On Ashover Hill
What can you tell our readers about your new novel On Ashover HIll?
Set over 103 years, the book starts with the grim discovery of a skeleton hand being discovered on a exclusive building site called On Ashover Hill in 2046. It then shoots back to 1943 and joins William McTeer in the sweltering heat of a Naples day where, as a young sergeant, he tries to whip his new recruits into shape.
The book then works through the decades and many great cities across Europe as William meets the love of his life, Francesca, and the dynasty is born.
On Ashover Hill is titanic tale of a family and its journey through life. Much love and romance is here, as well as intrigue, passion, lust and violence.
The novel starts in 1943 – how much research did you have to put into it?
I have a photo, taken in a sunny Naples parade ground in October 1943, of the sergeant’s mess. There are around 150 smiling faces and there, front right, is my beaming grandad. It is a truth that many of these men had been away from home for upwards of 5 years and had endured the tortuous conditions of fighting through east Africa and then up to what they may have thought was the relative safety of Italy. Certainly on this photo you would have thought so. They did not know the arduous journey they would now face as they went north against a German army determined to keep them at bay. William McTeer, one of the stars of the book, is my young sergeant in Naples and his war record which is replayed in the second chapter of the book mirrors exactly that of my grandad through records obtained and extensive research.
On Ashover Hill sits in many decades and each was carefully researched to ensure the timings and the placings were right. Equally, when I have written into the future I have sought to use research connected to what we think may happen. I have also added my own touches such as the Tate Retro which I happily added on to the Tate Modern! I hope they like it and maybe even use it... The feedback on the book has often centred on how I have caught the times and places I have written about and I am very happy about that.
It travels across Europe over 103 years; have you visited any of the places in the novel?
Yes indeed, though in many cases these great cities have changed enormously, none more so than Naples which was heavily bombed in the war. The most striking city, and one I replay a lot in On Ashover Hill, is Florence with its beauty preserved by the German High Command despite the great temptation to do the opposite.
Travel is one of my great passions, especially the great cities across Europe. On Ashover Hill travels across Naples, Florence, Seville, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Biarritz, Andalucía, London, St Ives and Port Isaac.
It has themes of romance, mystery and crime – which genre would you primarily describe your book to be?
Sorry – but all of them! I wanted to write a book I would read and I guess my role models would be Helen Dunmore and Sebastian Faulkes so try and get them into one genre and you struggle! Even The Siege was a romance despite the terror Helen created. My romantic nature could not help but fall out into the pages of the book and the romances of William and Francesca, and then Taylor (William’s grandson) and Charlotte, cover many pages. The acts of the marauding and dark figure of Robert McTeer, the high powered businessman, covers many pages too and his oppressive shadow is cast across the book.
The novel centres around the creation of a family. Is family something that is important to you?
I remember reading the Elizabeth Jane Howard books around the marvellous world of the wonderfully named Cazalets and being struck by the beauty of writing about a family and more to the point, an dynasty. This thought alone propelled me into the idea of out of beauty being born terror.
To me, family means an enormous amount.
You are the director of a financial services company, so when was it that writing came into play?
I am. Interesting times... I could write about the world of finance for years and it would still not be long enough! My writing has always been at my side from little boy stories to school plays to my band, my poetry and some early attempts at novels. It is how I breathe.
Who are your favourite reads?
Well then! I have mentioned Dunmore and Faulkes and I must confess to buying their books regardless of any review. I love the rhythm of their pens. Add to that Ian McEwan, Patricia Cornwall, Tom Sharpe, Esther Freud, Bernard Cornwall, DH Lawrence and, of course, Harper Lee’s the mighty standalone To Kill a Mockingbird which I return to often, Shakespeare and his many plays. I could go on and on, but thankfully for you, I won’t! I have several crammed bookcases. I love the feel and smell of a book. I have not progressed to an e-reader – though On Ashover Hill has!
The book has been inspired by authors such as Ian McEwan and Helen Dunmore, can you expand on this for us?
Some writers move the very core of you. I remember reading The Siege and it made me laugh and it made me cry. Wow – a book – words on a page – drew that emotion!
In Human Traces I sobbed.
How could I not be inspired to write beauty that moves the soul? There is a scene in On Ashover Hill when Charlie Gable, Taylor Mcteer’s girlfriend, has just finished a long shift in the restaurant they are working at in Barcelona. It is Christmas Eve and she is walking up to their flat on the top floor clearly exhausted and far away from home and there awaits beauty. I read it now and cry with joy.
What can we expect next from you?
The Birthday Gift. I'm 95,000 words in and awaiting the final chapter which sits currently in my head and several rewrites. I suspect it will be a similar size when completed to On Ashover Hill. The book is very different to OAH in that it is based over one short year of a young man’s life. An inheritance comes his way in the form of an object causing a huge emotional pull to make him face extraordinary life choices. The book starts in St Ives and then moves over to Krakow. It is based in fact and I have added my fiction. Genre-wise it is the same heady mix as OAH. Needless to say, I am very excited about it!
My third book, The Conversation, is one paragraph in……
Copies of the book are available to buy from Troubador.
Female First Lucy Walton