Roll out the barrel (and other themes)!

I always look for a secondary, underlying theme for my novels... a thread that will weave its way through the story despite plot twists and capricious characters!
In my first book, The Housemaid's Daughter, that theme is music. Ada, the heroine, is a brilliant pianist and music is her inspiration - and refuge. 

In The Girl from Simon's Bay, it is the sea and the forces of nature that forever impact the lives of David and Louise. In The Fire Portrait, the underlying thread is art. For Frances, the heroine, art becomes not just her vocation but also a quietly potent weapon. In The Case Against Fili Du Bois, set in the beautiful Franschhoek Valley with its French heritage estates, I needed to look no further than wine for my subtle theme. I was lucky enough to be given expert help by the owner of an estate and his wine-maker, who led me through the process. I leant about sugar readings, the de-stemming and crushing of the berries, the fermentations, filtrations and periods of maturation that determine the quality and character of the finished product. Fili, the adopted heroine of the novel, immerses herself in the process. It is her way of proving that she belongs at Du Bois Vineyards and that she will carry the traditions of the farm and its workers forward into a bright - yet sometimes uncertain - future... 
For my wine, success would depend on years in the barrel - and a dose of luck:
Would my dark liquid feel inclined to transform itself into a wine that would tell the world I was worthy of being a Du Bois? 
Be strong! I urged myself. Be the best vintage you can be! 

 

What happens after the story ends?

When talking about my novels at signings or events, I've often been asked if I will write a sequel to a particular book. After all, how could I leave Ada's beloved grandson, Thebo, without mapping out his future? And what about Louise's son, Sam, who might return to South Africa from abroad once apartheid ends? And will Hamish, Frances's son in The Fire Portrait, ever get to meet his biological father? And would that destroy the cherished memories he holds of Julian, whom he believed was his parent? 

In The Case Against Fili Du Bois, the character whom readers often want to follow further is not necessarily the heroine Fili, whose future finally seems assured, but Kula Mfusi, the troubled young man who flees Du Bois Vineyards after being suspected of murder. How does he evade the police? Does he leave the country? Or change his name? And would new medical advances prove that he could not have harmed the victim? Or might he confess that he was, in fact, guilty? 

I have my own confession to make: I like a little uncertainty! While I try to gather the narrative strands into a satisfying ending, I also like to leave some aspects of the story unresolved. I dangle a little thread in the air and leave it hanging, allowing you, the reader, to reflect on the possibilities in your own mind... 
Sometimes, in a crowd, I find myself looking for Kula Mfusi.
The fierce eyes. The unnerving stillness.
But I never saw him again. Or heard from him.
Yet years later, on the anniversary of Mum's death, there were different flowers on her grave from the roses we traditionally brought... 

   

Unexpected sighting

Twelve years ago, my first novel, The Housemaid's Daughter, was published in English world-wide, and was subsequently translated into 14 languages from Icelandic to Spanish to Chinese! I was an unknown author at that stage, and had no idea how the book would be received. Luckily, it struck a chord with readers far and wide, and its success spurred me to keep writing. Since that time, I have produced 3 other novels.

Yet Housemaid still gathers many new readers despite its advancing years. Somehow the story of Ada, the young black girl in service to an Irish immigrant family during the apartheid years, continues to appeal. 

I have a particular musical connection to Ada because I created her to be a pianist. And whenever I happen to play her signature piece from the book, Chopin's Raindrop Prelude, I think of her. I play the piece for pleasure but the stakes were higher for Ada: she plays it as an "audition" in front of a potential employer. She needs a job, she's expecting a child, she's desperate for the chance of an independent future...    

Recently, I was delighted to find that The Housemaid's Daughter appears on a list of books about South Africa. And, to my surprise, it held its own amid a clutch of impressive titles. Have a look! 
https://voyageprovocateur.com/destinations/africa/10-best-books-on-south-africa/   

Fili Du Bois: the 'stray' heroine...

The subtitle to my new novel, The Case Against Fili Du Bois, is: A stray child, an unsolved crime, a precious legacy. But what event led me to design the heroine, Fili, to be a "stray" child? Wrapped in a shawl, laid in a cardboard box that was wedged into a ditch, yet in a place where she was likely to be found?

It all started when I happened to drive past a church in the southern Cape Peninsula of South Africa. Fixed to a side wall was a sign that, while small, was hard to miss. It said: "Baby drop off. Ages up to 3". Each time I happened to pass by, I would reflect on the kindness of the church in offering such a service so that needy young parents could work or care for other family for a few hours while knowing their baby would be looked after. But then I got to wonder whether there had ever been an instance where a child had been dropped off - and never fetched? 

