What sparks a story?

What is the spark that fires a novel? For me, it's often an event or a conversation or a newspaper article or a chance remark that causes me to think... Wouldn't that make a great starting point for my next story? And that was how The Case Against Fili Du Bois came into being. 

Fili, heroine of my novel, is abandoned by her mother in the grounds of a church. That abandonment becomes the thread that winds its way through the book and determines Fili's future - and the future of the family who adopt her into their home on a wine estate in the beautiful Franschhoek Valley. 

Yet what made me choose that particular beginning for my novel? 
Some years ago, I happened to be passing by a church in the southern Cape Peninsula. Mounted on the side wall of the building was a sign that said:
Baby drop off
Ages up to 3

Clearly, it was an advertisement for a free creche run by the church to give young families some respite from full-time parenting duties, a place to leave their babes for a hour or so. But it got me thinking...
What if a child was dropped off at the church - and never fetched?
Would she languish in an orphanage? Would she be adopted? What would happen if her adoptive parents then have a child of their own? 
And The Case Against Fili Du Bois was born. 

More next time...

  

A special visitor...

In 1836, a young man - 27 years old - arrived in Simon's Town on a ship named HMS Beagle. During the 19 days that the Beagle was anchored in Simon's Bay, the young man went ashore to meet someone far more famous than he was. The young man was Charles Darwin. His famous host was astronomer Sir John Herschel. 

The discussions they shared were so influential to Darwin's approach to scientific investigation - and therefore to his thinking about evolution - that he later wrote: "These facts... seemed to throw some light on the origin of species - that mystery of mysteries..."  

The young man would go on to eclipse his mentor, and produce his ground-breaking Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, which was published as On the Origin of Species, some 20 years later in 1859. 

Darwin's visit to the Cape has now been commemorated in Simon's Town by the placement of a bust on the town pier. The closing paragraph of his ground-breaking book is engraved onto the side of the memorial.

"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been equally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

From those early beginnings... 

Stories that live on...

Imagine my delight to find The Girl from Simon's Bay featured in a bookshop near the historic naval town which forms the setting for the novel! And, given that the book was published in 2017 - so it has been around for some 9 years - I did not expect to see it so prominently displayed. Also, I noted with amusement, it was placed on shelves earmarked for New Arrivals! 

Writing this novel was a particularly special experience for me. I have lived in Simon's Town on-and-off for over 30 years, and the history of the place has seeped deep into my bones - which was crucial in helping me to steer the plot. 

Yet there's much for itinerant history buffs to appreciate as well: Simon's Town shares substantial connections between South Africa and Britain, dating back to its status as a British enclave from the early 1800s. It was home to the Royal Navy's South Atlantic fleet for some 150 years, complete with an Admiral in Admiralty House! During both World Wars, the naval base and dockyard were key to the security of the Cape Sea Route, and the provisioning and repair of warships. Now, it is the home of the South African Navy.

I suspect Louise, the heroine of the book, would be quietly thrilled to know that her story is still drawing new readers...
Sometimes David surprises me in the passing slide of blue eyes, the timbre of a man's voice, the line of a warship slicing across the bay... 
"Wait!" I stared at the dockyard, trying to make out the ships, his four ships... 
Durban, Achilles, Dorsetshire, Cumberland...

The Case Against Fili Du Bois in South Africa!

I am delighted to say that - finally! - my latest novel, The Case Against Fili Du Bois, is available in South Africa, its place of birth! You can find your copy on amazon.co.za at https://amzn.eu/d/hx9z4Wh or on takealot at https://www.takealot.com/the-case-against-fili-du-bois/PLID97745749

I hope that SA readers will enjoy an immersion into their beautiful winelands where the book is set, and where Fili, adopted daughter of Martin and Ray Du Bois, fights for her future. Can she live up to the expectations of those around her? And when a tragedy occurs, will she survive their suspicions?


There is so much to win - and to lose... as the subtitle says: 
A stray child, an unsolved crime, a precious legacy.

Let's raise a glass to Fili! Cheers!
And... here's to a happy, healthy, book-filled 2026! 

A sprinkle of fresh Christmas magic...

Let's deviate from Santas, reindeer, tinsel and baubles and celebrate the natural beauty that surrounds us this festive season! How about a stunning peacock feather discovered by chance or some pale, perfectly-formed urchin shells found while swimming in an azure sea? 

Fili, heroine of The Case Against Fili Du Bois, would, I think, be loving her view of the season. For her, it is a time of walking the verdant rows of vines and glorying in the swelling of the grapes, watching - sometimes anxiously - the play of sunshine and rain, seeing how the mountains turn pink in the rising sun or glow like steel in the moonlight.

And, away from the vineyards, the thrill of spotting the arrow-straight dive of a pied kingfisher as it pierces the water to grab its Christmas lunch! Or the less elegant plunge of a bumble bee into the pollen-filled heart of a scarlet hibiscus...   

Whatever your preference, do look about and enjoy what we perhaps take for granted all year round...
What will you notice?

See you in the New Year! 

A Book (Club) for Christmas?

Start a Book (Club) for Christmas? Why not?
Post-pandemic, we saw a surge in their popularity but more recently there has been another leap. Book Clubs are having their moment in our frenetic, ever more digital age. 
And, it turns out, their increased relevance is about far more than reading. People are desperate to find activities that get them out from behind their screens... and into meaningful human connections. Chatting over books has therefore become a vital distraction - and inspiration - for millions around the globe.
Some Clubs have even gone further by encouraging activities such as taking a walk or fast-learning a craft before/after the get-together.    

I have also been charting the rise of the Silent Book Club movement. This is where members gather to read quietly for an hour, say, and then all join in a discussion about what they've read, and perhaps swap books that they have finished. Many folk say that this is the only way they get to settle down and read during their busy lives. There are now 1600 Silent Book Club chapters in 54 countries around the world. 

I think the Book Club concept is a valuable tool for the younger generation as well. Can we encourage Clubs at primary schools or in neighbourhoods? Over weekends? With the involvement of a parent or two to keep order (!) and also help with reading difficulties. A good way to coax youngsters off their screens, too... 

It has been my particular pleasure to have been invited to many Book Clubs over the years, to answer questions and hear feedback about my books, plus share research snippets that perhaps never made it into the final manuscript! But the most important lesson I have learnt is, indeed, the power of engagement... where reading becomes a vital bridge between people and communities... 

The final twist in the tale...

What makes us, as readers, keep turning the pages of a new book? Is it an arresting start? Or do we prefer to settle into a book and let it slowly grow on us? I think the answer falls somewhere in between. I know that I am always intrigued if an author offers a sense of jeopardy or challenge to come... and perhaps keeps that knowledge from the narrator or hero/heroine? It means that I, as reader, know more than the main protagonists - and that can make me keep turning the pages to find out how they deal with the drama that potentially lies ahead!

However... this raises the risk of "foreshadowing" - something that writers are warned to avoid at all costs. Foreshadowing is where the author drops enough hints - by accident or design - to allow the reader to work out where the plot is heading and possibly how the book will end. In that case, why would you keep reading if you can already guess the ending?

So... writers tread a fine line between providing just enough "forward" information to keep the reader onside, while holding back the key developments or the final twist as a surprise. In my case, I try to keep myself guessing as I write my novels. While I know the direction of travel of the story, I never know exactly how the final twist will unfold until I am about two thirds of the way through. My thinking is that if I can surprise myself with the ending, then hopefully I will surprise you, the reader, as well!
A true sting in the tale...
Did it surprise you in The Case Against Fili Du Bois?