A Mother's Shame

A Mother's Shame

I loved writing A MOTHER’S SHAME. It’s a historical novel and in this one we go to Australia. It’s basically about two young women from very different backgrounds who both find themselves expecting a baby before they are married, which back in those times was a definite no-no! I invented a mental asylum on the outskirts of Nuneaton that hid a secret, for it wasn’t just a place for the mentally insane but also somewhere where the gentry hid their unmarried daughters until after they had given birth to avoid a scandal. The girls find themselves in a dilemma, for many of the young women who are incarcerated there never walk free again. But help is at hand in the form of Joshua, Isabelle’s brother who helps them to escape and takes them on a long sea voyage to stay with an Uncle in Australia. Of course, nothing goes smoothly but I don’t want to give too much of the story away…

Please tell us about your research process into the period setting for the book.

First of all I get an idea for a book and I then decide in what era I want to set it. From then on I research everything I can about that era. It’s so important to try and get it right. Popular phrases of that time, the way they dressed, what was popular for both servants and the middle classes. What food did they eat, etc. I usually find I am researching one thing or another throughout the entire book to make it as believable as possible.

Can you tell us a bit about the character of Maria.

Maria was a good girl at heart. I think she only strayed from the straight and narrow because of the fiercely strict upbringing her father had subjected her to. To the outside world her father was a good God -Fearing man but behind closed doors he ruled his family with a rod of iron. The rascal who seduced her showed her a totally different way of life and so poor Maria allowed him to turn her head with disastrous consequences.

You have been praised for being a master of your craft- so do you ever have doubts about things you have written anymore or do you find yourself editing less and less the more books you publish?

That was a real honour but to be honest I still strive to make every book I write better than the last and still pay the same attention to detail with the newer books as I did with my first. I think it would be wrong to become complacent. As soon as I have finished a book I go through it from beginning to end making slight changes and checking details before I am happy to submit it to my editor. I also go through the copy edit and proof read it as well before it goes to print.

What made you want to tell this tale?

I can’t really answer that question! My ideas just seem to come from nowhere at the most unlikely times. I think with A MOTHER’S SHAME the germ of an idea began to grow after visiting an old Hall that has now been converted into flats in the vicinity of Hatter’s Hall. Thankfully it still retains its period character and I started to imagine who might have lived there and what sort of place it might have been in times gone by. The idea for Hatter’s Hall came then and everything grew from there.

You have written three sequels to Catherine Cookson novels so how much of pressure was there to follow in her footsteps?

I didn’t quite realise what a challenge following the great lady herself was going to be until I actually sat down to start to write the first sequel and then I had a major panic attack! How could anyone follow Catherine Cookson? No one else in the world had ever been allowed to do it before so it was a huge honour but I also felt that I must do her wonderful stories justice. It’s totally different writing a sequel to a book that someone else has written because your characters have already been invented and you have to stay true to them whilst trying to retain your own style but keep the story flowing. Also because I followed the trilogies the last book tends to have sewn everything up to a conclusive ending for all concerned. I had to unpick some strands and move the stories on again but truthfully once I had started it wasn’t as hard as I’d feared it was going to be. It was quite eerie in fact because sometimes I felt as if Catherine were there with me locked away in my study. I placed a photo of her above my computer and sometimes I would find myself in the middle of a sub plot that I hadn’t considered. It was as if she was there urging me on and I still get a thrill every time I look at them.

You live in Nuneaton where the book is set- so why was this the perfect setting for the book?

I suppose because I was born and raised in Nuneaton I know the area well, so that was the obvious place to set it. Most of my first books were very regional but as your readership grows you tend to venture further afield, hence the long sea voyage to Australia in A MOTHER’S SHAME. I still like to begin or end them in Nuneaton though to keep my loyal local readers happy.

What is next for you?

The next step is another challenge for me as I am writing my first series at present. I have just finished the first one, which will be out next year. It will span three generations of two families who are bound together by a secret. The one I have just finished spans the First World War, another first for me as I’ve never actually written about that era before, but I loved it and can’t wait to start the second one now! That’s part of the beauty of being an author; you can go back or forward in time and travel the whole world without even leaving your desk. I really can’t think of anything else I’d rather do!

 

 


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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