How time flies! And how slowly change comes...

A few days ago I happened to look at the publication date of my first novel, The Housemaid's Daughter, and I realised that 8 - yes, 8! - years have passed since I first held the hardback in my hand and saw it in bookshops and online. And today, 14 translations later, an e-book, an audio-book... I'm still hearing from readers who are dipping into it for the first time.

Who would have guessed that some of my most fervent readers were in Spain? Why would Spanish readers identify so closely with a story about a young black girl and an Irish immigrant family set in the stark Karoo? Did it tug on old historical links? French readers are close behind the Spanish, which is a treat for me because I speak some French and can understand their feedback.

Here's what I've learnt over the last 8 years:

• Writing fiction means stepping into another person's shoes - via careful and respectful research. 
• A good story appeals to something inside each of us, wherever we come from and whatever language we happen to speak.
• Word-of-mouth is the best and most enduring marketing tool of all. 
• Don't ignore hashtags!   

With respect to the last point:
For me, newly educated about the power of hashtags e.g. #barbaramutch, the beautiful pictures of my novel on Instagram with captions in foreign languages are a constant surprise... (and often send me to Google translate!)

Ada, heroine of The Housemaid's Daughter, reflects on the apartheid struggle she was part of during her lifetime, some forty years ago.
And I realise that today her words still ring true.
You did not need to be a bad person, you did not even have to do anything wrong.
You just had to be someone of the wrong colour...