Author Interview: Cheryl Burman / Keepers
JMR-Welcome to the Books
Delight, Cheryl. Tell our readers where you live, what you do for fun and what
does the perfect day look like?
CB- Hi Jeanie, thanks for having
me here! I live in the Forest of Dean, in the UK, a beautiful place which is
thought to have inspired Tolkien’s Middle Earth and is now popular with film
makers including Star Wars. I’m originally from Australia, but not lived there
for some time.
Fun? What’s fun? I’m retired, so I try to make sure that everything I do is at
least what I want to do and mostly enjoyable. Doesn’t always work that way of
course, but I’m much involved in my local community especially where it comes
to history and to writing.
As for the perfect day, that would be a long walk in the Forest with the dog,
spotting deer and perhaps some young wild boar, a coffee at the 17th
century Speech House hotel with friends, and an afternoon with the fingers
flying over the keyboard as my new novel takes shape.
JMR-What’s your favorite
historical time period? Why?
CB- I’ve written about the
mid-late 19th century and my new release is set in the mid 20th
century. I read historical books set in many time periods, including Mantel’s
Wolf Hall (16th c) and Andrew Taylor’s Ashes of London series (17th
c). But I suspect medieval times are what I enjoy most, especially stories of
women. One of my favourite books is Anya Seton’s Katherine, about her
relationship with John O’Gaunt – pretty old now, but a classic.
JMR-Who is your favorite
historical figure? Why? If you could ask them one question, what would it be?
CB-Queen Victoria, for the way in
which she shaped the monarchy as a woman, keeping the men – even her beloved
Albert – in their places. My question to her would be: how did she keep going
after the various attempts on her life? (There were eight in all.) It could only
have been that she was totally driven by duty as she understood it and would
not be cowed. A remarkable person.
JMR- How did you come to be a
writer of historical fiction?
CB-By accident! My first books
are an MG fantasy trilogy and I have a prequel half-written and a sequel
plotted. But on an online peer review platform one day, I fell across the story
of a woman hanged in Australia in 1863, along with her ex-pirate cook and a
young, love-sick groom, for murdering her abusive, alcoholic husband. She was
23 and the mother of two little boys. The woman who posted the piece is now a
great friend and we have co-authored a novel based on the story. It’s waiting
for a publisher … please note, agents and publishers!
JMR- You co-authored a book
with another writer. What was that experience like? Hardest part? Lessons
learned?
CB-As noted above, yes, I did! We
worked on the book over several years, passing work back and forth.
Essentially, my co-author, Emma, is a fantastic historian (and has lovely
imagery at her fingertips too) but struggled to structure the story. That’s
where I came in. It was great being able to talk to someone about the book who
was truly interested, and not our mothers/husbands being polite. The hardest
bit was forever saying to Emma: No, we don’t need that extensive amount of
historical detail, so no, we can’t put it in. Sometimes I relented. I learned a
lot about novel writing in the process, and still learning of course.
JMR- You belong to a mentoring
program to foster the creative spirit in children. What have you learned from
today’s young readers/writers?
CB-Dean Scribblers has been a
real learning experience for me as well, I hope, for the young people involved.
We work mostly with 10-11 yr olds, although our last pre-Covid project was with
a small class of young people aged about 15, all of them on the autistic
spectrum. In every case, I have been thrilled with the emotional maturity of
the students and their imaginative interpretations of events and themes. Put a
wild spin on things and there you go! Great stories!
JMR- Cheryl, tell us about
your new book, Keepers.
CB- In post WW2 Australia, Raine’s family must move from
the country to the city for medical treatment for Pop. The housing shortage
sees them living in a noisy, draughty Nissen hut on a migrant camp in the flat,
arid suburbs. Raine hates it. And while she loves her work as a legal secretary
in the city, a colleague burdens her with suspicions that a bum-patting partner
is involved in black marketing.
Then Raine meets Cockney Blitz survivors, the
cool, languorous Teddy and his friendly, sweet childhood mate Alf. Both have
feelings for her but show it in very different ways. As for Raine, she’s unsure
where her heart belongs. It might not be with either young man.
JMR-It sounds like your
characters are loosely based on your parents. When did they take on a life of
their own? Do you think your parents would recognize themselves?
CB-Loosely, yes. I suspect many
novels are based on family, on our own lived experiences, and some not so
loosely as others. My parents did meet on a migrant camp, my mother was
Australian and my father a Cockney. But while there are a few snippets of
family lore/history included in the book, the tale told is a long way from
being biographical. The characters, however – well, I think both parents might
recognise bits of themselves in there, and bits of other people too. (Fact: my
mum, aged 17, really did punch a bum-patting manager at work, when she worked
for News Corporation. Her male colleagues cheered.)
JMR-What projects do you have
in the pipeline?
CB-Too many! I’ve just finished
draft one of a new novel, this one set here in the Forest along the banks of
the Severn, about a farm girl who talks to the river and watches the river
nymphs play tag with the nets and oars of the fishing boats. I’ve promised my
granddaughter I will finish the prequel mentioned above and she can be my alpha
reader (but I have final say on plot!). I want to put together a slim
collection of my short stories as a gift to newsletter subscribers, and I have
a list of several competitions I want to enter with flash fiction and longer,
all of which seem to be due now! That’s
just the writing projects.
JMR- Tell our readers how to
find you on social media and the web.
CB-
website: cherylburman.com which has book links, stories, book reviews,
and past newsletters so you can see if you’d like to sign up. Oh, and a blog
with writing tips and other stuff.
Twitter @cr_burman
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.burman.56
JMR- What question were you
hoping I’d ask but didn’t?
CB-Has my dog written a book?
Yes, and it’s very popular (see my website!)
JMR- Cheryl, that's for a great chat, good luck to your and best wishes on your books. Readers I have included a link to Cheryl's book.
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