And so the story of Fili began. 
I remember the day I was left behind...
But I can't remember my mother, however hard I try. Why did she leave me? 
Abandoned babies are a particular tragedy, not just for the child but also for the mother or parents who are perhaps forced to give up their child due to poverty or illness or inability to care for their young. In the book, the church attempts to trace her mother, but with no success. Fili is taken to an orphanage and put up for adoption. 
I've tried to make excuses for her but I can't. 
How can I love her when she never kept me? 

Yet Fili is lucky. 
Martin and Ray Du Bois have been unable to have children of their own. Fili, Ray recalls, was the most adorable child on offer at the orphanage. She'd lifted her arms to them in appeal, and they'd looked no further. 
But will Fili forgive her birth mother now that she has a new set of parents?
And will her unknown background haunt her - and impact her promising future?
You decide... when you've read the book...

Cover stories!

The manuscript is finished, those final changes have been made, the queries on accuracy have been addressed... but what about the cover? Will it draw potential readers? Here's where instinct comes into play. As author, you will already know what you'd like to evoke - after all, you've dwelt within the story for months/years. Given that my novels are set in South Africa, and that landscape plays such an important part, I was keen for the covers to reflect that. But there are commercial considerations, too. The cover may need to strike a balance between accuracy and appeal... For example, if your book is about tragic events, you don't necessarily want a gloomy cover that will potentially put off readers before they even consider turning the first page!  

The cover of my first novel, The Housemaid's Daughter, happily set in train a theme that has gone on to influence all of my subsequent book covers. The brilliant artistic folk at my publishers produced a beautiful image, shown from the rear, of a woman leading a small child into a rural landscape - into their future? - with the subtle watermarking of a musical score against the sunset. In The Girl from Simon's Bay, the heroine, also depicted from the rear, looks down upon Simon's Bay where so much of the story will unfold. The Fire Portrait also shows the heroine from the rear, this time silhouetted against a desert landscape with a definite fiery hue. When it came to The Case Against Fili Du Bois, I wanted to show my young heroine embarking on her uncertain journey through life, against a backdrop of a wine estate, with mountains etched on the horizon at sunset. Will Fili overcome the steep challenges that arise?
For this cover, I was lucky enough to have the expert skills of a family member to help bring my concept to fruition. I think it's the best one of all! 
So here they are... my cover heroines, battling for survival, looking to their future...

       

Wine, Flora and Fauna

 

In my novels, I've always searched for an underlying theme that will weave its way through the story despite how the plot might twist and turn. In The Housemaid's Daughter, the theme was Music and its influence on Ada's life. In The Girl from Simon's Bay it was the forces of Nature and War that buffeted Louise. In The Fire Portrait, Art was Frances's inspiration and life's work.

In The Case Against Fili Du Bois, the theme that pervades the book is Wine and - alongside it - the unique and beautiful Flora and Fauna of the Western Cape. The heroine, Fili, is determined to prove her worth to her adoptive parents on their French heritage estate, and immerses herself in the wine-making process. As a thirteen-year-old, she fulfils a promise: My first vintage would be  a cabernet, a famous red grape with hints of blackcurrant and cherry, and a liking for several years' rest in oak barrels that had come all the way from France.   

But when strangers arrive in the area, tensions rise and stones are thrown - will she or her family be a target? I found myself flinching but it was only a glint of emerald green darting over my head - a malachite sunbird, pointy-tailed, heading for the protea-rich slopes beyond the vines...  

And on one of the most consequential evenings of Fili's life, she overhears her parents discussing her future - almost disrupted by the bark of a caracal wild cat and, earlier, by the cut-off cry of a nightjar that might signal intruders... 
Dad, I wanted to yell, what about the warning? What about the bird's warning? 

More next time...

Vital Statistics!

There's something special about a physical book! 
I know that many of us (me included) tend to read on our iPads or Kindle devices, but I still get a thrill when I have a book in my hands. That feeling of turning the pages - occasionally folding down the corners to reserve one's place - and settling in for a read, is hard to beat... 

And this is the first batch of The Case Against Fili Du Bois to have landed on my doorstep. I will be taking them to Talks and Presentations here in the UK. A signed copy also still seems to have a cachet of its own!  

Here are some vital statistics: I can confirm that the physical book is 428 pages long, weighs in at a satisfying 570g,and consists of 59 chapters. So... approximately 10g per chapter. Not sure if this is a measure that publishers look at (!), but I thought it worth mentioning if only for amusement. Having said that, I do tend to mix longer chapters with shorter ones so as to keep my reader engaged and not too worn out. 

Notable highlights in the research phase were an education in the wine-making process and the necessary tastings that were required, plus delightful rambles through the vines to develop an understanding of terroir, that particular combination of soil, climate, and geography that leads to an outstanding wine.

"This special dirt," said Grand-mère, scooping up some earth and rolling it between her gnarled fingers, "will decide which cultivars we plant, whether we make a sauvignon blanc or a merlot that glows in the glass like a sunset. 
This, chérie, is the starting point. The essence of what will come after..."