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