01/06/14 Meet the Author


01/06/14

Similar Content

Browse content similar to 01/06/14. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

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.

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS