anyone who has problems accessing and using
online materials. Other local authorities have similar schemes, ask in your
library or check the library website.
2. Don’t be
afraid to ask friends or relations (especially younger ones!),
3. Join a
writing group. Ask in your library, U3A groups often have one.
4. If you
are a published author, consider joining the Society of Authors.
5. Read as much as possible,
especially in the genre you are writing. Don’t forget the wealth of online
reading material. CaféLit https://cafelit.co.uk/is
a great starting point.
find your copy of Amelie at the Window here
