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Now, it's time for this week's Meet the Author with Nick Higham. | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
It is the Hay Literary Festival and authors from | :00:00. | :00:09. | |
around the world are passing through London to the Welsh border town, | :00:10. | :00:13. | |
Her fourth novel, The Purchase, won Canada's leading literary prize | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
but was only published in Britain this year. | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
It is set in the frontier of a newly independent America in the | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
far west of Virginia, on the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
It is the story of Daniel Dickinson, a Quaker, and the | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
of a fateful decision he takes early in the book. | :00:36. | :00:50. | |
Linda Spalding, this is a book about a man who makes | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
He buys a slave, almost by accident, and the consequences for him | :00:57. | :01:04. | |
and his family, for his slaves, are the subject of the book over | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
Is that the key to it, the fact that he is a good man, or thinks he is, | :01:10. | :01:25. | |
That is exactly what I hope you think because that is right. This is | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
That is exactly what I hope you think because that is right. | :01:31. | :01:35. | |
This is actually an ancestor of mine, I know very little about | :01:36. | :01:41. | |
one in my family would tell me why, so that was interesting to me. | :01:42. | :01:59. | |
His family in Pennsylvania would have been abolitionists. Why was he | :02:00. | :02:07. | |
disowned and why would he park is very young family, including a very | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
young child into a wagon and a new wife. I realise looking at the | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
papers, which my family had not done, he made the first mistake of | :02:16. | :02:21. | |
marrying a Methodist. Not OK if you are a Quaker in 1798. So they were | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
done with him. He was cast out. And what comes across is how little, and | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
zoom obliquely and many of the pioneers out there on the turn of | :02:35. | :02:38. | |
the century, how little they had. They did not have coats in winter? | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
No, they didn't. I did this amazing research. One man was talking about | :02:45. | :02:52. | |
his childhood and anti`Bell, happen to be southern Missouri. He said | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
nobody had a coat. He is obviously a very weak man, whose personal | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
strengths does not live up to his ideals. How many do you think were | :03:05. | :03:08. | |
like him who got swept up in the whole business of slavery? First of | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
all I don't agree he is a weak man, I think he is strong. He holds to | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
his pacifist principles throughout the book. He constantly reminds | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
himself of his principles and what he believes in. Even though he has | :03:27. | :03:32. | |
been disowned he still carries his values. But he makes this little | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
slip. Why does he do that? He sees this boy on the auction stage. Does | :03:39. | :03:41. | |
he do it because he pities him? Does he do it because he needs help? Does | :03:42. | :03:51. | |
he do it because, as he things, God has caused him to do it? God has | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
raised his hand and he literally cannot pull it down. You are never | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
quite sure why people do things because we have lots of reasons. We | :04:01. | :04:05. | |
are not simple creatures. As you said, this is based on fact, your | :04:06. | :04:14. | |
family FAQ search as you know it. And a great deal of reading around | :04:15. | :04:18. | |
the period. Where do you balance the research and the need to invent? How | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
do you make sure they work of fiction is not overburdened? It is a | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
wonderful question, I do not know. I get excited when I am researching. | :04:30. | :04:36. | |
What, no coats? ! Then off you go to the children in the field doing | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
this, this and this. How do you keep warm when Father has not done a very | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
good job of building the fireplace because father doesn't really know | :04:48. | :04:54. | |
what he is doing. You have written for novels, but he did not start | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
until quite late? I did not start publishing. I was always writing. My | :04:59. | :05:04. | |
theory is, lots of young girls and young women write a lot, | :05:05. | :05:08. | |
particularly diaries as you would have it. Maybe a few short stories. | :05:09. | :05:14. | |
Maybe we make things up as we lie in bed at night. We never think anyone | :05:15. | :05:20. | |
is going to take much interest. I certainly didn't. When I was writing | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
my first novel I was living in the middle of the Pacific ocean. I did | :05:26. | :05:31. | |
not know any writers, I certainly did not know any publishers. I did | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
not know to which address it you would send such a thing, as I was | :05:36. | :05:42. | |
writing. What was the breakthrough? I fell in love with a writer. I | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
moved to Canada to be with him. Low and behold the war publishers, | :05:47. | :05:52. | |
agents and other writers. People said it is simple, double space, put | :05:53. | :05:59. | |
it in an envelope and send it off. That kind of thing. If you are | :06:00. | :06:06. | |
rejected, you do not kill yourself. This is your husband, who wrote | :06:07. | :06:15. | |
being huge patient. It one the most foremost literary award in Canada. | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
Very good reviews in Canadian and American newspapers. It was raved | :06:23. | :06:27. | |
about. Only two years later it is published in Britain and only by a | :06:28. | :06:32. | |
very small independent publisher in Dingwall in Scotland, Sandstone | :06:33. | :06:38. | |
press. May we drink a toast to them? Why was it not published | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
immediately? I can give you a list of publishers to whom you may ask | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
that question. I don't know why they turned it down. Is there a general | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
lesson here, is it the state of the book trade? I think it is the state | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
of the book trade, yes I do. It is hard to get published if you are a | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
mid`list person, which is what I am. I am not a famous celebrity. They | :07:05. | :07:12. | |
need to know they are going to get the payback from the book and you | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
have enough of an audience out there waiting with bated rest to read your | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
books. I think my books have been a bit slow coming perhaps. I don't | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
know. I think it is what online stuff. These publishing houses have | :07:26. | :07:32. | |
been bought why bigger and bigger ones. The bigger you get the more | :07:33. | :07:37. | |
interested in the bottom line you are. I believe. I believe it is true | :07:38. | :07:44. | |
of grocery stores and just about everyone. It is a business after all | :07:45. | :07:48. | |
and you are now published, and I am delighted to have had you here. | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
Thank you very much for letting me come. | :07:55. | :08:01. | |
With sunshine today, temperatures reached into the low 20s. Cloud | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
spreading through the Scottish central belt. We will see rain | :08:09. | :08:15. | |
reaching the far west of Wales and into the far west of | :08:16. | :08:16. |