Many thanks to Paula Lofting for featuring The Bitti Chai on The
Review. Paula said just to tell the
readers something about myself and that is exactly when my mind went completely
blank.
Naturally somewhat of a reclusive person, marketing The Bitti Chai and
attending book fairs in general is something akin to torture for me. My family is naturally secretive and for many
years did not mix with outsiders, Gauja's they call them, the Romany word for
anyone who is not Romany. In fact many people did not know of our Romany
background as my grandfather always feared the hostile reaction we would
receive and having lived through the Second World War he was understandably
cautious.
I was brought up by my Romany grandfather, the youngest of ten children,
the bitti chai (the small girl). My family initially inspired the writing of
The Bitti Chai but most of all I wanted to share some aspects of Romany culture
with the outside world. To inform people about Romanies traditional values,
strength of family ties and loyalty utterly contradicting the familiar and
incorrect portrayal of this much maligned ethnic minority.
The Bitti Chai was released in paperback in November 2012 and early in
2013 as an e book. In October 2013 the
ebook of the follow up The Lost Souls was released via Amazon. The last in the trilogy, The Man with Two
Minds hopefully will be released late next year. I have to say that throughout the process of
writing both novels I have been supported by my editor Jo Field and although I
had the seed of an idea for the book Jo inspired me to carry on writing. The New Writers Group to which I belong put
me in touch with a graphics company (Avalon Graphics) and Cathy Helms designed
my book cover which I am constantly thrilled with each and every time I look at
it. She also made a fabulous book
trailer for me which I have to admit have watched over and over again, sad or
what. Shortly after the release I
received a B.R.A.G Medallion, an award for Indie writers and gained a great
review and received much support from them.
During the Spring and Summer months I tend not to write too much as true
to my roots I love horses and breed and show native ponies, Dartmoors in
particular. The show season for us
begins in March and carries on until October so this doesn't leave much time
for writing although to be fair every day I am going through scenarios in my
mind. At present my hero and heroine,
Johnny and Reigneth fill much of my imagination. In fact I'm not quite sure what will come
after the third book in the series about them as their characters tend to
dominate much of my thoughts at present.
Reigneth is truly named after my great Aunt who was born on the roadside
at Rainworth, Nottinghamshire, which is pronounced Reigneth. Some of the characters in The Bitti Chai are
moulded on real family members.
I am terribly proud of my family and my birthright and to me having
Romany heritage is extremely important, even if one person reads my book and
has a positive image of Romanies then I feel my writing has accomplished
something very important.
For those of you who haven't read The Bitti Chai the story begins in
Lincolnshire an area which my family travelled through extensively and
eventually settled in the late 1880's.
The story moves on as does the family when they move to Chagford in
Devon. Chagford is a very special
somewhat spiritual place for me. A place
where I feel I can immerse myself in the surroundings and feel at one with nature. It was therefore natural for me to choose
this place to base most of the story. Dartmoor has long been steeped in tales of
ghostly apparitions and happenings and I love nothing more than to walk over
the moors and climb the Tors, no matter whether it is rain or shine. In all its moods the moor is enchanting and
this is the setting for my novels, a tale of ghosts, jealousy, prejudice and
passion but most of all romance.
Jane is kindly giving away an e-copy of her book The Bitti Chai which was reviewed on Monday (see here) so if you would like a chance to win, just leave a comment.
http://www.bragmedallion.com
http://youtu.be/_Tut_W8Ci7k
Paula Lofting is the author of 4/5star historical fiction novel Sons of the Wolf
blogs - www.sonsofthewolf-paulalofting.blogspot.co.uk
www.threadstothepast.blogspot.co.uk
website - www.paulalofting.com
Now I have read the interview I shall certainly put this book on my TBR list. I am very interested too in the ponies!
ReplyDeleteLovely post, Jane! Wishing you the best on the rest of the series.
ReplyDelete